Our increasingly permissive society does not uphold many moral standards anymore, but one of the few standards that our society at least claims to insist upon is the prohibition against hate.
This hatred for hate was highlighted by the signs that sprouted on some suburban lawns in recent years proclaiming that “Hate has no home here.” If you look online, you can find several versions of this theme, and also various memes opposing hate.
Some of those memes exhort us to “skate” rather than hate: there’s the pithy “Skate Don’t Hate” or the somewhat more verbose “Don’t Hate Just Skate,” or even the more elaborate two-step approach to ending hate, which recommends combining skating with a pharmacological intervention: “Weed & Skate Stop the Hate.” So apparently if we would all just take up skating and smoke some weed now and then, the world would be a far less hateful place. Who knew it was so simple?
Sadly, tragically, hatred for other people does, nonetheless, have a home in the fallen human heart, as witnessed, for example, by the recent explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world.
Ironically, hatred for other people sometimes seems most common among those who claim not to hate at all. Mollie Hemingway highlights various actions that some of JD Vance’s neighbors have taken to let him and his family know unequivocally that they are not welcome in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia, in which they have chosen to live.
As Hemingway notes, rather than burn crosses, some of Vance’s neighbors have engaged in what has been called “yarn-bombing”: knitting signs that promote abortion, homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexuality, and then posting them outside of the Vance home. Hemingway also reports that some of Vance’s neighbors have expressed approval of those signs on Facebook, referring to them as “not so welcome signs.”
This, in a city which was declared by its city council to be a “hate-free zone” after Donald Trump’s unexpected victory in the 2016 presidential election. Apparently, according to at least some of its residents, the city is only a “hate-free zone” for people of a certain political stripe.
But there actually is a time and a place for hate (Eccles. 3:8). Not hatred of any particular person, nor hatred of any particular group of people, of course, but hatred of evil. Hatred of wrongdoing. Hatred of sin. None of those words (evil, wrongdoing, sin) is very popular in our society these days–especially “sin.” But those concepts are extremely important, even crucial, for us to consider, in part because they function as obstacles to our flourishing, both as individuals and as a society. They are obstacles to our flourishing because they distance us from God, who is our ultimate good and our intended destiny.
That is why the Bible exhorts us, in various places, to hate evil/wrongdoing/sin:
“Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” (Ps 119:104)
“A righteous man hates falsehood.” (Prov. 13:5)
“Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate.” (Amos 5:15)
“Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good….” (Rom. 12:9)
We should therefore hate the evil of lying, the evil of adultery, the evil of abortion, etc. But these days, hatred of sin frequently gets conflated with hatred of the person doing the sinning. Hatred for the evil that is elective abortion gets twisted into the accusation that one hates women. Hatred for the sin of sexual perversion gets twisted into the accusation that one hates the person engaging in the perversion.
As Christians, we are called—not to hate the person who does wrong—but to hate the wrong itself. In fact, the Bible is quite blunt in its denunciation of the hatred of other people. Saint John the Evangelist condemns hatred of our fellow human beings four times in the five chapters of his first letter, even to the point of accusing anyone who hates another person of being a murderer:
“He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still.” (1 Jn. 2:9)
“But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” (1 Jn. 2:11)
“Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 Jn. 3:15)
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 Jn. 4:20)
Moreover, Jesus tells us to love even our enemies, and to “do good” to those who hate us (Luke 6:27).
In all of this, we are being exhorted to imitate God, who hates evil (Ps. 45:7; Prov. 6:16; Sir. 10:7, 15:13; Is. 61:8; Mal. 2:16; and Heb. 1:9), but who also “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good” (Mt. 5:45), and who desires that the sinner might turn away from sin and live (Ezek. 33:11).
The phrase “hate the sin, love the sinner” is not found in the Bible—it appears to have first been written by St. Augustine—but it does summarize the various Bible verses quoted thus far. Loving our neighbor means willing their good, and their ultimate good is ut in Deo sit–that they may be in God. And that means, among other things, willing that they avoid sin, which separates them from God.
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Question: Is it Christian to hate Satan?
He certainly hates us, but do you really want to imitate him by hating him back? I think amused disdain is more effective and less dangerous for us.
“This hatred for hate was highlighted by the signs that sprouted on some suburban lawns in recent years proclaiming that “Hate has no home here.”
Whenever I see those signs, they are almost always accompanied by other signs that indicate the absence pf hospitality is only true because the hosting location may only be accurate because the place is ground zero for thermonuclear hate.
You want to see hate? Stroll by wearing a “choose life” T-shirt or a red baseball cap.
The murder of innocent, defenseless children – to advocate that, to defend it up to and in some cases beyond birth – what could possibly be more hateful than that?
