Hate has no boundaries. Even in a region we like to think of as accepting, bigotry and discrimination can be prominent.
Such hatred cannot be legislated and cannot be prevented. But most important, it cannot be ignored; it must be confronted and dispelled, challenged by those who recognize and honor the shared humanity in all of us. The choice between celebrating love or embracing hate represents the difference between a community that prospers and one that crumbles under the weight of divisiveness.
Such differences come to mind in the wake of a sermon at Vancouver’s Sure Foundation Baptist Church. In video posted online, pastor Aaron Thompson reflects on the murder of five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I really don’t care that those people got killed. And you’re like, ‘That sounds really hateful, pastor.’ Well, it is hateful. Because I do hate them,” Thompson says.
Presumably, Thompson does not know the people who were killed. He does not even know if they were members of the LGBTQ community; he just knows that his hatred of gay people allows him to draw conclusions and celebrate their deaths with his congregants.
We are not inclined to get into a debate about scripture with Thompson or anybody else representing an evangelical church. But we do know the King James Bible says “Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
And we do know that hateful speech has become increasingly prominent in our nation in recent years, coinciding with a rise in violence against “others” — be they members of the gay community, Jewish people or racial minorities.
In the most prominent event fueled by bigotry, 49 people were shot to death at a gay nightclub in 2016 in Orlando, Fla. Following that, the pastor of Verity Baptist Church said the Pulse Nightclub shooting was a “tragedy … that more of them didn’t die.” Vancouver’s Sure Foundation Baptist Church reportedly is an offshoot of the Verity Baptist Church.
Such speech from community or political leaders is threatening. As a study from Cambridge University in England found: “In the absence of prejudiced elite speech, prejudiced citizens constrain the expression of their prejudice. However, in the presence of prejudiced elite speech … the study finds that the prejudiced are emboldened to both express and act upon their prejudices.”
And as a commentary for the centrist Brookings Institution notes, another study “found that rhetoric did not change attitudes but rather emboldened individuals to express, and act on, pre-existing views they had once hidden.”
Thompson and others who freely espouse hate likely see that as a feature and not a bug. The rest of us should see it as a warning of increased discord and violence throughout our society. When an individual is convinced that hatred is an appropriate response to a particular segment of our community, the removal of behavioral boundaries endangers us all.
For those who follow Jesus and believe in the words, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” the choice is clear. We must reject expressions of hate that not only defy those words but celebrate and welcome violence. We must speak out against presumptive leaders who violate our communal values.
It is tempting to ignore the words from a pastor of a small church that operates out of a small former bank in a strip mall. But we all must speak out and reject those who desire to expand the boundaries of hatred in our community.
