Comparing gay marriage to Hitler

You know, and many of you disagree with, what I think about Proposition 8. But have you heard what Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, thinks of the measure that would change California’s constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage?

In the above video, via Pam’s House Blend, Dacus likens defeating gay marriage to fighting back against Hitler:

“There was another time in history when people, when the bell tolled. And the question was whether or not they were going to hear it. The time was during Nazi Germany with Adolf Hitler. You see he brought crowds of clergy together to assure them that he was going to look after the church.

“And one of the members, bold and courageous, Reverend Niemoller made his way to the front and ... said, ‘Hitler, we are not concerned about the church. Jesus Christ will take care of the church. We are concerned about the soul of Germany.’

“Embarrassed and chagrined, his peers quickly shuffled him to the back.

“And as they did Adolf Hitler said, ‘The soul of Germany, you can leave that to me.’ And they did, and because they did bombs did not only fall upon the nation of Germany, but also upon the church and their testimony to this very day.

“Let us not make that mistake folks. Let us hear the bell! Vote on Proposition 8!”

The Rev. Martin Niemoller, who, with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was a leader of the Confessing Church, is best known for this moving call to action:

They came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

Not surprisingly, the Anti-Defamation League was “outraged and deeply offended” by Dacus’ comparison. From a strategic standpoint, I’d agree it was a blunder. Voting yes on Prop. 8 is not a move toward Nazism, but Hitler rounded up and murdered gays along with the crippled and the Jews. I don’t think you’d want to make that association.

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg