From Star Tribune 10/11
Posted October 11th, 2006 at 10:40 pm by TomMatthew’s death should serve as a reminder
This Thursday marks a poignant, but unfortunately forgotten, anniversary. On Oct. 12, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, died after being savagely and maliciously beaten. Why? Because he was a homosexual.
We need to remember this anniversary because it serves as a reminder that all hate — whether directed at another’s race, religion or sexual orientation — is appalling, un-Christian and inhuman.
We are reminded of hate like the kind that killed Matthew when people like Jerry Falwell blame 9/11 on homosexuals, among others, or when he compares Hillary Rodham Clinton (a wife, mother and Christian) to Lucifer. We are reminded of it when Pat Robertson prays to God to get rid of Supreme Court justices with whom he disagrees or when he warns Americans that God’s wrath will be upon them for voting out a school board that favored intelligent design.
To this Christian, the fact that these two call themselves men of God offends me. This is neither an issue of Democrats against Republicans nor one of liberals vs. conservatives. This issue is one that reaches to the very core of what makes us human and what makes us people of faith, whatever that faith may be. By making statements such as the ones I alluded to, the Revs. Falwell and Robertson give tacit approval to those who commit hateful and disgusting acts.
The words of John 3:16 have almost become a cliché, but the verse that follows it is just as important: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
NATHAN COULTER, BLOOMINGTON
