by Pam Tinsley

In February during the horrors taking place in Minneapolis, a political leader who touts his Christian faith said that he and his colleagues “respect the dignity of all Americans.” On the surface, his words seem to send a message that resonates with many. Yet, when we think about it, it’s obvious how many people this leader excludes from his call for respect. In contrast, we, as Episcopalians, promise at baptism to respect the dignity of every human being, not just that of our fellow Americans.

And even when he and his colleagues profess to respect the dignity of all Americans, what about the Americans Renee Good and Alex Pretti, not to mention countless other American citizens who have been arrested, beaten, or murdered for exercising their First Amendment rights?

Jesus taught about unconditional love, and unconditional love is inclusive rather than exclusive. Consider those whom Jesus loved: outcasts; the hungry and the poor; the rich young man who couldn’t bear to give up his possessions to follow Jesus; the woman alone at mid-day at the well – a foreigner at that; the sinner; the ritually unclean; the disciple who betrayed him; those who brutalized him and taunted him as he hung upon on the cross.

Martin Hogan, SJ, writes in The Word of God is Living and Active:

As Jesus declares in Luke’s Gospel, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?” Jesus gives expression to a much more self-emptying kind of love. He calls us to live in the same way and gives us the Holy Spirit to help us to love as he loves. (quoted in Sacred Space, 03.09.26)

As St. Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 14:26, “let all things be done for building up,” that is, not for dividing.

And we begin to live into that all-inclusive love when we seek to see all others as we see ourselves and to respect their dignity. Put simply: When we respect the dignity of every human being.