Tonight I listened to the GOP convention speakers, as hard as it was to do because I knew the whole orchestrated event is nothing more than a "puff-piece" for their nominee; however, I was struck by the constant pandering to fear, uncertainty and the role of outsiders and aliens as instruments of terror. It was a pandering that fuels fear and casts opponents as modern day Satanic influences. Opponents were vilified as evil, being amoral or immoral. The call for war against these enemies was explicitly stated, even against fellow citizens who are accused of being anarchists intent on destroying social order. (note added 7/21/16: Later in the week a legislator frequently seen with the nominee brought this point home painfully when he called for their opponent to be shot by a firing squad.)
It is very difficult not to recall the days preceding WWII and the way Hitler incited the German public to view Jews as manipulators, enemies of the public order, controllers of the economic system and being a threat to German social order that led to widespread violence and death in the sordid event of Krystallnacht. It is hard not to think of this mob violence in the context of the mob-induced lynching we endured in the USA in the last two centuries.
In those German times, the many who saw the amoral and immoral effects of those elected perpetrators often remained silent until their arrest and execution, joined the cause, or assented to the violence by their silence. You know the rest of the story.
We should never forget the demands of being neighborly as my last post discussed. That demand, "Are you a good neighbor?" extinguishes any Christological justification for the kind of rhetoric suborning violence and vilifying others that we heard tonight.
We, including my "Black Lives Matter," and "Blue Lives Matter" friends (the former were vilified as traitors by an African-American police official tonight, the latter were attacked with gunfire this past week) should never forget how easy it is to prey on uncertainty and fear to promote un-Christian violence against others.
What do you think is our obligation as Christians concerning speaking out towards this wanton pandering to fear, hatred and concomitantly inspired violence?
Grace and peace
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