Last night before I went to bed, I saw the news that a gunman in Christchurch, New Zealand, had shot up a mosque and killed or injured about 50 people during a worship service.
Domestically the same sort of nationalist extremism is loose here in America, and often fanned by our president. In Europe and elsewhere, the damage it's doing to the social contract could take decades to repair.
The wall to the city is broken, and the barbarians are pouring in.
What good is in this?
I'm reminded of events that happened in Billings, Mont., in December 1993, when a group of Neo-Nazis started throwing bricks through the windows where Jewish homeowners displayed their menorahs. The community banded together, and Gentile residents showed solidarity with their Jewish neighbors by placing menorahs in their own windows.
The message was clear, if costly: We're in this together. An attack on one of us is an attack on us all.
It's that same solidarity that the Dutch resistance showed during the Nazi occupation during World War II, as they hid their Jewish neighbors from the Nazis and smuggled them to freedom and safety. It's the same commitment to justice that Sunni Muslims in Egypt showed when they stood in solidarity with Coptic Christians to protect their houses of worship and services after terrorists struck on Palm Sunday in 2017.
It's that spirit that we must show now in the face of white nationalism and white supremacy, especially when it comes dressed in the outward clothing of Christianity. "Beware those who appear to be sheep but inwardly are ravenous wolves," Jesus told his followers. The words ring as true today as they ever did.
People of conscience and goodwill stand together in the face of hatred. Take a moment to let a Muslim neighbor know that you are horrified by the attack in Christchurch, and offer your support. When someone calls Islam a religion of hate or denigrates Muslims, speak up, shut them down, and tell them to go to hell.
When we see someone targeted for hate and it's not our fight, but we stand with them and make it ours, that's not just good, it's the very work of God.
Stand tall, stand together and we can repair the breach.
Copyright © 2019 by David Learn. Used with permission.
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