Charlie Kirk’s cold-blooded assassination has filled worldwide headlines with shock and grief, though some commentators and activists have sadly responded by applauding his death.
Between these views, our conversations are loaded with bewilderment on a personal level and in social and formal media.
We need to affirm how a free society allows us to express and support any views which affirm our beliefs and values.
It also allows us to disagree with other peoples’ views – or to ignore them – without any need to descend into the cliché games that accuse them of hatred, fear or stupidity.
As Mexican philosopher Miguel Ruiz declared: “I am responsible for what I say, but not for how you react to what I say.”
So, however we respond to people’s views, we need to respect those who express them, for respect has the capacity to span the gaps between us and enable us to learn from each other.
Only then may we make clearer progress, for nobody has the whole truth.
Using violence to shut down opposing views is inexcusable.
But even worse, it stifles any potential to grow for the violators and for those close to them as much as it does for their victims.
As parents, we feel pain when our kids experience trauma we could never have anticipated.
But this hurt must cut deeper if they defy our input and cause other people to suffer.
So, we may struggle to imagine the deep anguish of the father of the young man who is accused of shooting Charlie Kirk, for as a retired police officer, he felt duty-bound to urge him to hand himself in to the authorities.
Yet such anguish is the cornerstone of our faith, for God’s love for our whole world moved him to allow his son Jesus to be arraigned on false charges and to be publicly executed – despite being innocent of every accusation.
For his love is so great that despite his own anguish, his sacrifice enabled him to take the full effect of our pain on himself.
God’s acceptance and forgiveness help us to outgrow the consequences of anything we might do wrong; of whatever goes wrong for us; or whatever wrong is deliberately done to us.
For in whatever damage may come our way – physical, financial, social or emotional – he promises to stay with us, to ensure that evil does not have the final say.
Noel Mitaxa
On behalf of a church near you, inviting you to explore God’s love