The actions of some of J.D. Vance’s ‘neighbors’ – I’ll concede that that is a close second.
Yes, they could counter with a lawn sign, “Why so much hatred for the unborn?”
Yes indeedy. Clements, mentions a favorite commentator and editor in chief of the Federalist points out the counterculture antihate hypocrisy of posting signs by Vance’s residence promoting abortion, child sexual mutilation, various sexual derangements. Passive aggressive hatred at its finest.The essayist points out the proverbial hate the sin love the sinner.
But then DeaconEdwardPeitler throws his sabot into Clements’ well oiled machination. Can we hate El Diablo? It depends. Remember what John the Baptist called the leading religious authorities, A brood of vipers. Seems to at least border on personal hatred. Christ tells the Pharisees they’re really vacant tombs beneath our feet. Then there’s Paul who curses circumcisors saying they should finish the job and cut off their own business [selectively forgetting of course that he had poor Greek convert Timothy circumcised to appease the Jews]. It all depends.
For myself, there are definitely attitudes that I could hate, but I know myself well enough to realize the danger: once I let myself hate something that is worth hatred, will I be able to stop there? Hatred is very powerful. As someone said, “To love what is good is not the same as to hate what is evil and feel good about it.”
To those of you who have the self-control to hate ONLY what is intrinsically hateful, please pray for me is am not that holy.
Sister, do you hate mortal sin?
I pray that God will keep me from committing it and that He will rescue me if I fall into it.
I asked you if you hate mortal sin. Just answer the question if you choose to respond.
To answer Deacon Peitler’s question the comments indicate the right response, that to hate the evil person, or Satan, would be to succumb to the evil of hatred. Disdain suggested by Sr. Gabriela is a better response.
As I recall, it has been said the opposite of love isn’t hate, but indifference. I’ll leave it to the more theologically adept, but I could imagine titanic pride would be gratified with any active emotional engagement.
If there was a model of how to react to the evil one, wouldn’t St. John Vianney or St. Pio offer us a model?
Perhaps Satan ought to be treated with disdainful respect since he is very good at what he does (although I hate to associate the word “good” to anything Satan does). I do think someone wiser than I ought to author a book on the modern-day tactics of Satan. Jesus started us off with his depiction of how Satan goes about his work when he encountered Satan in the desert.
“to hate the evil person, or Satan…Disdain…is a better response.” Disdain is only for Satan and his cohorts. Not for any other person, and NEVER for any human being, even myself.
When there are some who have doubts, reassure them; when there are some to be saved from the fire, pull them out; but there are others to whom you must be kind with great caution, keeping your distance even from clothing which is contaminated by vice (Jude 1:23 Jerusalem Bible). Save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh (Jude 23
New American Standard Bible).
Thank you for the quotation from the Epistle of Jude. Actually, the Greek says ous de eleate en phobo” (sorry I can only transcribe the words, not reprint the actual Greek letters). Eleate, if I am not mistaken, means “to be merciful” and phobos, according to my New Testament, when applied to persons means “respect”. So another translation can be “to some exercise mercy with respect.”
I think the tens of millions of people murdered by Lenin, Stalin, and Mao might see things a bit differently.
Fr. Morello: Disdain seems such a mild response to Satan’s evil.
But of course the cultivation of hate against the other political party sells advertising. Angry people are what the media loves, on both sides. And politicians cultivate that too. I dread the day that Putin/Trump ticket might win. Lord have mercy.
Good hate article. Vance is fortunate that he owns a $1.4 million mansion situated in a high-end “liberal” neighborhood, while we can’t even find an affordable lean-to.
I have been vocal with my perplexion with today’s politicians, especially on the federal level. I have a special concern with VP Harris’s moral positions. However, as a Catholic Republican, I also fear for the future of our democracy, whether Trump or Harris, both reveal signs of “hatred”. Excerpt: “We should therefore hate the evil of lying. I charge Harris with lying. And, I charge Trump with an excess of lying, causing fear, (families, Poll workers, trial participants…), misogyny, (launched his career with Access Hollowood), and much more. The following reasons for why I will never vote for this evil creature.
First: Although it seems unbelievably off the radar today, history will say that Trump was directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives for his 2020 months long refusal to admit to the seriousness of the COVID pandemic delaying the effort to develop a vaccine, saying “We have it under control. it will just go away. Just inject household detergents”. That alone should weigh heavily on his criminal record. Then came the “warp speed” that too late. The vaccine production testing was finding many errors. Trump said, “Just stop the testing”!
