Saturday, August 12, 2006

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

What do offensive words such as Cracker, Kike, Nigger, Slope, Chink, Faggot, Spic, Fundy, Towel-head, Trailer Trash, Blanket-Ass, Gook, Honkey, Wetback, Tree Hugger, and Sinner have in common? They are words that humans have used to identify the "not us" within our species.

Nature is competitive. Natural selection is a reality for all species. Therefore, evolution (or God, if you prefer) provided animals with the instinct to be wary of the "not us" within their own species.

Non-human species usually kill the "not us" (or at least run them away). Homo sapiens do this also, as with war. However, humans have another tool to eliminate the "not us" -- assimilation. (Some other species do this to a lesser degree.) If the "not us" can be turned into the "us", the threat goes away and the pack is strengthened in numbers. Native Americans are a good example. They have been either eliminated or assimilated to the point (most) others do not consider them a threat (although they still feel the eyes watching them).

So, to "hate the sin, but love the sinner" is seldom possible. Assimilating others is seldom done out of "love" -- it's done instinctively to eliminate what may be a threat to the pack. So, while we really DO hate the sin ("not us" behavior), we instinctively fear (rather than love) the sinner (and the faggot, the fundie, the atheist, the Democrat, the Republican, and all the other "not us").

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