Introduction
Kerk & Leven (“Church & Life”) is the leading weekly Catholic magazine in the Flemish region of Belgium. Since October 2025, on the invitation of the chief editor of the local edition of the parish of Olen, Cis Marinus, I have been writing a reflective article every two weeks from a philosophical and theological perspective, exploring Christianity in a scientific age.
22 April 2026
A Clear View in Dark Times: Bonhoeffer and the Danger of Stupidity
April 6, 1945. In the early morning, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed in the Flossenbürg concentration camp, sentenced to death for his involvement in the resistance against the Nazi regime. His earthly life ends at just 39 years old, yet it is precisely then that his thought begins to exert a lasting influence. Who was this intriguing man who had the courage to follow his convictions to the very end, even when it cost him his life?
Born in 1906 in Breslau (present-day Wrocław in Poland), Dietrich Bonhoeffer studied theology and earned his doctorate in 1927 with the dissertation Sanctorum Communio (“A Communion of Saints”). While for many the church is simply a place where Christ is spoken about, Bonhoeffer defended the view that the church is the body of Christ, not merely symbolically, but as a concrete social reality.
After his studies, he worked for several years as a lecturer and pastor. Yet his promising future as a theologian would take an unexpected turn. In 1933, Hitler came to power in Germany, and the systematic exclusion of Jews soon took on violent forms. Bonhoeffer became actively involved in resistance against the Nazi regime. In 1943, he was arrested and accused of high treason. After two years of imprisonment, he was hanged in April 1945, shortly before the end of the Second World War. Today, he is remembered worldwide as a symbol of principled resistance against injustice and tyranny.
While in prison, Bonhoeffer wrote a remarkable essay, Nach zehn Jahren (“After Ten Years”), intended as a “New Year’s gift” for his fellow resistance members. It is not a systematic philosophical work, but a personal reflection on what happens to people when a society morally derails. In this text, Bonhoeffer formulates one of his most famous and unsettling ideas: that stupidity can be more dangerous than malice. His analysis is not only historically relevant, but also applicable to contemporary political situations, reason enough to examine this idea more closely.
Bonhoeffer wrote this text after ten years of living under National Socialism. He was no outsider: he was part of German society and explicitly acknowledged that even “good people” were not immune to moral corruption. He analyzes not only the evil of the Nazi regime, but especially how ordinary people become entangled in it. How can a society collectively go astray? Why do common sense, morality, and institutions fail? What happens to individual responsibility? Central to his reflection is his analysis of stupidity. Remarkably, he does not consider stupidity an intellectual deficiency, but a moral and spiritual problem.
He argues that stupidity arises under the influence of power and group pressure. People lose their inner independence and become carriers of slogans and clichés. Stupidity has nothing to do with having a “low IQ,” but with the loss of independent thinking, the unreflective adoption of collective language and ideas, and moral passivity. Bonhoeffer describes how a “stupid” person no longer functions as an individual, but as a kind of instrument of larger forces. Such people, he argues, can even commit evil without being aware of it. Hence his famous claim: stupidity is more dangerous than evil, because it cannot be countered with arguments. The greatest danger in a totalitarian society is not only ideological conviction, but the mass willingness to stop thinking critically.
Malicious people often know very well what they are doing. They can be morally confronted or restrained. The “stupid” person, by contrast, lives in a closed world of slogans and beliefs, where reason no longer penetrates. Yet totalitarian systems cannot function without broad cooperation. It is precisely stupidity that makes such cooperation possible. For Bonhoeffer, stupidity is not primarily an intellectual failure, but a loss of inner freedom. People allow themselves to be swept along by power, propaganda, or groupthink, becoming alienated from truth and conscience. Theologically, this means that a person no longer lives in truth before God. Here his analysis touches on a classic Christian idea: stupidity resembles what theology calls “sin.” It is a condition in which a person shuts herself off from truth, evades responsibility, and surrenders to external forces. Stupidity thus has a moral and spiritual dimension, it is a problem of unfreedom and estrangement from truth.
Bonhoeffer does not stop at analysis. He seeks an answer, and that answer is striking: inner liberation. The key to such liberation lies in reclaiming independent thought, developing moral responsibility, and breaking free from group pressure. For Bonhoeffer, this is not merely an intellectual exercise, but an existential and spiritual stance. Only those who are inwardly free can resist collective stupidity. Theologically, this means that true liberation comes through a relationship with God that restores a person to responsibility and truth.
It is tempting, but also risky, to apply Bonhoeffer’s analysis directly to contemporary leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump. There are certainly notable parallels. In the political discourse surrounding Trump. We see the strong use of short, powerful slogans (“Make America Great Again”). Such language can reduce complex realities to simple oppositions, increasing the risk of “collective stupidity.” Contemporary American politics is also marked by strong polarization, with groups closing themselves off from other perspectives. In such a climate, rational debate becomes more difficult, precisely the problem Bonhoeffer describes. In the current Trump era, we also see a growing distrust toward the media, the judiciary, and electoral processes. This can contribute to an environment in which facts and truth become less stable, a fertile ground for the kind of “stupidity” Bonhoeffer analyzes. Of course, the historical scale and nature of evil are not comparable. The United States is not a totalitarian state like Nazi Germany. The value of Bonhoeffer’s analysis therefore lies not in direct equivalence, but in recognizing patterns of human vulnerability.
Yet within this diagnosis lies a hopeful opening. If stupidity is not a final condition, but a distortion of the heart and mind, then it is not the last word about humanity. In the light of Christ, human beings are called to renewed inner freedom, a freedom rooted in responsibility, truth, and love. In this way, Bonhoeffer’s critique ultimately becomes an invitation to vigilance and spiritual renewal. From this perspective, one may look ahead with hope: that communities may once again learn to discern, that truth will not be drowned out by power, and that humanity will not be lost in conformity, but rather deepened through courageous discipleship.
