Free Republic

What if stupidity isn’t about intelligence at all, but about surrendering the will to think? In this chilling and timely video essay, we explore Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity — a terrifying insight into how smart, well-meaning people can become blind instruments of destruction. Drawing on Bonhoeffer’s life, the psychology of conformity, Milgram’s obedience experiments, social media echo chambers, and the rise of AI-driven misinformation, we reveal why stupidity isn't a lack of intellect — it's a surrender of critical thought. 👉 Why do intelligent people support dangerous ideas? 👉 How does groupthink override personal judgment? 👉 What does it...

America is so much like the ancient church of Ephesus. They had stars, golden candlesticks, a fight against evil and liars and were commended by Jesus Christ for all of that. But Christ warned them that they had “left their first love. (Rev 2:4)

Many of us want to believe that, in the face of severe adversity and risk, we would try to prove worthy of a memorable legacy. Indeed, should circumstances ever turn sour, we hope to fancy ourselves as brave, courageous, and willing to stand firm no matter the cost. And yet, for the vast majority of those who have not been severely challenged in such ways, how could we know for sure the way we would react? This is why examples of people who did stand firm in the midst of trial are not just important, but necessary.

The task of offering an analysis of the movie Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin has been complicated for me because the promotion for the movie shows Dietrich Bonhoeffer with a gun in his hand. My attempts to recover from this misleading portrayal have no doubt prejudiced me. I need to confess this may make me less than a reliable witness, but I am determined to give as objective a view as possible. As a lifelong reader of Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, I am not easily pleased with cinematic depictions of his theology.For my part, I would rather have Bonhoeffer depicted...

What is wrong with Canada? It seems being visibly Jewish is no longer acceptable in Montreal when near a pro-Palestinian mob. A local rabbi and his family were instructed by police to leave the downtown area simply because he looked visibly Jewish (wearing a kippah)

Metaxas's Counterfeit Bonhoeffer: An Evangelical Critique Review of Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile Vs. the Third Reich (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010) by Richard Weikart Eric Metaxas's Bonhoeffer biography has won many accolades from evangelicals, not only because Metaxas is an excellent writer, but also because he serves up a Bonhoeffer suited to the evangelical taste. Many evangelicals admire Bonhoeffer and consider him a fellow evangelical. Metaxas's book confirms this image. In an interview with Christianity Today Metaxas even made the astonishing statement that Bonhoeffer was as orthodox theologically as the apostle Paul. As orthodox as...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, is a Christian hero for many. Executed by the Nazis just days before the end of WWII for his participation in a plot to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer is hailed as a 20th-century martyr. But Bonhoeffer struggled with a moral dilemma – his religious views were in stark contrast to the evil he saw all around him. He chose to face possible imprisonment and execution and to remain faithful to the principles of his belief in God. Across the political and theological spectrum, Bonhoeffer is celebrated as an icon of true Christianity and his theological writings...

Paula Bonhoeffer saw the risks of educating her small, impressionable children in the state’s schools. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), the German theologian who was hanged in April 1945 by the Nazis for spying on and opposing Hitler’s regime. .... Eric Metaxas’ biography of the Christian martyr—Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Spy—... time to learn more about the man who defied Hitler and paid with his life. ... Metaxas’ work offers a penetrating look into Bonhoeffer’s life, mind, faith, and family. Bonhoeffer was not the only remarkable person in his family. Karl and Paula Bonhoeffer—Bonhoeffer’s parents—brought eight children into the world in the...

YouTube removed an entire radio show from its platform this week, hosted by popular Christian author and social commentator Eric Metaxas, citing violations of their community standards. Metaxas – author of biographies on the lives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, and William Wilberforce, among many other books – announced the news to his social media pages on Tuesday. “It’s happened,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “Despite our going FAR out of our way to comply with their arbitrary ‘community standards’, YouTube decided to remove every single video we’ve ever done on the Eric Metaxas Show off their platform.” The...

OH MY WORD!!!! Fellow Freepers you MUST listen to this!!!! God was NOT mocked yesterday!!!! He was alive and well and used His servant, Eric Metaxas, yesterday to speak straight to the President. It starts at about 35min, BUT the GREAT moment takes place at the 45min mark. BEFORE the Preisdent speaks, God through Metaxas, says that people, even Satan use the scripture to do the OPPOSITE of what God does. I was BLOWN away!!!! Eric did not know that Obama would misuse the scripture in just a few short minutes but GOD DID!!!! THEN the most amazing thing happens...

