University Chaplain, professor and 2000 College graduate Chaz Howard published a Huffington Post opinion piece on Thursday with a simple message: end fear, encourage love.
True to his vocation, Howard began his piece invoking the Bible, and specifically the moments in it that he said were most noteworthy to him as a child. He wrote that when individuals were confronted with God or angels, they were filled with “both awe at the power and majesty of The Most High and terror at their vulnerability and mortality.” But the angels always said, “Be not afraid.”
Fear, Howard wrote, is at the center of much of the strife of modern society, and creates “a dangerous cycle of hate-fueled violence.” Howard, who has been outspoken in his support for gun control measures, last wrote for the Huffington Post in January about why he believes police officers should not carry guns.
Howard explained in the piece published on Thursday that fear stems from terrorism, that politicians purposefully incite fear, specifically presumptive nominee and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump, and that fear both comes from police violence against black Americans and provokes it.
“Cops resort to terror (terror induced by the simple presence of a gun and the potential use of it) to get people to respond behaviorally,” Howard wrote. “Black folks feel terrorized and understandably despise cops.”
You can read more of Howard’s article here.
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