If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
1 John 1:6
The “swastika” is a symbol that dates back to prehistoric times. The word swastika has Sanskrit roots and means “the mark of well-being.” It has been used in prayers of the Rig Veda, the oldest of Hindu scriptures. In Buddhism, the symbol is known as manji and signifies the Buddha’s footsteps. It is used to mark the location of Buddhist temples. In China it’s called Wàn, and denotes the universe or the manifestation and creativity of God. The swastika is carved into the Jainism’s emblems representing the four types of birth an embodied soul might attain until it is eventually liberated from the cycle of birth and death. In the Zoroastrian faith, it represents the four elements – water, fire, air, earth. In India, the ubiquitous symbol can be seen on thresholds, drawn with vermillion and turmeric, and displayed on shop doors, vehicles, food packaging and at festivals or special occasions. Elsewhere, it has been found in the Roman catacombs, ruins in Greece and Iran, and in Ethiopian and Spanish churches.
The symbol of well-being has been corrupted by white supremacists. The symbol is often equated to Adolf Hitler’s hakenkreuz or the “hooked cross,” a symbol of hate that evokes the trauma of the Holocaust and the horrors of Nazi Germany. White supremacists and neo-Nazi groups have continued to use Hitler’s symbol to stoke fear and hate.
In recent years there has been a movement to restore the original meaning of the swastika. For instance, the swastika is an important symbol for the Navaho people in the United States. Currently, Patricia Anne Davis, an elder of the Choctaw and Dineh nations said, “I understand the wounds and trauma that Jewish people experience when they see that symbol. All I can do is affirm its true meaning – the one that never changed across cultures, languages and history. It’s time to restore the authentic meaning of that symbol.”
Hate involves an appraisal that a person or group is evil. While hate relates to other negative emotions, it also has some unique features, such as the motivation to eliminate the object of your hate. Revenge is often a part of hate, because the idea behind revenge is a desire to hurt the person or group as much as you have been hurt, or perceived to have been.
Hate spreads and increases quicker if it’s directed at a group, rather than an individual. When you hate a group, the intensity of your hate can grow without you being confronted with specific persons or contrasting information – you are basing your hate on stereotypes and prejudices. If you hate an individual, your hate may be countered with empathy or a reappraisal of the person when you encounter their positive side.
The dislike of groups of people has been tantamount throughout history and is ever present in today’s society. At the forefront of our society would be the disdain for immigrants and homosexuals. Then there is the uncompromising dislike between prolife and abortion proppants. Partisan politics, and not the politics of compromise, defines Capitol Hill.
Tucker Carlson, who is the host of Fox News podcast Tucker Carlson Originals, predicted a “red wave” Republican victory in the 2022 midterm elections, that nerve occurred. Carlson admitted that he was wrong in his assessment because his of his disdain for liberals and Democrats, “That loathing clouded my judgement.”
Hate casts a terrible dark shadow. In this overcast environment many targeted groups are disenfranchised. They are ostracized. They endure persecution, always emotionally, sometimes physically. Their self-worth is challenged.
As Christians, we must be the light that overcomes this darkness. As Christians, we must affirm the worth of others. As Christians, we must shine the light of inclusion and acceptance.
John Herbers, a native of Tennessee, was a reporter for The New York Times who covered the racial turmoil of the Deep South in the 1950s and 60s. In 1955, he reported on the story of 14-year-old black Chicagoan Emmett Till who was lynched in Mississippi for allegedly whistling at a white woman. He covered the all-white jury’s decision to acquit the two white defendants.
In his memoir he recalled his reaction after the verdicts: “With emotions pent up no longer, I felt a horrible lump in the pit of my stomach. How would I explain to my daughters that something like this happened in America, much less in the region of the country we called home? I hunched over the steering wheel and cried. I wanted to cry Mississippi out of my very core.”