When Religion Influences Political Choices in the Context of Nation. the Case of Political Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

In the times of Nazi regime every choice made was political, obviously. It made nearly every sphere of life political (as Hobbes and Schmitt would put it). Research on the history of churches – both catholic and evangelic – clearly shows how the national identity and ideology influenced their institutional form.

Nowadays, religious identity, which influences the political choices, is connected with the religious extremism, unwholesome lack of separation between church and state, establishing political rules due to religious norms, whish leads to human rights violation. My aim is to describe opposite side of the idea of linking religion to politics and nationality. Moreover, the concept which I’ll present is intersubjectively considered to be morally right, possibly beacause of history.

I’ll present the theological and religious concept by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "Protestant saint", member of the anti-Nazi resistance. I will put the national context - strongly rooted in the German concept of the state and law, as well as Luther’s theology and German patriotism of Bonhoeffer on one hand, and the idea of the complete irrelevance of the national question on the other. According to the Author - the answer for the Christian man is obvious and the only one he could provide. Unconditional accompaniment the ‘weakest brothers’ (as Bonhoeffer called Jews) is both political (being in the opposition) and religious (directly resulting from the teaching of Christ) choice.

Bonhoeffer’s political theology is a concept created within the concrete political and historical reality and is a part of German philosophy heritage. However, answers given by Bonhoeffer, not disregarding the idea of nationality, make it completely irrelevant. I’ll present the relationship between religion, the concept of nation and political choices. Thus, I will show different from most of contemporary ideas interpretation of relationships among those categories.