Bill Moyers Intro to "Weapons of the Spirit"

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BILL MOYERS' TELEVISION INTRODUCTION
OF WEAPONS OF THE SPIRIT

The following is the transcript of Bill Moyers' introduction to the
P.B.S. broadcast of Weapons of the Spirit.

Bill Moyers

Hello, I'm Bill Moyers.

Imagine that the United States has been conquered militarily by a vicious, oppressive foreign power.

Imagine that U.S. officials, under occupation, decide not to resist the foreign power but to do its bidding. And imagine that the foreign power has a consuming, murderous hatred for a particular segment of our population—say, the Jews, or blacks or Christians¾ and is bent on eliminating them altogether.

Imagine that Americans compliantly join in, singling out these men, women and children for persecution, and then agree to turn them over to be deported to parts unknown, with obvious evil intent.

Imagine what you, imagine what I, would do if something like this were to occur. Would we stand idly by, pretending it wasn't happening, or rationalizing that, Well, this doesn't really concern us anyway. Or would we be willing to put our lives on the line if necessary, and that of our families, because, well, because that's just the sort of person we are.

The French, during the Nazi occupation of their country during World War II, were faced with just such choices and responsibilities.

Throughout occupied Europe, individuals, families and nations had to decide whether they were indeed their brothers' keepers. Many, unfortunately, demonstrated that they were not.

Weapons of the Spirit, the film we're about to see, tells the story of a whole community that made the right moral choice. Most important, it reminds us that that moral choice remains the individual's to make.

As the film aptly recalls, many Christians still have to face the magnitude of their failure during the Holocaust. To do so, they have to be able to measure what it was possible to do, what is was possible for even an entire community to do.

Those are the issues that are illuminated by this film. I hope you've gathered your family around to experience this documentary, and that you will stay afterwards to join me in meeting the man who produced it. His name is Pierre Sauvage, and his story—the story of the film and the story behind the film—is one I think you will long remember.

The film raises a lot of questions—Pierre intended that it would—and we'll probe some of them when we come back later in this broadcast. We'll also explore his own personal story.

And now, Weapons of the Spirit.

Weapons of the Spirit Transcript

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