This Month's Issue

Editorial by Dave Weigley

Recently my niece, a determined genealogist, discovered through her research that we Weigleys came from a little German village not far from the city of Worms. A quick look online reveals this was the place Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, took his stand for conscience, declaring before the Diet of Worms in 1521, “Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God” (Martin Brecht, Martin Luther: His Road to Reformation 1483-1521, Vol. 1, p. 460).

Article by James Standish / Image Courtesy ADRA

America was founded by religious refugees. At our best, we continue the tradition by welcoming those in greatest need. At our worst, we close our doors to those in dire distress, as we did in 1939 when we rejected the call to bring 20,000 Jewish children to America. As a result, many of those beautiful children were starved, beaten, brutally abused in unimaginable sadistic ways, and systematically slaughtered in the Nazi death factories. Today as we see men, women and children reaching out to us in hope, we can either open our hearts, or we live with the eternal consequences of turning our backs.