Trauma of hate

I've heard a lot of people saying that President Elect Obama is a Muslim, when he is a Christian, that he "is a friend of terrorists" when he is not. What troubles me more than average people thinking these lies are true and repeating them, is where the lies came from. They came from the McCain/Palin campaign and their supporters, but they also came from members of the clergy. When we think of the Sermon of the Mount and the words of Christ, we think of the Beatitudes and miss the rest of what He said. So let's clarify this right now.
All the following quotes come from BibleGateway. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+5

The Fulfillment of the Law
17"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

When a member of clergy lies, it is one of the biggest sins of all.

Murder
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder,and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.

Here you read that Jesus put hatred right up there with murder. To hate someone is a sin. To hate someone because of the color of their skin is a sin. God created us in the image of Him and that image of Him is spirit, not flesh and bones. The color of a person's skin comes again from what God created and that was the ability of the body to adapt. No matter what a person's skin color is, they have the same hopes, dreams, gifts, heartache and joys as you do.

Love for Enemies
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons 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. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

How can any Christian say they belong to Christ if they go against everything He stood for? While these hate crimes are not all committed by people who are Christian, too many Christians support what they are doing. Even members of Christ's church! Don't they understand that the Bible is about how we are supposed to treat each other? That is what Christ came to teach us.

We all know what it's like to be hated without cause. We all know what it's like when someone lies about us and when we discover they lied to us. It is a betrayal and it's traumatic. What is even more traumatic is to be attacked or targeted because someone hated you for who you voted for, where you live, the color of your skin or because they believed a lie.

Hope came back into this nation when the majority said finally "the content of their character" mattered more than the color of someone's skin, the very way Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt of. The others may never learn what it is like to experience that kind of pure heart that sees beyond color. These are miserable people who want to blame others for the ugliness in their own soul and the misery in their own mind instead of noticing exactly why they feel the way they do.

When the truth is told, then it is truth but if you believe in a lie when the truth can easily be found, you are worse than a liar.

Hate crimes surge in US after Obama election: experts
Published: Wednesday November 19, 2008

An interracial couple in Pennsylvania who woke up to find the remains of a burnt cross in their front garden.

A California town which saw cars and garages vandalized with swastikas, racist epithets and slogans such as "Go Back to Africa."

Black effigies hung from nooses in an island community in Maine.

Students chanting "assassinate Obama" on a schoolbus in Idaho.

Barack Obama's historic election as America's first black president has led to a surge of racist incidents across the United States, hate-crime monitoring groups and analysts say.

Mark Potok, director of the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, said the final weeks of the US election campaign and its immediate aftermath had witnessed "hundreds and hundreds" of hate-related incidents.

"Since the closing weeks of the campaign, we've seen a real and significant, white backlash break out and I think it's getting worse," Potok told AFP.

Potok traced the onset of the incidents to around the time of election rallies by Republican vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin where shouts of "Kill Him!" were reportedly heard from sections of the crowd.

"But what we're seeing now is everything from cross burnings, to death threats, to Obama effigies hanging in nooses to ugly racial incidents in schoolyards around the country," Potok said.
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After attack, did New Port Richey police ignore victim?

After attack, did New Port Richey police ignore victim?
By Bill Stevens, Times Staff Writer

The first blow cracked open his head.

"Faggot!'' screamed one of the hooded attackers. "You're gonna die!''

Joe Catania believed him. A lamp crashed against his face. Blood flew.

"Kill his dog! Kill the faggot's dog!''

In his 64 years, in all his openly gay life, Catania had never endured a beating. But now, in the bedroom of his own home just two blocks from the restaurant he lovingly tended for 15 years, he touched his unrecognizable face and it crackled like paper.

"I looked like the elephant man,'' he said. "My sinuses were ripped to shreds, my face was shattered.''
go here for more
http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article838867.ece

Sometime before 5 a.m. Aug. 23 on quiet, tree-shaded Illinois Avenue in New Port Richey, Joe Catania fell victim to a hate crime. He has no doubt about that. But he has plenty of doubt that the local police gave it much attention.

He also has several friends in town, people who admired what he did with the Cafe Grand before retiring in 2004. Last week, some of them started complaining. Now Mayor Scott McPherson and City Manager Tom O'Neill are involved. They have a meeting scheduled this week with police officials.

2 Native Americans shot in possible hate crime

Native American shot in fight with White group
by Alyson Zepeda - Sept. 29, 2008 06:45 PM
The Arizona Republic
A Native American man was shot in the leg and two others were injured Sunday after several White males and females wearing "white pride" T-shirts attacked two of the men. A police bias crimes unit was investigating the case.

The two men, Native Americans ages 48 and 24, were walking home from a store near 48th Avenue and Thunderbird Road when they were confronted and assaulted by several White men and women about 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Phoenix police said.
go here for more
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/09/29/20080929abrk-aggravatedassault0929-ON.html

After anti-Semitic graffiti, a quiet lesson on love

After anti-Semitic graffiti, a quiet lesson on love
By Anne Baker and Jeannie M. Nuss
Globe Correspondents / August 19, 2008
The congregation of Temple B'nai Israel in Revere has a hero, although no one knows his name.

On Sunday, members arrived at the temple for a morning service and breakfast to discover two of the building's walls covered in anti-Semitic graffiti.

"To me, this is not vandalism," said Rabbi Mark Sokol. "When you take a can of spray paint and put a swastika on a temple, that's a hate crime."

After police received a call at 5:45 a.m., they found a vulgar, anti-Semitic expression written in red spray paint at the front of the temple and a side area marked with two swastikas, said Revere Police Lieutenant John Goodwin.

"It's a very sensitive subject, so we will most certainly take a look into it," Goodwin said.

go here to read about human kindness that still lives on.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/19
/after_anti_semitic_graffiti_a_quiet_lesson_on_love/