Dietrich Bonhoeffer named a martyr by United Methodists

6/21/2008

The United Methodist Church has officially recognized the Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a martyr.

Born in Breslau, Germany, in 1906, Mr. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor who helped lead resistance to the Nazis and was executed on April 9, 1945, for conspiring to kill dictator Adolf Hitler.

The Rev. Charles Sigman, a United Methodist pastor in Newport, Ark., submitted a resolution to the 2008 General Conference that said, In keeping in line with the Church of England and the Church of Wales, we, as United Methodists, should also recognize Dietrich Bonhoeffer as a modern-day martyr for the cause of Christ.