There is Nothing Inherently Bad About Hate
Jerry D. Kaifetz, Ph.D.
Hate is like a gun. A gun is an inert, inanimate object. When used for good, it liberates citizens from tyrants. When used with malice, it victimizes innocent people. Hate is the same; it all depends on that toward which it is aimed.
The genesis and foundation of Western morality is the Judaeo-Christian ethic. All religions are defined by their scriptures, the written expression of that moral code. They are the ethical arbiter and heart of our civilization, our logos, and the progenitor of our spiritual well-being and the core of our humanity. In that text we find a most interesting passage on the subject of hate, when King David spoke of having a “perfect hatred” toward those whose guilt was evidenced by blood. This description of the kind of hate David had for the wicked denotes a “complete” hatred—complete in the sense of being balanced and having come to maturity. It is not driven by anger, by passion or by emotion alone; it is a just hatred that is warranted based on the odious nature and motives of those upon whom David directs this sentiment, those he finds guilty in the sight of God—those opposed to righteousness at their core. It is proper, in that those who hate righteousness cannot be given quarter. They are clearly distinguished from those whom by carelessness, or inattention slip into sin and soon understand the need for corrective measures. This is the role of conscience, which operates at different levels in human beings, or not at all in the case of the reprobate or sociopath.
So the contemporary understanding of the term “hate” today is something that emerges and is leveraged principally for political gain and as a tool for censorship, and David’s “perfect hate” is an unwelcome anachronism. Through David, we see it bathed in an entirely different light. Is hate bad? No. Is hate good? No. The CONTEXT is the only determining factor. Billy Sunday said, “You can’t love the flowers if you don’t hate the weeds.” If you don’t hate that which injures what you treasure, then your love of that entity can quite legitimately be brought into question. I do not merely disagree with the child molester; I HATE the child molester if he or she walks away from that act absent any pangs of conscience and fully intends to re-offend as a lifestyle. How can anything less than a heart filled with hatred be a proper reaction to the horror that has been imposed on an innocent and beautiful child? Is this the raging, uncontrolled hate of an aggressor? No, it is the just response appropriate and balanced under the circumstances which have desecrated beauty and devalued a human life. David was “a man after God’s own heart,” and he hated evil with “a perfect hatred.” So do I.
