Gospel Fare
The Day the Blame Game Named My Sister
What ends othering and blame? Loyal defense of family, respect across faiths, and small acts of shared service.
Timothy Smith
December 5, 2025
What ends othering and blame? Loyal defense of family, respect across faiths, and small acts of shared service.
Why must sanctuary matter again? Violence pierced sacred space, yet renewal remains possible through mercy and clarity.
How can persecution be addressed? Moral resolve and peacemaking counter hostility more effectively than retaliation.
While we are attuned to the uptick in targeting Catholic churches in the United States in response to frustrations about abortion, the epidemic has started to spread more widely. Bitter Winter reports, that Austria, a country that had previously largely avoided religious violence has now been the victim of targeted assaults on Catholic churches in the country. Three Austrian Churches Vandalized in Two Weeks Meanwhile, stateside, another Catholic church has been targeted, this time for a theft. A tabernacle at a Brooklyn church, valued at $2 million has been stripped from the church. Given the value of the tabernacle, the theft may not be religiously motivated. The latest story has an interesting side-note from Get Religion. Terry Mattingly covers some of the religious nuances that The New York Times got wrong in their initial report of the story, underlying the continued need for increased religious literacy among reporters.
In mourning in the wake of the racist hate crime mass shooting in Buffalo, we are reminded of the words of Dallin H. Oaks at BYU a year and a half ago. “Black lives matter! That is an eternal truth.” Reports are currently suggesting that the shooter engaged in this act specifically to kill black people because of the color of their skin because he was afraid his own race was losing power. If these reports prove to be true, it is a despicable act. It mocks the Christian faith his despicable manifesto claims he wants to protect. As Latter-day Saints, our scriptures teach of many anti-Christs who teach damnable philosophies, and then murder to try and make them come to fruition. This murderer then joins a list of anti-Christs—a man who pulls people away from Jesus by perverting the gospel of peace. President Russell M. Nelson’s well-timed words the day after the attack remind us that we are all children of God. This senseless murder took the lives of ten children of God. Rather than allow ourselves to be desensitized to the racism around us by the constant calls of those who have diluted this idea, we should each work to root out the hate, racism, and identity politics that motivated this killing from our nation, communities, and our own hearts. The murderer hoped that his killings would intimidate those who looked like his victims. We pray this is not the case. We need all of our neighbors to feel comfortable, confident, and safe in their communities. We must do our best to stand shoulder to shoulder in ensuring that these intimidation tactics will not succeed.
When the places we used to find fellowship and connection as a community start to “take a stand” on political issues, where do we go to find that unity again?
Along with scientific and historical reasons for concern, the words of modern prophets have consistently warned about the destructive potential of unbridled anger.
