Now I would be willing to bet a couple hundred dollars (I'm a college student so I could not afford to lose even a hundred bucks) that Mike Huckabee is not anti-Semitic. But when I heard him praise Martin Luther on Hardball with Chris Matthews, I was pretty annoyed. MSNBC has not posted the transcript of today's show yet, so I'll try and provide one a rough transcript.
Matthews: It sound like... and I mean this with respect... it sounds like you're a bit of Martin Luther. You're a here or stand kind of guy.
Huckabee: That is a complement to me. Martin Luther is one of my theological heroes. And as a baptist to give praise to Martin Luther...
(There was some mumbling and interrupting going on, so this probably isn't perfect)
I do not even want to make this totally about Huckabee, since I don't think he's anti-Semitic, and because countless "pro-Semitic" Christians think of Martin Luther as some sort of hero. Not because he was anti-Semitic, but because of his role in the Protestant Reformation. But the fact that he is considered a hero by anyone really annoys me. I'm sure Huckabee's admiration of Luther was innocent, but still... Martin Luther was an awful human being.
It just frustrates me that he is often given a free pass in history, purely because he was a religious figure. Luther had a strong hatred for Jews. He was greatly admired by Hitler of all people. Luther helped take hatred for Jews to a new level. If Martin Luther was a politician or was not religious, he would probably be considered to be the scum of the earth by a large majority of Americans.
Due to the fact that Martin Luther is considered to be a "Patron Saint" by many Protestant Christians, people often consider him to be a hero and/or a great man.I'm sure I mentioned before here that I went to a fundamentalist Christian High School. In history class, in tenth or eleventh grade, we discussed Martin Luther. I remember telling my history teacher, who was also a personal friend of the family (and he is a really really great guy), that Martin Luther hated Jews. My teacher was shocked, and would not believe it until I showed him evidence from a solid source.
Many Christians that I know do not really know that Martin Luther was anti-Semitic. When I told my teacher (before showing him evidence) that one of Martin Luther's writings was entitled "The Jews And Their Lies", I think he looked at me like I was out of my mind. Well Martin did write "The Jews And Their Lies". The "Jews And Their Lies" should solidify Luther's place an history as a terrible bigot.
In the short book, he wrote that the Jews are "the devil's people". Luther wanted to "be rid of them". He wanted his government to deal with the "problem". He said that, "We are at fault in not slaying them (to avenge Christ's death)." Boy oh boy... Is it a surprise that Luther was one of Hitler's heroes?
"One leading Protestant churchman, Bishop Martin Sasse published a compendium of Martin Luther's antisemitic vitriol shortly after Kristallnacht's orgy of anti-Jewish violence. In the foreword to the volume, he applauded the burning of the synagogues and the coincidence of the day: 'On November 10, 1938, on Luther's birthday, the synagogues are burning in Germany.' The German people, he urged, ought to heed these words 'of the greatest antisemite of his time, the warner of his people against the Jews."- Adolf Hitler
Martin Luther was Hitler's hero, but I wish that he was not Mike Huckabees hero. Even if Luther was really some great church figure, his hatred towards Jews should disqualified him from being anyone's hero. But since he's an important Christian figure, Luther often gets a free pass. Anyone who calls the man a hero should feel ashamed.
Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer selfglory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them....
Moreover, they are nothing but thieves and robbers who daily eat no morsel and wear no thread of clothing which they have not stolen and pilfered from us by means of their accursed usury. Thus they live from day to day, together with wife and child, by theft and robbery, as archthieves and robbers, in the most impenitent security....
Let the government deal with them in this respect, as I have suggested. But whether the government acts or not, let everyone at least be guided by his own conscience and form for himself a definition or image of a Jew...
They are full of the "devil's feces ... which they wallow in like swine."...
I could go on and on and on boring you with awful quotes from Luther if I really felt like it. He was a despicable man, but because he used his religion for hate, he is often immune from criticism in Christian and even non-Christian circles.
Now I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that I think that Huckabee is anti-Semitic. If he as a candidate I liked, this would not deter me from voting for him. I don't think he really admirers the awful things that Luther did. But I just really find it disgusting that a man that advocated burning synagogues, seizing Jews' money and property, defiling Jews' homes, and even advocating killing Jews, is considered to be a hero so some ("We are at fault in not slaying them"). Luther helped bring anti-Semitic to a whole new level. He is responsible for the deaths of many Jews. He was not a hero. Martin Luther was a total disgrace. The fact that he was a Christian should not trump the fact that he was a despicable human being.