Hate, Fear, and Resilience

I recently saw the news in the Portland Forecaster that the Westboro Baptist Church, a group that, according to the Forecaster, “openly hates homosexuals, Jews, Catholics and America,” plans to visit Portland to protest a local high school’s theater production (the local high school is Waynflete) of the “Laramie Project.” The focus of the play is on the community’s reaction to the murder of a gay college student, Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left for dead. The Westboro Baptist Church’s visit to Portland is just another example of the increasing activities of hate groups in this country. Racism is certainly alive and well. Individuals in these groups are often motivated by fear and anger. Anger is used to suppress and control the fear which, unfortunately, often turns to hate. These individuals only feel safe if they can control or destroy the hated group. This strategy may work for them, but it certainly doesn’t work for our communities or our nation. These poor souls would be better served to pray to their God to help them find other ways to deal with their fears and to be resilient.

Ron Breazeale, Ph.D.
Author, Duct Tape Isn’t Enough
http://www.reachinghome.com/