Dear Family and Friends,

As a pastor of a church, I took Paul’s directives to Timothy to heart.

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.”  ‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For this reason, the messages to the church centered on the Bible. Our practice was to avoid topics such as voting and politics.

And I’ve done the same in these messages – – until now. Why?

Because I have a warning for us as we go through the final month of this election season.

More than ever before, politicians (meaning more than one) are not only asking for your vote, they are dehumanizing and demonizing their opponent and their supporters.

And unless we are aware of what they’re doing and it’s effect on us, we may end up doing the same to others.

In 2001, many of us watched a television series set in the Second World War called the Band of Brothers.

The series was outstanding. But there was one scene that stood out. And to this day, what was depicted in that scene still haunts me.

The scene took place in a recently liberated holocaust death camp. The local villagers had been brought in to bury the dead Jews laying in piles all over the camp.

What was so haunting about this scene was the expression on the faces of the villagers. Maybe one person looked sad. 

The rest had none of the expressions one would expect. There was no remorse. No tears. No grief. One looked disgusted, as if being forced to clear piles of trash.

How was it possible for humans to lack any empathy towards the loss of human life? How were average citizens able to live normal lives, knowing full well what was happening in the camps?

It became possible because Adolf Hitler purposefully and systematically dehumanized the Jews.

Dehumanization is the psychological process of making people seem less than human and thus unworthy of being treated as humans. 

The process starts with projecting an enemy image onto a target group. And ends with moral exclusion, whereby the targeted group is no longer protected by what all humans have – an inner moral code.

Hitler instituted an extensive propaganda campaign. He called Jews sub-human, rats, disease carrying rodents.

He said they were dangerous, a threat to the German race. He created false conflicts of us versus them. Then superior versus inferior. And finally, good versus evil.

The people of Germany responded with anger and hatred towards the Jews.

And ultimately, their moral code – the natural and deep inhibitions that prevent us from treating other humans as animals – was broken.

Hitler was not the only one who did this. Many have. In fact the dehumanization of people happened in the Bible as well. It started with these verses. 

“Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ‘Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’”  ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I know it’s hard to believe that we could ever get to a place where we would see and treat others inhumanely.

But unless we’re careful and keep our guard up, we can be influenced by this practice that has become all too common in today’s society. 

Let me close with this. I did not write this in support of or against any one candidate.

After much contemplation and prayer, my heart is solely to raise awareness. And to remind us to keep loving others as we love ourselves, as commanded by Jesus our King. 

Dear fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, I’m praying for all of us.

In love always,