Why do we hate others or turn our eyes from them? Why do we assault them with the rhetoric of inhumanity? Why do we seek to eliminate, dominate, or simply abandon them to their own fate? Sometimes the dehumanization and consequent mistreatment of others are a projection of our own individual or collective hatred of ourselves; we persecute others because we are uncomfortable with strangeness within ourselves. Others become scapegoats, concocted from our own shadows as repositories for our sins and weaknesses so we can relish the illusion of our sinlessness and strength.
Miroslav Volf
Exclusion and Embrace
