“A Nation of Enemies and Strangers”

The United States will never experience true peace until we make peace with one another and affirm the equal value of all lives—Black, Native American, White, Asian, Hispanic, Mixed; heterosexual and LGBTQ+; Christian, Jewish, Muslim, non-religious, and atheist alike. Our national crisis lies in the way we elevate some lives as sacred while treating others as disposable. Too often, we judge people by the color of their skin, their religion, or the language they speak. This distorted view of human worth not only diminishes our common humanity but also fuels a cycle of violence—both in our rhetoric and in our actions.

Those who have borne the weight of oppression, the silence of social death, and generations of marginalization seek acknowledgment from those in power and demand recognition that their suffering (is real) be named, and that their history and experience (matter) be honored. They are not asking for pity, nor are they begging for sympathy. They don’t want to be treated as shadows of the past; rather, they long to be seen and affirmed in public life, treated as human beings of equal worth and dignity.

Further, they refuse to remain the dry bones in the valley of history or mere victims of the present, and they will not accept the continuation of injustice, dehumanization, or unequal treatment directed against them. The God who delivers the oppressed still declares freedom, dignity, and worth for all his children.

Our current political and Justice systems, democratic institutions, and corrupted civil-religious traditions are too fragile to reshape our moral fabric or redirect our path toward true goodness, justice, and the common good.

For too long, we have silenced both our individual and collective conscience to avoid confronting our fears and the realities of the human condition in this nation. This posture toward life carries a heavy cost: a refusal to accept moral accountability to one another. In the process, we have made ourselves enemies and strangers, breeding hostility that has produced pain, suffering, and a nation stripped of empathy and love.r