Denouncing the Politics of Hate

WHAT ISIS AND other terror groups who share their views want is precisely to terrorize us. They want to turn our fear of them into fear of everyone who looks like them, and everyone who follows the religion they are trying to hijack. They want us to suspect, fear, and hate the 1.6 billion people of the world who practice Islam—including millions of Muslim Americans. They want to provoke us to anger, and they hope that in our anger and pain we will overreact.

Right now, unfortunately, they are succeeding with too many of our fellow Christians, and even with some of the candidates for our highest political offices.

When ISIS terrorists succeed in provoking Islamophobic responses, they come closer to their goal of dividing the world into two categories—Muslims and non-Muslims—which also brings them closer to their goal of claiming the mantle of being the only “true defenders” of Islam. Islamophobia thus directly helps the terrorists recruit more young Muslims to their cause and makes it harder for other Muslims to work against them.

Here are some ways that we can deny the terrorists their victory:

FIRST, WE MUST focus on life and the terrible human suffering that these attacks are causing all over the world. When you add up all of those killed, maimed, wounded, and traumatized—and all their family members, friends, fellow congregants, and co-workers—the number of human beings impacted by terrorist violence is almost countless. We must also include the impact on all of our children whose fears these attacks kindle, and the fears we in turn feel for them.

While the terrorists focus on provoking a political reaction, we must pray, remember, and focus our minds and hearts on the human lives that have been ended or forever changed. It’s especially important in these times to remember our Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world, who are killed in much higher numbers than non-Muslims by ISIS and their ilk.

Second, we must resist with all of our beings the hateful, ugly, and violent reactions to people who are not responsible for these atrocities. In particular, we must resist attacks or discrimination against Muslims and hateful language against the religion of Islam. We must avoid re-victimizing Muslims, who are already suffering from ISIS violence, in our responses to terrorism. Instead, Christians and other people of faith should reach out to our Muslim brothers and sisters to build bridges of understanding, love, and mutual respect. Then we must all work together to undermine, disrupt, and end this evil violence.

Finally, we must utterly denounce the message of political leaders who speak and act to politicize this terrorist violence in service of their own political agendas and ambitions. In particular, we must denounce the message of those who have called for the “patrolling” of Muslim neighborhoods in the United States and for putting Muslim- American citizens under surveillance. We must also denounce the words of those who stir fear of more attacks and propose to protect “us” from “them” by monitoring Muslim Americans, banning Muslim immigrants from the United States, torturing suspects and killing the families of terrorists, and even suggesting they might be open using nuclear weapons against ISIS.

The politics of hate are wrong in Mosul, in Beirut, in Brussels, in Paris, in Ankara, in Pakistan, in San Bernardino—and they are also wrong in the public discourse of the United States. People of faith should denounce the politics of hate everywhere—whether propagated by violent terrorists or by political leaders or candidates of any political party.

We must deny the terrorists their victory by not becoming more like them in succumbing to hate and violence. Rather than letting the terrorists change who we are, we must become more like our truest selves and more like the Jesus we follow.

It’s time to turn toward God and not into our own human fears and hatreds. And it’s time to listen to what Jesus told his disciples again and again: “Be not afraid.”