Whenever I take a bike ride through my community, I always see a variety of lawn signs. If an election is near, these signs often announce support for a candidate or for the passage or rejection of a local issue. Other common signs express support for “Black Lives Matter,” for Ukraine in their struggle against Russia, and for high school athletes and their respective teams. The one sign I see more than any other has a simple but significant message: Hate Has No Home Here. That message is expressed in several languages besides English, including Spanish and Hebrew. It’s a sign that, sad to say, is appropriate for the current political atmosphere in the U.S. After all, the word “hate” seems to have entrenched itself in America’s political lexicon. We hear about hate groups, hate speech, and hate crimes. Our print and electronic media carry stories and editorials about hatred for minorities, for immigrants, for LGBTQ people, for government leaders, and for the police.

While there is no single unambiguous definition of hate, most agree it means something different than dislike. Dislike refers to aversion, disgust, or disapproval.  I have an aversion to olives, because I dislike their taste and texture. The same goes for eggplant. I dislike and disapprove of loudmouth people who spread (or start) gossip and rumors. I dislike and feel disgust for hypocritical, self-righteous politicians who don’t live by the standards they set for others. Olives, eggplant, gossips, hypocrites — and I’ll add bullies to this mix — are all among my dislikes, but not my hates. Hate goes deeper; it carries with it not only dislike but also contempt and an enduring desire to see misfortune befall the one hated. The one synonym that goes with hatred is malice, which the dictionary defines as “the intention or desire to do evil to somebody.”

I don’t think there is anyone in my current sphere of acquaintances who I hate, and only two or three from my past who would fall into that category. I could never hate anyone for their political views, their religion, their race, nationality. or gender identity. I probably couldn’t even hate anyone who wronged me, lied about me, or stole from me. I’m a mature seasoned adult who can withstand cheap shots and still remain on his feet. The one thing that would most likely cause me to hate someone would be if they harmed someone I loved, especially an innocent loved one like a grandchild. Even then, the severity of the harm would make a difference. A punch from a schoolyard bully wouldn’t generate hate; vicious lies that drove a grandchild into depression might.

The Bible has harsh words for those who hate. Proverbs 10 warns “hatred stirs up strife” (v.12) and farther on declares “The one who conceals hatred has lying lips” (v.18). In the New Testament, 1John 3:5 echoes these admonitions, stating “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer.” Clearly, the ethical foundation for a Judeo-Christian civilization requires a rejection of hatred; yet in our society today, hatred seems to be spreading instead of receding.

Regardless of how you define hate, one thing seems clear.  Hatred does more harm to the hater than the hated.  It burdens the heart and clouds the mind, and if allowed to fester, will change a person’s entire personality for the worse. Hate will darken other parts of the hater’s life. His or her career can be derailed, family relationships can suffer, and friendships can fall by the wayside. If the hater decides to harm the hated one through violence or some criminal act, a long jail sentence can be the result.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., often a target for hatred, knew too well the terrible damage hatred can inflict on the human soul.  Better than I did in the previous paragraph, he describes what hatred can do in these words: “Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.”

Read a newspaper, listen to the evening news, or just browse through postings on any social media platform, and you’ll quickly realize that we ignore Dr. King’s warning at our own peril.