Dietrich Bonhoeffer and North Carolina’s Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

With the defeat of same-sex marriage in North Carolina, I am reminded once again of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s sensitive analysis of the cultural, religious, and political ideals that divided his people. During his days of public protest, especially in the early 1930s, laws that sought to discriminate against non-Aryans grew increasingly brazen in their direct assaults on human rights.

The situation we witnessed yesterday cannot help but conjure images of the introduction of one such Aryan paragraph on June 30, 1933. This “law” prevented Aryans from holding civil service jobs if it was discovered they were married to non-Aryans. That marriage was being attacked as a right available only to those of Aryan descent along with other factors created the backdrop for Bonhoeffer’s now famous response “The Church and the Jewish Question.” In this defensive work, Bonhoeffer questions another dimension of these laws barring ministers of non-Aryan/Jewish descent to continue their activities in the Church. In the work, he questions the legitimacy of distinguishing within the Church between Jew or Gentile, claiming that such things are undermined by one’s belief in Christ and place in the community of faith. Likewise, Bonhoeffer also states that it is the Church’s duty to come alongside and support anyone who is being discriminated against and whose rights are being displaced, and not only those who claim “the household of faith.”

This concern for the “Other,” (Andere) an early theme in Bonhoeffer’s writings, eerily anticipates the circumstances that would come to affect the German Jews. Bonhoeffer, who had Jewish family, knew all too well the real-world consequences of discrimination. He deeply regretted, for example, caving into pressure not to preach the eulogy at his brother-in-law’s Jewish father.

Reflecting further, I was also unfortunately reminded that as various non-Aryan laws were passed, one of the outcomes was that Jews were systematically prevented from obtaining benefits through the public healthcare system in Germany.  For those of you following closely, one of the arguments against prohibiting same-sex marriages in North Carolina was a protest of the same quality. By denying homosexual parents marriage status, children in those relationships would not be recognized as legitimate offspring, and could be subject to the exclusion of healthcare benefits.

In effect, what we have in North Carolina is “National Socialism in miniature,” folks. Who knows? Perhaps the next measure will be the reinvention of a new State motto.