The Brotherhood We Fear: A Logical Challenge to Modern Faith

The Red Letter Challenge

​"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?" — Matthew 5:46-47

​The Brotherhood We Fear: A Logical Challenge to Modern Faith

​In the 1995 film Cry, the Beloved Country, James Jarvis (played by Richard Harris) reads a letter written by his late son. The words provide a sharp logical challenge to anyone who claims to follow a faith of love.

​The quote says:

​"The truth is that our Christian civilization is riddled through and through with dilemma. We believe in the brotherhood of man, but we do not want it. We believe in justice, but we are afraid of it. When posterity comes to judge us, will we be consigned to the pages of history as tyrants, or as men who had the courage to be free?"

​Historical Parallels: A Logic Check

​History shows that this "dilemma" follows a predictable pattern. When we claim to value human life but support systems that hunt people down, we fall into the same logical trap as those who came before us:

• ​The Slave Catchers (1850s): Under the Fugitive Slave Act, regular citizens were legally forced to help "catchers" return people to slavery. The logic used then was "property rights" and "the law of the land," but history judges it as a crime against humanity.
• ​The Gestapo (1930s): In Nazi Germany, the secret police relied on a culture of neighbors informing on neighbors. The logic used was "national security" and "racial purity," but history judges it as the height of tyranny.
• ​Modern Day (2026): Today, we see the terror of ICE raids and the rise of "Reform" movements obsessed with flags and deportations. When families are torn apart in the middle of the night, we must ask: Is the logic of "border security" actually any different from the logic of the slave catcher or the Gestapo? If the result is the suffering of the innocent, the dilemma remains.

​A Query for Our Time

​In the British Quaker tradition, Query 33 from Quaker Faith & Practice asks us directly:

​"Are you working to get rid of all feelings of superiority for whatever reason? ... Where there is oppression, how are we instruments of justice?"

​If we claim a faith of equality while supporting leaders who promote "us vs. them" nationalism, we are failing this query. To worship a political figure like Donald Trump—or to follow the divisive rhetoric of figures like Tommy Robinson—is to choose a "tribal" identity over the "brotherhood of man."

​The Global Crisis of Silence

​The quote asks if history will call us "tyrants." This applies to our response to global suffering today:

• ​Gaza and Africa: We are witnessing horrific violence and genocides in Gaza and across the African continent. If we believe in "justice," logic says we must want it for everyone, not just people who look like us.
• ​The Weight of Posterity: "Posterity" means the people of the future. When they look back at 2026, will they see people who stood up for the oppressed? Or will they see people who were too busy waving flags to notice the killing?

​The Courage to be Free

​Being "free" does not mean doing whatever we want or putting our own nation first. True freedom is the courage to love without being afraid.

​When we stop being afraid of "the other," we no longer need to act like tyrants. We can finally want the brotherhood we say we believe in. The choice is simple: we either live out the radical love of the "Red Letters," or we become the very tyrants we claim to oppose.

(Public Domain picture from biblepic.com)