Following Holocaust Memorial Day, I spoke with Associate Director of the Philos Leadership Institute Dominique Hoffman to discuss how Christians should view violence and the death of innocents in the face of evil. Video of our conversation is below via The Philos Project YouTube channel.
At Auschwitz, more than 1.3 million souls would enter, but somewhere between 1.1 and 1.2 million of them would die. It is a question many have asked, “Where was God” during the Holocaust or the senseless tragedies in our own lives?
Dominique and I grapple with ideas of free will, our all-loving God, and our responsibility to pursue righteousness here on earth.
For more, read my recent article on the topic, “The End of Auschwitz” at Providence here.
📖 Episode Chapters:
00:00 Discussing God, Evil, and the Holocaust
05:26 A Journey from Atheism to Faith
11:01 The Rise of Eugenics and Nationalism in Post-WWI Germany
17:17 Overview of Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp System
23:44 The Challenge of Free Will and Moral Responsibility
29:52 Divine Intervention and Human Freedom
35:44 The Role of Government and Moral Responsibilities
41:40 The Ethics and Challenges of Pacifism
47:45 Importance of Justice and Responsibility
53:56 Christian Politics and Remembering the Holocaust
Comment by Wilson R. on February 4, 2025 at 3:52 pm
If a warning to Christians is needed, it would be much more about the dangers of Christian militarism than the dangers of Christian pacifism. Just about every war that Christian-majority states undertake gets treated as a just war. The threat that Christians will actually practice pacifism in large numbers isn’t a very serious one.
Comment by David on February 5, 2025 at 8:06 am
A good example of picking some biblical verses to follow and some to ignore.