It appears to be a slow week in the blogosphere, all you people who are out of work, taking a week vacation, etc., must not be posting. Perhaps some are out reading. If you are, take a couple minutes to read this article by Rabbi Shmuley Botech entitled, "Moral people must learn how to hate."
It is quite powerful, and I cannot do it justice in quoting parts, but I will point out some significant areas:
I have heard all the arguments repudiating hate. Hatred is evil. It is the cause of all wars. It consumes the soul of he or she who hates. Silly arguments all. Hatred is only evil when it is directed at the good and at the innocent. It is positively Godly when it is directed at cold-blooded killers, motivating us to fight and eradicate them before more people die.
How about that one line: Hatred is only evil when it is directed at the good and at the innocent. Jesus said love your neighbor, but he never said that no one should ever hate.
Hatred does not cause wars, it ends them. Because Churchill truly hated Hitler, he inspired a nation to put an end to his blitzkrieg conquests. The French, who did not hate Hitler, collaborated with him, instead. It is indifference to evil, rather than its hatred, that sends a message to the tyrants that they pick on anyone they like for the world will be silent.
Hatred of evil implies both the right to make judgments, as well as a belief in absolutes, both of which are anathema to liberalism. While it has some redeeming qualities, my foremost argument against liberalism is that it harbors no abhorrence or detestation of evil.
Jesus advocated turning the other check to petty slights and affronts to our honor, not to mass graves and torture chambers. Likewise, while Jesus taught that we ought to love our own enemies, this did not apply to God's enemies. Our enemies are people who are our rivals for a promotion at work. God's enemies are those who slaughter his children.
Very powerful stuff.
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