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Texan archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller has deleted his tweets attacking President Donald Trump because they “were not focused on the issues but on an individual.”
He had posted several tweets to Trump after Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas where 22 people were killed.
Garcia-Siller was one of many people who, in the aftermath of recent shootings (including the ones in Dayton, Ohio and Gilroy, California), connected the violence to Trump’s political rhetoric.
In his tweets, Garcia-Siller called the president “poor” and “weak”, said Trump had done “too much damage already” and told him “stop racism, starting with yourself”.
“All individuals have God-given dignity and should be accorded respect and love as children of God, especially in our conversations and interactions,” Garcia-Siller said on Tuesday after deleting the tweets.
“We should be aware of this in our discourse about the Office of the President of the United States, which is due our respect.”
Tweets focusing on the issue in Garcia-Siller’s Twitter account include several alluding to the dangers of racist rhetoric.
One mentions the “selfishness of many in power” that has led to “destruction and pain”.
The archbishop also released a video statement on Facebook.
In the video he recalled a statement from the US Bishops, “The Enduring Call to Love: A Pastoral Letter Against Racism;” “Every racist act—every such comment, every joke, every disparaging look as a reaction to the color of skin, ethnicity or place of origin—is a failure to acknowledge another person as a brother or sister, created in the image of God”.
Pointing out that no one has the moral right to make racist statements, García-Siller said “There is growing fear and harassment, and at times American public discourse uses rhetoric that instigates fear against foreigners, immigrants and refugees….
“We do not need more division, but rather, we need to move forward in freedom to discuss these topics more deeply in light of the Gospel.”
Source
- Fox Network
- America Magazine
- Image: Heavy.com
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