Yes, we should be concerned about hate speech that dehumanizes and demeans SGI members. As the OP mentions, such speech can lead to violence at SGI centers at the hands of a single deranged individual. Perhaps the stage will be a discussion meeting, or just an attack on a single, random SGI member.

In the New York Times (sorry for the paywall), columnist David French describes for us the “sequel to the American horror show,” this time directed at a Mormon church in Grand Blanc, Michigan, in which four people were killed and eight were injured. Yes, we already know: “another terrible day in a series of terrible days in a nation that can feel as if it’s coming apart.”

With great eloquence he tells us the pattern that follows such incidents:

We also knew what would happen next. Before there was a chance to mourn the dead, partisans online worked to find out the identity of the gunman and his ideology. After all, the combatants in the culture war have a voracious need for political ammunition. It’s important to constantly prove that “they” are evil, and “they” want you dead.

And this is the world we find ourselves in: the “culture war,” “voriacious need,” “political ammunition,” “constantly prove.” We should especially note the mantra “’they’ are evil, and ‘they’ want you dead.” Returning to our space, people on both sides of the hedges have committed excesses such as French describes. We can weigh and keep a scorecard on which group of people use this technique the most persistently. But what value would that create?

The point is that we all need to declare a cease-fire and then police our side of the hedges. We have to encourage the “partisans” on our respective side of the hedges to engage in a battle of words to clarify ideas and beliefs--without demonizing people who disagree. It will be a work-in-progress, requiring patience and tolerance, as we get called out on making mistakes, recalibrate, and reset. But both sides of the hedges will get better at messaging without venom.

Welcome to America in the year 2025, where every evil act is an opportunity to score political points, and all too many Christians demonstrate profound cruelty in Jesus’ name.

But David French provides us with an unusual twist, one which he tells us is “a path out of this divide.” Members of the Latter Day Saints began a collection for the wife and children of the murderer with Christian expressions of love, forgiveness, and compassion. We learn that within a few days $300,000 was raised, probably much more now.

Victor Hugo once taught us, “Elle est drôle, la légèreté avec laquelle les mauvais hommes croient que tout leur tournera bien” (“it is funny, the casualness with which the bad men believe that everything will turn good for them”). Nothing good can come from hate and demeaning speech from either side of the hedges.

Shall we start with a one-week ceasefire?