I’m in San Francisco. Or, technically, I’m in San Anselmo at San Francisco Theological Seminary, which is a jewel. It is one of the most stunning landscapes of learning I can imagine. But apart from the inspiring space, SFTS is also launching a Center for Innovation in Ministry this week. They are not only harnessing their aesthetic geography, but their intellectual geography as well, taking advantage of being in the pulsing center of our nation's digital wellspring.
We are endlessly being misdirected in search of the crude “hate crime.” After centuries of racial oppression and violence, our society eventually became uncomfortable with the overtness of the racism of the past. Slavery is taken for granted as a horrific thing, something that couldn’t be assumed a few generations ago. For mainstream America, to be accused of being racist is to have been labeled something despicable. Few would willingly accept this charge upon themselves, defending themselves adamantly against such accusations. However, even worse than the racist label for those within the dominant culture, is for a person to be accused of a hate crime. Hate crimes have been created to isolate the most heinous of offenses that have been committed because of prejudice.