Dear Christians who voted for Trump,
Don’t look at the people protesting with disdain and think “they really just need to get over it.” Because here’s the deal, and you need to listen up. People are really really upset right now. It’s not our job to judge them, it’s our job as Christians to empathize with them, hear their concerns, and love them. Even if we don’t agree with them.
And if you’re wondering why people are angry, or wondering why they’re offended, take a second to stand in their shoes? Sure, Hillary called evangelicals and Trump supporters a basket of deplorables. It happened, you’re offended, she probably won’t apologize. But here’s the deal, she name-called groups of people who made CHOICES to be Trump supporters/evangelicals. Trump, on the other hand…he’s name-called people who didn’t make the choice to be disabled, who didn’t make the choice to not be white. He’s said and allegedly done things that greatly offend women, and guess what, ladies, we didn’t choose this gender. That’s the difference. The people that Trump has offended can do NOTHING to change who they are.
Concerning the offending statements towards the Muslim population, how dare we Christians get angry when we have our religious freedoms attacked but then fail to empathize or be understanding when the religious freedoms of Muslims are attacked and Muslims are upset? We can be offended but they can’t? America was founded on the whole idea of religious freedom and the merging of different cultures, or have we forgotten this? Christians aren’t the only ones dying for their faith..we just tend to turn a blind eye to everyone else dying for theirs, or minimize the deaths of others because not as many have died…or at least, not as many have been reported. Countless Muslim-Americans have died in hate crimes, both in the US and in other places. Don’t believe me? The number of hate crimes has increased in the past year, and the frequency increased after now President Elect Trump made inflammatory statements regarding the Muslim population. Though correlation does not equate to causation, does the timing not make you think a little bit?
Concerning the LGBTQ population. Where is your compassion towards those with different lifestyles than you? Where is your empathy when you hear about the hatred and crimes towards this group of people? Did you secretly think “oh they got what they deserved” when the Pulse shooting happened? That’s not okay. You may not agree with, or support, non-heterosexual lifestyles, but haven’t we learned that despite skin color, religious beliefs, gender, and sexual orientation that people are still human and they deserve love and respect? Because that’s what we’re called to show. If you see something like this happening, step in and stop it.
So please. Don’t gloat, and don’t brag about the candidate you voted for winning. Because when you start to think “we won,” that’s when America starts to lose. Don’t think of this as an us versus them battle. We’re ONE NATION. The UNITED States of America. This political season we’ve seen how friendships start to be torn apart, and we’ve seen hatred be spewed back and forth. Let this be the end of it. Making America Great Again doesn’t start with the President Elect, it starts with you. It starts with compassion, and empathy, and love. Not hate. Be the one who stands up and says “STOP. I will not tolerate people being tormented for their beliefs, their skin color, their sexual orientation, their gender, OR their political views.” Sanctity of life shouldn’t just matter for the unborn. There are millions of people in the United States who need to know that their lives matter too.
