Open Letter to Fellow Christians
(NY Times open letter submission)
Dear Christians of the World,
Surely, we remember Hebrews 12:14. It is the Lord’s will that we “make every effort to live in peace with everyone.” Surely, we remember Ephesians 4:32. It is proclaimed that we as Christians must “be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave [us].” Surely, we remember Luke 23:34-38. One of Christ Himself’s last thoughts during his torturous execution was a prayer, begging His Father to “forgive them, for [His persecutors] know not what they are doing.”
Why is it that so often, we do the exact opposite?
Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old gay man. Two homophobic men beat Shepard to death. According to the New York Times, there was not a spot on Shepard’s face left uncovered in blood, save for the “tracks cleansed by his tears.”
At Shepard’s funeral, the Westboro Baptist Church, led by Pastor Fred Phelps, formed a mob and chanted “God hates Fags”. Phelps himself marched with a “Matt in Hell” sign. They even attempted to erect a statue of Shepard burning in hell with the engraving, “Matthew Shepard Entered Hell October 12, 1998, in Defiance of God’s Warning”.
Even if God views homosexuality as a sin (and who are we to know for sure how God will judge?), God tells us directly that it is not our place to judge others. Surely, we remember John 8:7. Jesus proclaimed that it should be “[the person] who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”
You can find the obituaries for Joyce Fienberg, Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax, and Irving Younger on the ABC news website. They were all law-abiding, good citizens. They were all murdered on October 27, 2018, when Robert Bowers walked into their synagogue armed with guns after posting online that “Jews are the children of Satan.”
Surely, we remember Romans 10:12. It is proclaimed that there exists “no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all.”
These are only two of the numerous similar occurrences that continue to happen to this day. God sent us out to proclaim His message, the message of love, peace, and justice. What is peaceful about the murder of a gay man or the hateful chants by a church mob? What is just about the murder of Jews in a synagogue?
In using God’s name to justify hate, many of us insult our Lord. Not only is division and hate wrong, it is anti-Christian. I call upon us all to stop this. We are to spread peace and love. Let us spread it.
Your fellow Christian,
Jeremy Ahn
I love my religion. My faith is a very large part of who I am. I come from a joint-religion marriage; my mother is a Catholic, and my father is a Presbyterian. In my earlier years, I attended an Anglican school, and I now attend a Catholic high school. Whether a Christian is Catholic, Presbyterian, or any other branch, I believe that the theme of God, the Bible, and our religion is the same: love. God made us out of His image and had us inherit the world because He loved us so. God sent prophet after prophet to Earth to communicate with us because He loved us so. God sent His only son down to die for all of our sins because He loved us so. At the same time, although I love my religion, I am not blinded by this love. I am very aware of the outrageous and inhumane things that are done in the name of the Lord. Such actions are in general, deplorable, but even more so because of the hypocrisy of some of my fellow Christians who would use their religion to justify hate, the exact opposite of love. I realized that this open letter competition was a great opportunity to reach my fellow Christians and remind them that this is not the way of God. I knew that my argument would not be accepted without evidence, so I began looking for it. I decided to use two case studies, not too large of a number to lose focus and specificity, but still enough to show a pattern. The first case study I chose was the murder of Matthew Shepard. This was a case study that happened three decades ago. I believe that it shows that hate in the Christian community is not a new thing. The second case study was the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. This took place barely six years ago. This shows that hate in the Christian community is not an outdated thing, either. I used both of these case studies to support my argument and implore my fellow Christians to remember what our faith and identity are about. I implored them to return to love.