First they came for the Catholics. . .

In explaining his decision to sign the Manhattan Declaration, the not always ecumenical Albert Mohler sounds reminiscent of the late German pastor Martin Niemoller. Mohler cites the current trend of state-mandated immorality having a negative impact on the work of Catholic ministry organizations.

But when Catholic Charities in Massachusetts chose to end its historic ministry of placing orphaned children in good homes because the State of Massachusetts required it to place children with same-sex couples, this is not just a Catholic issue. The orphanage could have easily been Baptist. When Belmont Abbey college in North Carolina is told by federal authorities that it must offer abortion services in its insurance plans for employees, this is no longer just a Catholic issue. The next institution to be under attack might well be Presbyterian. We are in this together, and we had better be thankful that, in this case, we are not alone. . . .

I want my name on that list. I surrendered no conviction or confessional integrity to sign that statement. No one asked me to compromise in any manner. I was encouraged that we could stand together to make clear that to come for one of us on these issues is to come for all. At the end of the day, I did not want my name missing from that list when folks look to see just who was willing to be listed.

A poem attributed to Niemoller expresses regret over the silence of the German intellectual community during the rise of the Nazis and the purging of enemy groups, one by one.

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.

God forbid that there come a day when a weary American Christian leader pens a lamentation that begins, "First they came for the Catholics. . ."