Editor,
I really do try to avoid touching on any political or social issues as I try to focus on the positive things in my life, but it is impossible for me to be quiet on this particular topic.
Friends, it’s 2017. Not 1865. The America we live in (the America that so many people have given their lives for) has no room for hatred and bigotry. Participating in any kind of hate or resentment toward anyone who is different from you to any capacity – whether it be race, religion, sexuality or any other factor – is about as unpatriotic as you could get.
We are a nation based on freedom and equal opportunity for all. If you can’t accept the fact that there are millions of people who are different from you that have the same rights, you may want to start wrapping your mind around it.
Disagreeing with the way another human being acts or believes is one thing, but lashing out and raising violence is a whole other. If you claim to be condemning and inflicting pain on others “in the name of God,” you couldn’t be further from the word of the Lord. Christians are not hateful. We are called by God to live like his son Jesus and love others as we love ourselves.
If you call yourself a Christian but you are misinterpreting and using the Bible to hurt somebody, you are using it incorrectly. It breaks my heart to see so much hatred when it’s so much easier to just be kind and accepting. Human decency has escaped many in our political/social climate right now and it’s alarming.
Long story short: be nice. It takes far less energy to be kind than it does to be abrasive and hateful. Love can move mountains and bring unity. All hate does is burn things into ashes and smoke. One nation, under God, with liberty and justice. For all.
Alexa Dow, Carmel