Nazi monster Dr. Josef Mengele is known to have ordered the murder of over 400,000 Jews at Auschwitz from 1943 to 1945. Thousands more he kept alive and mercilessly tortured to death during experiments intended to create an Aryan super-race. Much of Mengele’s “medical research” was conducted on children and newborns – especially twins. One witness described what happened after Mengele once delivered a Jewish “fetus”: “But when he saw that there was only one baby and not twins, he tore the baby right out of the mother’s uterus, threw it into an oven and walked away,” she said. “We...

Pat Robertson made headlines this week when he offered his opinion that the United States should assassinate Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. What surprised me the most is that so many FReepers took offense to this statement. While nearly all of us fully support the war against Islamofascist terrorism, many here were outraged that a religious personality would call for the death of a totalitarian dictator. From the outset, let me say that I often disagree with Robertson. I live in Virginia Beach and have been listening to his outrageous statements for a long time. I remember ten years ago when...

Barring the unlikely possibility of a stay, a Presbyterian minister who gunned down an abortion doctor will next week become the first American executed for anti-abortion violence. To a loyal core of admirers, Paul Hill is a martyr-to-be whose actions were justified by the Bible. To others, on both sides of the abortion debate, he is a zealot undeserving of respect or pity. "In a very significant way, it's a sad day," said Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. "It's sad that people like Paul Hill would murder in the name of life." Hill, a 49-year-old...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer argued that stupid people are more dangerous than evil ones. This is because while we can protest against or fight evil people, against stupid ones we are defenseless — reasons fall on dead ears. Bonhoeffer's famous text, which we slightly edited for this video, serves any free society as a warning of what can happen when certain people gain too much power.CHAPTERS0:00 The Darkest Chapter0:55 Letters from prison4:29 About Bonhoeffer5:19 Our Patrons5:28 Subscribe and supportScript based on the work of Dietrich BonhoefferEditor: Jonas KoblinArtist: Pascal GaggelliVoice: Matt AbbottColoring: NalinEditing: Peera LertsukittipongsaProduction: Selina BadorProduction Assistant: BiankaProofreading: SusanBonhoeffer's Theory of...

How a onetime aspiring public intellectual and Trump doubter turned into a true believer in stolen elections. For Eric Metaxas, a prominent evangelical public intellectual and Christian radio host, knowing that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is like believing in Jesus. He just knows in his heart that it is true. During a prayer call with evangelical supporters of President Donald Trump on Tuesday night (Dec. 2), Metaxas said that God is on Trump’s side in the fight against a “stolen” election. “It’s like somebody saying, ‘Oh, you don’t have enough evidence to believe in Jesus.’ We have enough...

The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is also the most passionate, the wildest, and one might almost say the most revolutionary Advent hymn that has ever been sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary as we often see her portrayed in paintings. This Mary...is passionate, carried away, proud, enthusiastic. There is none of the sweet, wistful, or even playful tone of many of our Christmas carols, but instead a hard, strong, relentless hymn about the toppling of the thrones and the humiliation of the lords of this world, about the power of God and...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: Whoever lives beneath the cross of Jesus, and has discerned in the cross of Jesus the utter ungodliness of all people and of their own hearts, will find there is no sin that can ever be unfamiliar. Whoever has once been appalled by the horror of their own sin, which nailed Jesus to the cross, will no longer be appalled by even the most serious sin of another Christian; rather they know the human heart from the cross of Jesus. Such persons know how totally lost is the human heart in sin and weakness, how it...

A new biography is raising questions about the life and relationships of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi dissident whose theological writings remain widely influential among Christians. Both left-leaning and right-leaning Christians herald the life and writings of Bonhoeffer, who was hanged for his involvement in the unsuccessful plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1944. Bonhoeffer was engaged to a woman at the time of his execution, observing that he had lived a full life even though he would die a virgin. The new biography, “Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer,” from University of Virginia religious studies professor Charles Marsh, implies...

video starts to get to business at the 8 min mark. Dietrich Bonhoeffer is well known for his heroic opposition to the Nazis. Dr. Hauerwas' lecture examines Bonhoeffer's understanding of lying and why it's approporiate to hold politics to a higher standard of truthful speech. This relationship between truth and politics is a particular challenge for democratic regimes. From the University of California, Berkeley series, "Burke Lectureship on Religion & Society"

For the past several years toward the end of the Lenten season, I have been reminded of the sad yet heroic life and times of the brave German theologian and scholar, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Although rarely discussed in popular culture, it was on April 8, 1945, that Bonhoeffer, the young, patriot pastor, led his last worship service one week after Easter at a church associated with the Flossenburg concentration camp in the isolated Bavaria town near the Czechoslovakian border. So who exactly was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and what did he do nearly 70 years ago that he continues to be remembered as...