Tonight, after returning from a quick trip to Philadelphia, I happened to entertain a volunteer from the Human Rights Campaign Fund. She knocked on my door. She was a slight and perky young woman. She had been directed to my door by her coordinator after an incident at a home a couple of blocks over. No doubt the rainbow flag and HRCF stickers on my car and truck, suggested that I would be a sympathetic stranger -- a safe haven.
Seems that after she knocked on the door of a home nearby; presented her introduction, she was dismissed by some elderly woman with SPIT lobbed upon her face! She then proceeded to sit upon the curb and cry....
I know people hate. I know people fear. I know people justify their actions based upon their theology. It might be a leap, but such a leap is aligned with the lionshare of my experience when it comes to such acts of discrimination.
My theology is centered around sacrifice, grace, forgiveness, and love. Like any theology, it's pie in sky thinking. That's the nature of faith -- it's not about what is, but what could be. For most believers in this world (Muslim, Jew, Christian) that means how to force others into their molds or out of their spheres; but for me, it means, how to open doors so that others are free to belong: i. e. diversity and community.
And so my heart is thinking about these questions tonight: How do we create a society without losers or winners? How do we live in a world where everyone has an EQUAL shot at self-actualization?
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