I was on the website for Sojourners magazine when I saw this article about an effigy of Barack Obama having been found hanging from a tree at George Fox University. The story has also been covered by The Oregonian and other news outlets.

Maybe it doesn’t matter that it happened at a Christian university, since we don’t know and might never know who did it. Maybe it was students there, maybe it was outsiders trying to stir up a ruckus. (*See note below.)

But surely the choice of an avowedly Christian campus as the setting for this despicable stunt was intentional, if only to add to the shock value.

I’ve already seen some comments that suggest this is no big deal, that people really need to chill out and recognize that there’s a big difference between hanging a cardboard cutout from a tree and harming a real live human being. But doesn’t that miss the point that this is an intentionally threatening act, meant not only to denigrate a public figure but also to intimidate an entire segment of our population?

In a country with such a crushing history of racism and oppression, such an relentless record of violence against people of color–much of it either tacitly or explicitly approved of by Christians–can we really afford not to take this seriously? Does it really seem trivial that the specter of lynching is raised only weeks before an election that could see us voting in the first African-American president of the United States?

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone that I’m an admirer of Barack Obama. I think he is smart, principled, and caring, and I believe he has demonstrated both wisdom and judgment in this long election season. And, in an aside that people from St. Louis will surely forgive, I think it’s cool that we went to the same high school.

And I want to say that I understand–I really do–that most people who will choose to vote for someone else aren’t dangerous crazies who would do something like hang Obama in effigy.

I think Christians can disagree on what candidate to vote for in this election and still be good Christians and good citizens. But when it comes to people who do things like this, and those who silently approve, and those who downplay it as a bit of silly nonsense, and those whose hate speech and smear campaigns and, yes, sinister tactics are aimed at convincing people that he’s “just not like us”–well, those people I’m not so sure about. I don’t get it. What is it about this man that is so threatening to them?

Even if I could tell you who to vote for (and let’s remember that in a free country nobody can tell you who to vote for), I wouldn’t. But I would urge anyone reading this to rise above fear, hatred, and intolerance before you make any decisions, and then to get informed, to get involved…and to bring all your values with you into the voting booth.

*After posting this, I found a more recent AP report that 4 students had admitted their responsibility for this incident.  The university has punished them with “long-term suspensions and community service.”  Read the Seattle Times article here.