By Danny Minton

It was Aug. 28, 1963, when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and gave his now-famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Here are a few excerpts expressing thoughts he was trying to convey to all Americans.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up, live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

“When we allow freedom to ring—when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last.’”

I loved living in the 1950s and ‘60s, but I was a white youth in a country where people of color did not have the same freedoms and rights that I enjoyed. Living in a small town, we did not have as many tensions as larger communities endured. We mostly got along with everyone no matter the color of the skin, but we were still segregated; separate schools and churches. Segregated seating in restaurants and theaters was the norm. When it came time to integrate the schools in the mid-’60s, there were few issues within the community, but that was in the small town of Plano. It was different in the world around us and that would be evident before the decade was over with five major assassinations before the calendar turned; Medger Evers (June 12, 1963), John F. Kennedy (Nov. 22, 1963), Malcom X (Feb. 21, 1965), Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1968), and Robert Kennedy (June 5, 1968). On June 21, 1964, three civil rights workers—James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner—were abducted and murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

In a world of negativity, hate rapidly spreads between people. However, too often when we talk about hate, people generalize about groups: white people hate black people, black people hate white people, Democrats hate Republicans, Republicans hate Democrats, Christians hate those who don’t believe as they do, the world hates Christians, and of course the list could go on for pages. The main point is that groups don’t hate; People hate, or actually, some people hate. Most people in all the groups mentioned and those I didn’t, don’t harbor ill will toward other people. 

Granted, the ones who do have feelings of hate stand out more than the majority who don’t. As a result, one person with a bad attitude can easily infect those around him. It only takes one person with a sour attitude to ruin a party for everyone around them.

The Bible teaches Christians not to hate any person. Let me repeat, we are told not to hate anyone. In fact, over and over we are told to love our neighbors and pray for those who persecute us. We are told to pray for our enemies. We are encouraged to go to those who have problems with us and try to reconcile with them. 

We are told to hate, but not to hate people. We are told to hate the attitudes and actions of those that are hurtful to others. We’re told that God hates lying tongues, arrogant eyes, evil, pride, and wickedness. We are instructed to be like God and hate these things, but not the people. On the other hand, we are reminded in Romans that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (5:8) We are told “the wages of sin is death.” (6:23) We are reminded, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:23). In other words, every person who walks the face of this small planet is loved by God. We are told, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:20). We know that this love extends beyond only believers because of what John wrote in his Gospel account, “For God so loved THE WORLD, that he gave his one and only son, that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (3:16).

Martin Luther King had a dream that one day people would be judged, not by their outward appearance, but by their character. This echoes what God once told Samuel when He was picking a king to rule over Israel. “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV2011)

In 1955, a group of 180 teenagers sang a song written by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller. They sang it on the mountain, and when they came down, it spread around the world. “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me; let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be. With God our creator, children all are we. Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony.”

“I have a dream.” A dream that one day we will all set aside the hate that exists, see people as God sees them, and love “with the love of the Lord.”

Danny Minton, a member of Southern Hills Church of Christ, is a hospital chaplain