First They Came for the Jews by Niemoller and Who Needs God by Kushner - Essay Example

Who Needs God is authored by Harold Kushner, a prominent American Rabbi. In this essay, the author explains that to err is human and it does not mean a human being will be deprived of the love of God. No human being is perfect and an individual learns by committing mistakes. Substantively, the messages articulated by both the authors are the same, but they do it in different styles, and the emphasis varies in degrees. Their simple and straightforward message is ‘we should care about others’ and should discourage divisive forces.

The poet was anti-communist and without applying much thought, he must have supported Adolph Hitler’s rise to power but soon he realized his grave mistake on that count. Hitler insisted on the supremacy of the state over religion and initiated a hate-campaign against the Jews, to begin with. As a good clergyman, the author opposed the division of humanity on the basis of ethnicity or any other type of divisive tool. “As the pastor of the Berlin congregation of the Evangelical church from 1931, Niemoller led a group of clergy working to counter Nazism and earned Hitler’s hatred” (Niemoller, n.d.).

He describes the dangers of political apathy. The line “Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me” (Niemoller, n. d.) is very important. Injustice at any level to any community must be resisted and nipped in the bud, to prevent it from spreading across the entire society. Kushner gives the example from Christian scriptures and writes “Moses may have gotten his ideas about morality from the same place that Shakespeare got his poetry and Mozart his music, but the process surpasses my understanding.

I describe them as “God-given” to convey the idea that they are a permanent part of life, not subject to human approval or disapproval” (p.84, n. d.). The main idea of both the authors is, an individual should do what one thinks to be right but Kushner emphasizes that it is not always possible, even when one tries to reach his destination through honest means. Since human beings are not perfect, their actions can never be perfect. Another important difference is Niemoller emphatically states that we should take care of others, especially the most vulnerable sections of the society and innocent and good people, but according to Kushner the same may not be always possible and the reactions of an individual depend on his circumstances.

According to Kushner, practices of religion need to be dynamic and they are not meant to be the submissions of the weak. Referring to Psalm 119, the author writes “It is a law that keeps us human, guiding us to the realization that there are greater callings and higher satisfaction in life than constantly looking out for our own self-interest” (p.82.n.d.) Faith in God is not for the sake of the afterworld. It is very much for the life on this Planet Earth. It needs to be for practical purposes, perspectives that enable an individual to see the peoples of the world with equanimity, irrespective of their individual religious beliefs, race, color, and any other traits.

ConclusionThe transformation needs to be initiated from the individual level. Niemoller had the suffering of a particular community in his mind while writing the poem, whereas the contents of the essay of Kushner are applicable to the entire humankind.