The Spirit of Hate

Cross Burning in Durham, NC
(click on the picture to enlarge)

On the weekend of may 8, 2005 a group of very hateful and awful baptists, mostly all from the same family (Phelps), came to Durham, NC. They were coming to protest a local school's performance of “The Laremy Project” a play about the beating death of Matthew Shepard. These people are a group of selve avowed hate-mongers and are proud of it!

I was at the rally to counter their hate speech. There were 10 of them. There were over 100 of us. It was really incredible to see these people holding up signs that declared, basically, that gays, and anyone who supported our "defiling" lifestyle were deserving of death.

In addition, they declared that God hated the US for allowing homosexuality.....
Can anyone smell the irony here? If it weren't for the right to freedom of speech and assembly that they enjoy here in the US, they wouldn't be able to stand on the flag or shout out hate speech without fear of being arrested.

What amazes me even more is that they aren't arrested for inciting violence.
Now one of many statistics that I read in the coming weeks before their little visit is that in every place they “visit”, hate crimes increase in the weeks after they leave.

And so the topic of this post: What happens when someone brings with them the very Spirit-Demon of hate?

Well' here in Durham, we had not one, but three – albeit most likely from the same person(s) – CROSS BURNINGS!

Now, some of you out there, especially if you live in the more rural South where the KKK tends to run amok, may not find this very remarkable. However, when I tell you that this is the first event of it's kind in recent history you may begin to see my point.

UPDATE: the national headquarters of the KKK has officially dis-avowed themselves from this event. The interesting thing about this is they accused a minority group for it saying that their motive would be "to draw attention to their cause." This is typical of the oppression mindset. See Stephen Hanchett's recent post,CSI Sodom.

The Mayor of Durham said that this is the first burning here since he moved here, 1968.

Although, as of this writing, there are no leads on the actual perpetrators of this atrocity, One of the sites where a cross was burned was one of the churches that our little Phelps family decided to visit. According to the pastor of that church, he can make no other connection why anyone would do such a thing. The Phelps visit was the only recent event where anyone has expressed their “displeasure” with the church.

Now I know that this is all circumstantial, and I am willing to admit that one may have nothing at all to do with the other.
But, if I were a betting man, which I'm not, I would put my money on the connection.

I can't help but believe, especially in light of the hate crime statistics they leave in their wake, that the Phelps folks have some very bad demons in tow. Call it what you want, but hate begets hate. I believe that where there is hatred, there the Devil is too. The Bible tells us that the real battle is not of men, but of principalities and demons, Good and Evil.

That is why when we deal with hate speech and other such crimes, we must remember to be vigilant. We must remember that we thirst for justice, not revenge. We must be angry, but not hate our enemies. Jesus told us to love our enemies, for it is easy to love those who love you in return. Hatred can not stand in the face of love. It will either lash out, or run. Usually, though, it will run.

While at this rally, looking upon such arrogant and ignorant hatred, even while it was faced by our singing of hymns and proclaiming the words of Christ, I realized that maybe, in the end, I can't do anything to help them. To bring peace to their hearts. I pray for them – I wish they knew the peace of Christ in stead of the Hate of a false religion.

Why post this on a site about Queers and Christianity?
Well, I grew up listening to this kind of hate. There was a time I believed it. There was a time when I would allow people like this would bring me to the edge of suicide. There was a time when I believed, “What the Hell, if I going to Hell any, I might as well give up!”

After all of these years of finding my way back to Christ, I realized as I was standing there on the corner holding my “God So Loved The World” sign, that they have no power over me. They declare that they have the answer to salvation, but really all they are doing is "shutting up the Kingdom of God."

I realized in that moment that I was free from them. No one would ever again shake my Faith that Jesus is love, and I am loved by Him.