Thank you for your thoughtful and challenging editorial, “Worthy of Our Roles? Ministry of Reconciliation Is Everyone’s Duty Now” (Nov. 21). This is an appropriate response to an election leaving the country probably more divided than before. A division exemplified by Trump winning in the Electoral College but losing in the popular vote, both by wide margins. A division exemplified by hateful campaign rhetoric against immigrants, Muslims and racial minorities. How might Christian congregations respond? You offer an appropriate challenge: “Our congregations could lead the way in defying the stereotype of red states as bastions of nativism and racial prejudice.” A core message of the gospel is welcoming the outsider. Let us become “congregations that sponsor refugees” as “ministers of reconciliation, proving that [we] do not fear multiculturalism.” Let us become places of refuge for those stigmatized by the political rhetoric of the recent campaign.

David L. Swartz
Newton, Mass.