Jamin Bradley

When Catholics first started immigrating to the United States, many were wary of them. One American leader began to spread rumors that Catholics were here to destroy democracy and would do so by corrupt politicians buying their votes. He shamed Americans for not being more suspicious of Catholics and his message was spread through the telegraph, newspapers, and magazines, while Protestant preachers condemned Catholics in their messages.

A rumor broke out that a young woman was being held against her will at a convent in Massachusetts, which caused a mob to burn the convent to the ground. A fabricated book came out that was written by a group of anti-Catholics that sold 300,000 copies. The authors pretended to be a former nun, who said nuns were forced to have sex with priests and then have their babies baptized and killed. Catholic immigrants had become the enemy and Americans viewed them with great suspicion and hatred.

Recently, a woman made a post that her neighbor’s daughter’s friend’s cat was eaten by Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH—a rumor that made its way to the top of society in one moment. The Springfield community is now suffering under the weight of these rumors.

Jesus was a homeless Jewish man, born in poor conditions to a woman whose husband was not the father, raised a refugee in Egypt, despised by his own people, hated by the religious leaders, and executed with capital punishment as an enemy of the state. When we fear “the other” and spread rumors about them, we should fear that we might have done the same thing to Jesus several times over. May we guard our ears as the words we hear work hard to make their way down to our hearts.