On loving our enemies

I have written on this blog of my longing to see the tragedy of abortion put to an end in this nation, and around the world. But I hope in my attitude toward people who disagree with me, I do not dehumanize them in a way similar to this sad photograph:

In our pluralistic society, don't you think things would be a lot more civil if people gave heed to this advice from CS Lewis:

“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible?

"If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”

As a nation, it sure seems like we're moving toward a universe of pure hatred, doesn't it? If only those who disagreed with one another took time to consider that even our opponents are human beings, and really tried hard to think the best of one another.