Scientific America: In the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency, more than 450,000 Americans died from COVID-19.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trumps-policy-failures-have-exacted-a-heavy-toll-on-public-health1/
NPR: Officials with Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s multibillion-dollar push to make a COVID-19 vaccine available in record time, didn’t know there was a problem.
Alex Azar had no idea what he was saying was wrong, Paul Mango, Azar’s deputy chief of staff, told NPR.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/25/1029715721/pfizer-vaccine-operation-warp-speed-delay
Second is very personal. I am a Navy veteran and I find Trump’s trashing of our fallen military heroes appalling.
At the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France in 2018 as “losers” and “suckers.”
Militarytimes: https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2020/09/03/report-trump-disparaged-us-war-dead-as-losers-suckers/
Times:
In a TV interview with Chris Matthews Trump was asked about Navy pilot John McCain heroism. Trump said he was not a hero because he got caught. I don’t like people who get caught”. Imagine, from a draft dodger who never spent one minute in service to his country!!!
RNC communications director Sean Spicer “Senator McCain is an American hero because he served his country and sacrificed more than most can imagine. Period,” “There is no place in our party or our country for comments that disparage those who have served honorably.”
https://time.com/3963612/donald-trump-john-mccain-military-service/
Moreover, Trump’s GOP advisers and luminaries have said they will not vote for him. Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, Gen. McMaster, Paul Ryan, The Lincoln Project…
The good thing about lies is that they can be easily refuted by the truth. Trump is not directly or indirectly responsible for any Covid deaths. Covid was addressed at the state level, not the federal level. Different states had different approaches to dealing with the pandemic, some more effective than others. Trump is not responsible for the 15,000 nursing home deaths in New York State, for example. Andrew Cuomo, a progressive democrat, did that. Covid rates were also not accurate, since many hospitals were counting deaths as being from Covid that were not.
Your comment about Trump’s comments to veterans is a blatant and intentional lie that has been repeatedly refuted. Why do you keep repeating a blatant lie?
Lastly, the people you listed are RINOs at best. They are not serious republicans, and no one takes them seriously anymore. Their time has, thankfully, come and gone.
Again, your vitriol seem insulting and unfounded.
Yes, NY Gov. Cuomo caused the nursing home deaths. I said federal CDC actions, COVID vaccine was delayed echoed by Trump’s close adviser Peter Navarro who cautioned TRUMP early in the many delays, “There is NO downside risk to taking swift actions as an insurance policy against what may be a very serious public health emergency,” Navarro wrote to the president.
Those delays are not only the deaths Trump caused. The Capitol Police and civilian lives lost at the US Capitol invasion with many Trump flag unfurlled. He is being held responsibile for the overthrow of the government.
You are delibretly challenging the in-your-face facts. Trump is the LOSER, not our fallen military HEROES! I am a Navy veteran. COS General John Kelly said while next to him at the cemeteries verified the disparaging utterances.
Just the facts!
Just the DNC talking points, par for the course from you. Now you’re going to add lies on top of lies by bringing in January 6th. That sounds like desperation, not facts.
You obviously have MAGA colored glasses.
There are so many evil issues with this crimial creature I forgot his latest and only commission of guilt with his BIG LIE. Fact: Trump admits he lost 2020 election ‘by a whisker’ during Lex Fridman podcast.
For years we taxpayers have footed a growing $515 million to prosecute this creature. I have asked my congressman to have Trump return all legal expenses to the US Treasury.
Don’t you?
Thank you for your comments.
God bless and God bless America.
I voted for Bush Sr., Bush/Cheney, Romney/Ryan. Biggest mistake of my life. All liars & losers. They know enough never to run for office again (Bush Sr. is dead) because no one would vote for them. They are the worst kind of Republicans.
Most of Christ’s messages to the churches in Revelation 2-3 contain rebukes
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In Revelation 2 Christ’s Message to Ephesus says:
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6 Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicola′itans, which I also hate. (Revelation 2:6 RSVCE)
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In Christ’s Message to Pergamum says:
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14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. 15 So you also have some who hold the teaching of the Nicola′itans. 16 Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.(Revelation 2:14-16 RSVCE)
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The Message to Laodicea is very blunt. Counseling people to repent and avoid the risk of going to hell is merciful. In her Diary St. Faustina was willing to discuss hell. Passage 153 is about the wide and the narrow road. Passage 741 is about her visiting hell. While not about hell, Passages 445-446 covers sins of impurity, the malice of ungrateful souls, and crucified souls. Sometimes it looks like some people are willing to see other people go to hell, so long as they have a smile on their faces going through the gates.
St. Paul says “Be Angry but do not sin”. If only I knew how. Anger is a great temptation to sin. I would be justifyed in the eyes of the world. But the world is not my judge. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.