“God created mankind in his own image,” so why do Christians express such hatred?

Jesus loves all of us

… they argue that sin in Garden of Eden changed all that

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

Over Thanksgiving, a politician, or all people, made a very effective theological or spiritual argument. He went back to the book of Genesis — yes, seldom do you see the Old Testament quotes here — and explained that contemporary Christians do not understand the words of Christ or of God himself. 

The man is former Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican who is often at odds with his party today and at odds with his fellow Christians. 

In a television interview, he lambasted a far-right Republican congresswoman who had condemned an Islamic congresswoman,

Let’s talk about the bigger picture. 

All of the great religions — you take the Muslims, you take the Christians, you take the Jewish community — they all believe in the same thing. [You] love God, which creates humility for people. And love your neighbor, or help your neighbor the way you would want your neighbor to love you or help you. 

What has happened in our country is that the sense of our needing to be responsible to a higher power, particularly in the holiday season, has lost favor in the public square. As a result, people see one another as widgets. For a woman to make this kind of statement means that she ignores the fact that we’re all made in the image of God, and that we all deserve respect. We don’t deserve attacks. People who would laugh at this don’t understand what faith is all about. 

We wonder in this country why there is so much fighting, why there is so much name-calling, and not just in politics but across the board. It is because people have lost sight of how important religion is in terms of guiding individual behavior. It is not about the negatives, it is about the positives. So the idea that somebody would say something like this means that they have little understanding of what is is to have faith. 

John Kasich, CNN, November 24, 2021

We are all born in God’s likeness? In God’s image? 

Yes, that is what Genesis says, and if God created all of us, why do Christians express so much hatred of one another — and particularly of those who are different from them?

Jesus did not create people whom we should hate

So, when people are of different races, or different religions, or different sexuality, they were still created in God’s image. That is what Kasich disagreed with when the woman called her colleague a potential terrorist because she was a different color and a different ethnicity and different religion from hers,

I can’t question her question or say she is not a faithful person, but it gives you the sense that she does not understand that this is completely and totally inappropriate and frankly, as a person who is a Christian, it is flat-out wrong and it is very disappointing. And these things need to be healed. These things needs to be observed if we are going to begin to heal this country. 

John Kasich, CNN, November 24, 2021

What did this woman say about another human being?

Here were the words spoken by the congresswoman that outraged former congressman and governor Kasich,

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado apologized to "anyone in the Muslim community I offended" on Twitter Friday after video surfaced of her making anti-Muslim comments last weekend about Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

In the video, posted last Saturday on Facebook from an event that day, Boebert implied Omar had been mistaken for a terrorist in an elevator on Capitol Hill.

"So the other night on the House floor was not my first jihad squad moment," Boebert told a crowd. "I was getting into an elevator with one of my staffers and he and I were leaving the Capitol, we're going back to my office and we get in the elevator and I see a Capitol Police officer running hurriedly to the elevator. I see fret all over his face. And he's reaching. The door is shutting. I can't open it."

"What's happening? I look to my left and there she is, Ilhan Omar, and I said, 'Well she doesn't have a backpack, we should be fine,'" Boebert continued. "So we only had one floor to go and I say, do I say it or do I not? And I look over and I say, 'Look, the jihad squad decided to show up for work today.' Don't worry, it's just her staffers on Twitter that talk for her. She's not tough in person."

Andrew Kaczynski, “Rep. Lauren Boebert suggested Rep. Ilhan Omar was terrorist in anti-Muslim remarks at event,” CNN, November 27, 2021

The whole point is that so many Christians forget about the second greatest commandment after the one about loving God, 

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

That is what is missing in the minds of so many Christians today. For instance, how can they hate blacks and yet call themselves Christians? How can they hate Musims and call themselves Christians? How can they hate gays and call themselves Christians?

Frankly, it is easy to love God because he is a spiritual being who does nothing to make people despise him. He is not black or white or brown or red or yellow. He is not gay or straight. He is just that guy in the sky who promises us heaven if we follow his words. 

Loving our neighbor? That is the challenge, and Kasich is right to challenge his fellow Christians over their actions and their hatred. 

He made me grateful that some Christians do understand the words of Christ.