BY Bill Reagan
There’s a lot of indignation in our country these days. And there’s a lot to be indignant about.
White supremacists and Nazis travelled to Charlottesville, Virginia to make trouble. The citizens of Charlottesville were rightly indignant about outsider extremists coming to their city to espouse evil beliefs which cost the lives of 50 million people in the Second World War. Some 400,000 American service men and women died to stop the spread of these evils.
President Trump insinuated twice that the violence in Charlottesville was in some way the fault of those who stood up to this evil bigotry. You should be indignant.
White supremacist and Nazi beliefs are intrinsically evil and have no place in American or any other society. Shame on President Trump for his inexcusable equivocation.
President Trump was elected on a platform of indignation. Many fair minded people share some of that indignation.
The lives of more than a million human beings are taken every year by the practice of abortion on demand under the guise of women’s rights. There may be some instances in which, for health reasons, an abortion may be necessary. The reason for most abortions, however, is the devaluation of human life for profit and convenience.
Traditional values about sex, family and marriage have been abandoned through legislation, policies of the Obama administration and court ruling in recent years. Behaviors once considered shameful are now legal and even celebrated.
Many are indignant about these things.
As America has become polarized in its indignation, some conservatives have grown silent about the shameful beliefs of the alt-right and the unethical behavior of Mr. Trump and his administration. Liberals are silent about the assault on human life by the pro-abortion movement and the moral decline represented by the sexual revolution.
We must not be silent. We must not ignore some evils and not others because we consider ourselves to be conservative or liberal, Democrat or Republican. If “our side” is criticized for silence on a moral issue, or worse, promoting policies that support an immoral stance we should not respond by accusation and criticism. We should consider with humility the criticism laid before us and redouble our efforts toward justice.
We’re all so indignant because we look to the wrong place for solutions. Political platforms and parties, legislation and Supreme Court rulings promote protections for certain rights – often a very salutary thing – but they don’t change the human heart.
A little humility might lead to a lot more justice.
Bill Reagan is executive director of Loaves & Fishes of the Rio Grande Valley.
