news-record.com

BLOGS

The Front Pew

When you see a ribbon...

“When you stand and protest something as silly as the Nazis, you just give them energy,” said the Rev. Mark Sills , executive director of FaithAction International House , which assists immigrants in the area.

Instead, the idea is to promote a positive message by distributing the ribbons and encouraging area clergy to speak on themes of inclusiveness during services.

Permalink

Posted by nmclaughlin on Friday, August 28, 2009 at 5:52 pm

What do you think?

1 comment(s)

Read other visitors' comments.

RSS: Subscribe to this blog

Comments

View Comments

This article has been closed to new comments. Comments are generally closed after 14 days. However, comments may be closed earlier at the discretion of the News & Record.

Inappropriate content? Please report abuse.

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

nemo0037

September 1, 2009 - 7:47 am EDT

Nazis have a history of rather nasty behavior, certainly. And their trademark ideas of racial superiority are abhorrent to most Americans. But I can't help comparing these people to the Taliban in Afghanistan. The idea of forcing people to follow an ideology might come from the experience of not being heard in normal discourse. I understand that there are some people in Afghanistan who are trying to engage the Taliban in that nation's political life, in the hopes of encouraging them to be less prone to acts of terrorism.

The act of engaging in violence seems to me to be a tacit admission that one's ideas can't be supported in any reasonable manner, so force is tried instead. Those with ideas that are harmful to society should be encouraged to actually defend their ideas with reasoning. When they fail, they should be encouraged to abandon them.

Shutting people who want to be bullies out of the community, isolating them and ignoring them only encourages more deeply antisocial behavior, I would think.