To the editor:
Killing somebody because they disagree with you over politics or religion is not just another crime of passion: it is a sign that our shared civic life is unraveling. When debate becomes dangerous, when disagreement can mean death, a society teeters on the edge of something dark.
We have already seen this darkness creep into our life together. In 2018, a gunman stormed the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing eleven worshipers because of their faith. In 2022, a man with political grievances attacked Paul Pelosi, the husband of the Speaker of the House, with a hammer in his own home. Just this summer, campaign volunteers and elected officials faced death threats for nothing more than putting up signs, speaking at rallies, or casting votes.
History shows us that once a people fall into this crevasse, it is very hard to climb out undamaged. Democracies that allowed political violence to take root, whether in 1930s Europe or in more recent conflicts in Latin America, did not return to health quickly, if ever. The scars run deep: trust is shattered, neighbors look at one another with suspicion, and fear replaces the possibility of dialogue.
Martin Luther King Jr. warned us decades ago: “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars . . . Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” His words are not relics of the Civil Rights era: they are a lifeline for us now.
We like to think “it can’t happen here.” Yet the evidence is already before us. The line between political disagreement and political violence is thinning. What begins as an isolated act becomes a pattern, and what becomes a pattern soon risks becoming a culture. And once violence is normalized, democracy itself becomes fragile, because no election, no sermon, no civic gathering can function under the threat of force.
The precipice we face is not only about bloodshed, it is about the spirit of our country. Will we continue to believe that ideas can be contested without lives being destroyed? Will we value our neighbors enough to protect their right to disagree, even passionately, with us?
The answer will determine not just whether we remain a democracy, but whether we remain a people capable of living together.
Jeff Pierpont
Walden
Jeff Pierpont
Jeff Pierpont is the interim minister at the Greensboro United Church of Christ while Ed Sunday-Winters is away on sabbatical.
