The Religious Left’s Climate of Hate
Jim Wallis claimed that if his “white 14-year-old son Luke had walked out that same night, in that same neighborhood, just to get a snack he would have come back to his dad unharmed — and would still be with me and Joy today.” For Wallis, race was not injected enough into the trial. “It was a political, legal, and moral mistake to not put race at the center of this trial because it was at the center from the beginning of this terrible case.” Wallis goes on to tell of young black boys sleeping in bed with their parents out of fear after the verdict. Concealed carry laws and generous self-defense laws “will lead to the death of more black men in particular,” Wallis warns.
The emerging church’s Brian McLaren now touts an “Emerging America.” McLaren ironically informs us that his Emerging America “is disgusted by political parties that win by dividing America through wedge issues, and then can blame the other side when they have rendered the nation so polarized as to be ungovernable.” Yes, we’re all disgusted by those who are dividing America. Oh, the title of McLaren’s piece? “Trayvon and George: A Tale of Two Americas.” You cannot make this stuff up.
These members of the religious left took a divisive, emotionally raw, racially-charged instance and rushed forth to stoke fears and fan hatreds. The law no longer protects black people. More black men are going to die now. Blacks now live in a pre-1964 nightmare. America is hopelessly plagued by “systematic injustice — one that allows white boys to assume success, yet leads black boys to cower from the very institutions created to protect our own wellbeing.”
It looks to me like these could be the environments that allow hate and violence to grow. Perhaps even the kind of hate and violence that might lead some to stomp a man while shouting, “This is for Trayvon Martin.” Jim Wallis and his allies at Sojourners are pouring gasoline on the fire while acting like they’re the firefighters. After the shooting of Rep. Giffords, Wallis suggested we examine ourselves and ask, “How can I not only stop conflict, but also be a part of bringing about a just community that displays the positive presence of peace?” Perhaps one way would be to pull the plug on Sojourners. After all, one the most important steps in putting out a fire is removing the heat.
Image:Johan Christian Dahl (1788–1857); Work location Dresden, Italy, Norway; Title Cloud Study, Thunder Clouds over the Palace Tower at Dresden; Current location: Alte Nationalgalerie; public domain
