Article June 26, 1995 Issue

Stop breeding hate

Anthony D. T. Thomas

All too often we hear of or see on television something that fills us with revulsion. It might be "ethnic cleansing," a terrorist bombing, or the story of a murdered child. I consider myself a mild, easygoing person, but in such cases I have often felt fully justified in hating the perpetrators.

Along with these thoughts, though, there has been the niggling feeling that I should know better. Ever since I started going to a Sunday School, I have known these two important facts: God is everywhere and God is Love. These two facts conflict 100 percent with my "fully justified" reactions. They also appear to conflict 100 percent with the appalling evidence on my television screen. Yet, I know from experience these spiritual facts are true.

I've learned that if you accept as reality the evidence of horror, hate, and disillusionment, then the conviction of evil as power can breed in thought and make the possibility of healing look dim. But hatred and its cycles can be healed spiritually. This does not mean you brush aside or ignore the evil. It means you treat it with its antidote—the love that renders it powerless.

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