A photo of a demonstration by Getty Images published on BBC News in 2020

Gun rights, Gay Rights, Right-to-Work, Black Lives Matter

The recent trial of a teenager who took it upon himself to become a vigilante in a Black Lives Matter demonstration has further split the nation into opposing sides. The dizzying array of social issues that divide our nation have festered into a boiling point of chaos, conflict, political extremism, and boiling anger. We struggle to find the balance between personal self-defense and the need for public safety. How do we regulate the use of guns in an increasingly urban society? The growing prevalence of military weapons designed solely to kill people raises the bar for the growing violence that threatens public safety. We can’t go back to the Wild West where everyone took the law into their own hands and there was no public enforcement of the laws.

Homophobia has been a part of American culture for centuries, and a lot of people don’t want to change that. Discrimination against folks because of sexual orientation or gender identity was the law until recently. Even though some of those laws have changed, people still look for religious exemptions to justify their right to discriminate. In other words, they don’t want to obey the law so they’re looking for an out. Efforts to revise the language about LGBTQ+ issues have led to charges of imposing “political correctness” to the extreme.

Corporations hold all the cards in comparison with labor, which has seen the balance of power shift drastically in the past 30 years. If corporations can continue to abuse their employees to maximize profits at the cost of human suffering, then they are not fulfilling their social responsibilities. The Supreme Court even ruled that corporations are people.

People of color have suffered physical and legal abuse since the founding of this country. Slavery was abolished 150 years ago after a bloody civil war that killed the most Americans until the Covid-19 pandemic. But judicial, economic, and physical abuse have continued at all levels of society, the government, and the courts. Discrimination is too weak a word to describe their condition. In some cases, genocide is more appropriate. Demonstrations, however, explode into riots that destroy property and endanger the public.

So why do so many people focus on individual rights and others live out the commandments to be responsible for our neighbors? It’s their mindset. Some people live in fear of scarcity, and others believe in abundance with enough for all. We can bring that about if we are willing to share the good news of the Gospel.

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