According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), there are 917 hate groups operating in the United States – 40 of them in Pennsylvania.

            The SPLC reports that all hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.  You know, people that are different.

            Is a person wrong if they abhor all hate groups?  Is it politically correct to just detest one or two that fits the agenda of the day?"  No - hate is hate. 

            First Amendment rights must be supported but criminal conduct must be swiftly addressed.  People sometimes need to be reminded of that – even if they don't like it.  Loathing and protesting against hate groups is not against the law.  Throwing rocks and bottles at police is.  

            Not only that, but the side throwing rocks and bottles at police is giving the opposing side ammunition as they attempt to prove their point.

            Strength in numbers is only part of the solution to our Nation's hate problem.  Constant, peaceful protests keep the message in front of the people, and that's good.  But, perhaps the strongest way to work towards shrinking the divide is through ourselves – our words, deeds, and the way we treat others. 

            It is hard living in a country where we need to fear that how we dress or the way we wear our hair can be interpreted by another as racist and offensive.  It's also troubling to think that it could lead to physical harm.  More and more cases of "mistaken racist identity" have been occurring recently.

            Have you been one of those who judged a book by its cover lately?

            You shouldn't have to recite the names of all 917 hate groups to prove that you detest their message.  If you miss one - guess what?  You'll be accused of supporting the one you omitted.  We need to be sensible.  If you say you're truly repulsed by all of them, and support your words by your actions, then you are.   

            The recent cause celebre of removing statues is not the reason for the hate in our nation, it's only another symptom.  It lit a fuse that ignited something that's existed for a long, long time.

            Too many folks seem to have no problem pointing fingers at others, but seldom are better themselves.  They offer no hope, just more hate.  And, in some cases, violence.

            Pennsburg native and founder of the worldwide Moral Rearmament movement, Rev. Frank Buchman, said "Peace is not only an idea, its people being different."

            Things won't get better if we don't get better.         

            The moral void we face today cannot be filled with more hate.