Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Ethics,” Fortress Press, 2015.

“The new unity that the French Revolution brought about in Europe, and whose crisis we experience today, is Western godlessness. It is quite different from the atheism of particular Greek, Indian, Chinese, and Western thinkers. It is not the theoretical denial of the existence of a God. Instead, it is itself religion, a religion of enmity toward God. In this very attitude it is Western. It cannot let go of its past; it must be essentially religious.” (p. 62)

“We can make it hard for ourselves and others to come to faith. It is hard for those thrust into extreme disgrace, desolation, poverty, and helplessness to believe in God’s justice and goodness. It becomes hard for those whose lives have fallen into disorder and a lack of discipline to hear the commandments of God in faith. It is hard for the well-fed and the powerful to comprehend God’s judgment and God’s grace. It is hard for those who are disappointed by a false faith and who have lost self-control to find the simplicity of surrendering their hearts to Jesus Christ.” (p. 96)