At the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, D.C., the rights protected by the First Amendment collided: freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Every actor in the clashes could claim the moral high ground.

Our calling as Christians is not to preserve systems that contradict the Kingdom of Heaven, but to name them, resist them, and imagine something truer.

Each Friday in The Christian Citizen, we publish a Religion News Roundup with summaries of religion news stories and links for those who want to read more.

We get to choose what side we’re on: the side of dehumanizing contempt or the side of dignity and mercy.

It takes courage to be who we are, and that courage found in community is the only thing that can defeat evil.