(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Thermal Thursday: Progressive Christianity and Enemies [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-13 Today’s Topic: I found a recent diary to be very disturbing, “In May you’re going to see some of the disciplinary hand of God come down upon those people,” by novapsyche. Apparently many of you did too and hope more will read it, as it was posted yesterday morning and is still on the Trending List right now. In short, various right-wingers are making statements apparently looking forward to violence against their “enemies”. Of course such statements can motivate a disturbed person into acts of terrorism. Yet the speakers have “deniability” (somewhat dubious IMO) because they are not directly telling anyone to commit such acts. Kind of like the old gangster characterisation, “Nice country you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it…. Who me? I didn’t tell nobody to do nothin.” So if right-wing Christians are advocating for violence, is there anything left-wing Christians can do to prevent it? First of all: A note about “enemies”: Someone with a difference of opinion who means you no harm is NOT an enemy. A political opponent, maybe, but a fellow American, a neighbour. It would be lovely if we’d rachet the rhetoric down several notches. [And by “we,” I mostly mean they!] Secondly: The Gospels are pretty clear on loving your neighbour. And the stories of Jesus make it clear that He includes your enemy as one of your relevant neighbours: He is reported to have said (Matthew 5:43-47): 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’[i] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? [With apologies to tax collectors — IIRC, the taxes collected were going to Rome, paying the occupiers, so those tax collectors had a much worse reputation than modern tax collectors — even so, Jesus at times is reported to have eaten with them and defended them.] So I’m a human being, I get it. Fact is, some of those on the right DO mean us harm. And I try to be a humane being. But I want them all in prison for very long terms. I want them to pay their entire fortunes in fines. I want for them any and all punishments that make them suffer enough that they learn to cut out their lawbreaking and selfishness. IF there is any learning through suffering. At least, if they have to be kept in prison so the rest of us can be safe, I’m OK with that. Especially the rich and powerful bigoted white guys to whom nothing has happened so far despite long lives of hateful and/or criminal behaviour. But fortunately, you don’t have to listen to me and I don’t have to try to work this out on my own. Reverend Martin Luther King DMTFM (did my thinking for me) on this topic. So: Thirdly: From his “Loving Your Enemies” sermon amplifying the same above Bible passage (there is much, much more at the linky that you may be interested in, but Fair Use keeps me to 3 paragraphs): So somehow the “isness” of our present nature is out of harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls “the image of God,” you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never slough off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude. -snip- And this is what Jesus means, I think, in this very passage when he says, “Love your enemy.” And it’s significant that he does not say, “Like your enemy.” Like is a sentimental something, an affectionate something. There are a lot of people that I find it difficult to like. I don’t like what they do to me. I don’t like what they say about me and other people. I don’t like their attitudes. I don’t like some of the things they’re doing. I don’t like them. But Jesus says love them. And love is greater than like. Love is understanding, redemptive goodwill for all men, so that you love everybody, because God loves them. You refuse to do anything that will defeat an individual, because you have agape in your soul. And here you come to the point that you love the individual who does the evil deed, while hating the deed that the person does. This is what Jesus means when he says, "Love your enemy." This is the way to do it. When the opportunity presents itself when you can defeat your enemy, you must not do it. Now for the few moments left, let us move from the practical how to the theoretical why. It’s not only necessary to know how to go about loving your enemies, but also to go down into the question of why we should love our enemies. I think the first reason that we should love our enemies, and I think this was at the very center of Jesus’ thinking, is this: that hate for hate only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. If I hit you and you hit me and I hit you back and you hit me back and go on, you see, that goes on ad infinitum. It just never ends. Somewhere somebody must have a little sense, and that’s the strong person. The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate, that it doesn’t cut it off. It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love. And finally: Is a commitment to love in response to hate practical? Welp, MLK’s commitment to nonviolence changed this country and the world. It is believed to have increased support for his movement. And with principles like this, his commitment to nonviolence clearly comes from his belief in loving your enemies: 1. Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is active nonviolent resistance to evil. 2. Nonviolence seeks to win friendship and understanding. The end result of nonviolence is redemption and reconciliation. 3. Nonviolence seeks to defeat injustice, not people. Nonviolence recognizes that evildoers are also victims. I know, it is tempting to say that our relationships are so fraught now that loving will not turn around hate in this environment. But the Civil Rights movement occurred partly in response to Jim Crow laws, during a time there was no Voting Rights Act nor Fair Housing Act. That time, I think, was worse than fraught. So what say you? Do we try to do the moral thing and love our enemies and change the minds of at least a few of them? (Probably combined with prison to keep us safe from any of the worst who will not change any other way.) Or has this advice outlived its usefulness after a couple millennia? Please discuss in Comments. Can we all get along? (h/t CathyM) Finally as always, let’s elevate our Community Cred and repost The Needs List! From Aashirs nani (with permission) on Helping Humpday! PLEASE NOTE: When sending via PayPal, be sure to select “Send to family/friend” to avoid fees on either end. 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