Any "Supremacy" Is Fearful, Ignorant, And Dangerous

Two days ago a slaughter of people occurred in New Zealand, and it was committed by a person who felt like he was supreme to others.  And whether he feared the others he slaughtered or whether he was ignorant about the people he slaughtered, what he represents is very, very dangerous.  When one type of people or one type of religion or one socioeconomic class or one country somehow believe that it is supreme to others, we are all in trouble. 

While not as horrific and terrifying as the incident in New Zealand, I'm in my third Sunday of sitting out of church service.  The leaders in the international church organization of which my local church associates itself with decided that members of the LGBT community were not as important as other people.  Whether it was fear or ignorance, the stance is dangerous, and in my mind, it's especially dangerous when the Bible is used to justify the "supremeness" of the United Methodist Church over other people.  

None of us are supreme to others.  Period.  We are all different; we all have different aspects about us; we all have different views about topics.  And I believe the vast majority of people on this planet get that.  Unfortunately, there are some people in this world that for some unknown reason are not able to grasp that.  For some reason, they are fearful of others or they are ignorant about others like they should not be, and somehow those few people latch on to a message that fuels their fear and ignorance.  And if those few are fearful enough and ignorant enough and the message that is fueling them is powerful enough, then those people have an increased risk of acting out.

We need more leaders in our communities, our states, our country, and our world that understand that the messages they provide to their constituents need to reach beyond fear and beyond ignorance, so fewer people are dangerous and less danger exists in our world.  Our leaders messages MATTER.  Words matter; advertisements matter; promotional materials matter; words that express our opinions matter, and they matter even more to folks that are fearful and ignorant of others than them.  Those words matter to folks who for some reason believe they are supreme to others.