I was hoping it was a hoax – one of those things people make up to mess with us – but it isn’t. This image that accompanies this thought was found posted in numerous places in Springfield, Ohio, and possibly in other locations as well. Maysville, Kentucky is in the northeast part of the state, not far from the Pennsylvania/Maryland line, many hours away from the target of their hate. I called the number on the flyer and got a message telling me that this was, indeed, the number for the Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization devoted to a white, Christian America. Curiously, they want mass deportation of all Foreigners and Haitians. I’ve heard that before, haven’t I?
I have only been in the presence of this particular flavor of evil a couple of times. The most public was an event in Cincinnati 35 years at which a local KKK club got permission to have a “Jesus-centered” rally on Fountain Square, smack dab in the middle of downtown. They got permission to do this because a local segment of the Jewish community got permission to put a gigantic Menorah in that very public area. That group got permission to put that there because there was an even more gigantic Christmas tree in the square. Like I have said too many times before, if you let one in, you have to let them all in. And if we were like Athens in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, and we let every religion put a symbol in the town square, maybe this wouldn’t be so upsetting. Or maybe it would.
Newsweek published a poll yesterday that found that 52 percent of Trump supporters believe that his story is definitely or probably true. 81 percent of Harris supporters believe the opposite. The only reason to believe this story, even though it has been proven wrong by countless news sources and investigators, is if hate is at the center of your soul. After all of this carrying on, believing that Haitians are eating people’s pets in Springfield puts you in the same club as the KKK. It is hard for me to imagine what it is like to live with so much hate in your heart. It must be exhausting.
Hate is like a cancer that destroys your healthy cells. It is like the Blob, consuming all that is good and beautiful in the world. Hate is different from anger or frustration; those can be dealt with and worked through. Hate infects your life, turning you into a weapon of mass destruction, ready to burn it all down. Love is quite the opposite, but it is also more fragile. Hate must be removed, or it will overwhelm and devastate all that it touches. Hate makes us more afraid, but Love casts out fear and cures Hate. This is why, I think, Jesus told us to love our enemies, because Hate never made anything or anyone better. That doesn’t mean we do nothing or stay silent; it means we show people who hate that there is a better way. Say yes to Love and no to Hate. For all of our sakes.
Prayer – Holy God, cast out the hate in our lives and help us to cast it out of the world. Give us the courage to speak love to hate. Amen.