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Eminentoes

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Maybe trying to compensate for the utter lack of suspense or drama, Thomas quoted Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his small crowd of UCC supporters. "The church has been a silent partner in evil deeds," the anti-Nazi martyr was recalled having said. "We are breaking that silence today," the UCC president insisted, before he was arrested.

Standing naked in a prison courtyard, Bonhoeffer was shot by an SS firing squad for plotting to help kill Hitler. Thomas, in a dark suit, probably identified with the martyr as he was gingerly led away by nonchalant White House guards who are long accustomed to and likely bored by such staged arrests.

"This is a difficult time for people of faith who are opposed to the war," Thomas courageously opined. Hopefully he and the Rev. Jaramillo got a nice meal at one of Washington's finer restaurants before heading to Reagan National Airport.

The hundreds of thousands of youthful anti-war protesters of 35 and 40 years ago shook the nation with their radical energy. The affable and white-haired UCC clerics, looking more like well-dressed tourist grandparents, hardly shook anybody with their minor street theater. Their performance was quaint, silly, and hopefully harmless.

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