An Awkward Question

Mr. Rogers testifying before congress in 1969.

Photo by http://www.fredrogers.org/frc/news/mister-rogers-goes-washington-may-1-1969 (United States Senate via fredrogers.org) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Last week, after posting a piece in which I quoted Martin Luther extensively, a friend sent me an awkward question: 

"And while you tend to quote Martin Luther, why don't you ever quote anything from his book, 'On the Jews and Their Lies'?"

It's strange, isn't it? From the same mind that gave us "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," came an anti-Semitic treatise. 

I've never read this book by Luther, nor will I waste my time doing so. But the book will not disappear. 

It's like the unwanted-yet-interminable caterwaul of ludicrous statements made by male buffoons in a high school yearbook, yet with no comparison in its devastating self-condemnation because it wasn't written by an injudicious teenager. Luther doesn't have that excuse. It pains me.

In response to my friend, I referred him to a song written by that great children's philosopher-pastor, Mr. Rogers. It's a thoughtful song (as all Mr. Rogers' songs are) titled, "Sometimes People Are Good." 

The opening stanza goes like this: 

Sometimes people are good
And they do just what they should.
But the very same people who are good sometimes
Are the very same people who are bad sometimes.
It's funny, but it's true.
It's the same, isn't it for me and...

When Mr. Rogers wrote that line, "It's funny, but it's true," he was not saying it was something to laugh about. He was saying it's strange. 

But did Mr. Rogers really think it was so strange? 

No. As he said, "It's the same, isn't it for me and..."

I'm not justifying Luther's anti-Semitic book in the least, nor am I minimizing this most egregious error. It's a dark blight on an otherwise very bright light. I'm just saying Luther was, in fact, human. That's not an excuse. It's just a fact. 

We could all use a bit of Mr. Rogers' perspective today. I invite you to take 2 minutes to watch him sing the "Sometimes" song during the first season of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, in 1968, some 50 years ago:

If the video does not play, click here.