# Wyatt warns against group hatred after tragedy Responding to news of Charlie Kirk’s death, Wyatt challenges retaliation. His reading of Isaiah 58 brings the question back to people who need care. Source: https://wyattcoats.com/blog/refusing-the-them-versus-us-reflex-after-tragedy/ Source video published: 2025-09-11 Original recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc Topics: compassion, identity, isaiah-58, evangelism, conflict A public tragedy can make anger feel like proof of loyalty. In this September 11 livestream, Wyatt responds to news of Charlie Kirk’s death by warning against hatred of whole groups. He sees the temptation to make the event confirm a story of opposing camps. His question is what that response will do to the people Christians still hope to reach. Wyatt also recalls his own tendency to fight back, describes beginning conversations with ordinary questions, and reads Isaiah 58. He connects resisting retaliation with offering practical help. Those parts of the broadcast explain what he wants viewers to do with their anger and grief. ## The moment sorrow starts assigning enemies At 2:17, Wyatt warns that the tragedy can reinforce a story of opposing camps. By 8:06, he names the broader pattern: Christians against outsiders, Republicans against Democrats, one side against another. Wyatt describes those divisions as spiritual warfare. His warning reaches our own speech and conduct. A response to one event can become contempt for a whole category of people. Wyatt wants Christians to respond by seeking people’s good and speaking about Jesus. His criticism targets the step from condemning an act to despising a category of people. Grief can be real without granting every angry inference authority. Notice whom your response begins to include: the people directly involved, or a growing collection of strangers you have put on the other side. For a reader, the first practical pause is before speaking or posting. What exactly happened, what do you actually know, and whom are your words about to implicate? Condemning an act and treating a group as collectively guilty are different actions. Wyatt's appeal gives that distinction a Christian purpose: someone you have made into an enemy becomes harder to approach with sincere concern. ## When the last word feels necessary At 11:18, Wyatt looks backward at his own tendency to fight. He says insecurity made him feel that challenges required a physical answer. His account of change turns on being less dependent on that answer: > I don't have anything to prove. (11:18) He describes asking how to approach a person attacking him. That allows him to consider whether he can understand them or speak about Jesus, rather than decide immediately how to win the exchange. He says he no longer needs to prove himself through a fight. Look at a conversation in which you feel compelled to have the last word. What would silence seem to say about you? Are you afraid of appearing weak, conceding a point, or letting someone misunderstand your beliefs? Naming that fear can interrupt the automatic reply. Then decide whether the situation needs an answer and what a useful answer could do. You can end an exchange or set a limit on interruptions while still considering why you want to reply. If fear of looking weak is driving the response, take time to choose words that address the issue. Wyatt describes learning to make that choice himself. ## Ask about a life before delivering a speech The early warning becomes more practical at 37:42. Wyatt describes beginning conversations by asking about tattoos, work, or everyday life. When people ask what he does, he can explain his faith within an exchange that already has human interest in it. He invokes Paul's language about becoming all things to all people, a paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 9:22. In his application, different people require different approaches. A fixed speech can miss the person standing in front of you. The practical lesson is to make your opening question one you actually want answered. If you ask about someone's work, listen to the answer. If you notice an interest they have chosen to display, let them explain it. Genuine attention cannot be reduced to a clever pretext for your next sentence. Wyatt also recalls prayer encounters and experiences he interprets as spiritual insight. But his account of opening a conversation gives beginners something ordinary to try: ask about an interest or the work a person does. Stay long enough to hear the answer. If the conversation turns toward your own faith, it will already contain two people’s voices. ## A fast accompanied by quarrels Late in the broadcast, at 1:25:10, Wyatt opens Isaiah 58. He reads the criticism of fasting accompanied by oppression and quarrels, then continues into practical demands: relieving burdens, sharing food, providing shelter, and giving clothing. Wyatt reads a passage about fasting accompanied by quarrels and neglected needs. Performing the practice more visibly would leave those problems unresolved. Consider whether the devotion you have described to others has also made you willing to help someone, including when a disagreement remains. A useful response is to read the chapter and select one concrete responsibility it names. Perhaps you can share food through a service you already know, address an unfair burden in work you oversee, or stop avoiding a legitimate request for help. Choose something identifiable enough that you can tell whether you have followed through. Notice how the chapter places quarrels beside neglected needs. Wyatt’s reading brings devotion into contact with another person’s burden. A reader can ask whether a demanding practice has made them more available to someone else, or simply more certain they deserve recognition. The answer becomes clearer when you can name a person who received help. ## Practice the appeal, including when it is hard to hear Wyatt’s own delivery is often sharp. He rebukes Christians, dismisses some objections, and later identifies America with Babylon in his interpretation of Revelation. You may find parts difficult to hear. His appeal also gives us a question to bring to our own words: what is this response doing to someone? The appeal to compassion remains demanding when it is applied to the person making it. Do that with your own words as well. A worthy intention does not make every reply helpful. If you recognize humiliation in something you said, address it directly instead of defending it because your broader cause is right. Christian concern has to survive the moment when another person challenges your identity; otherwise the next provocation will determine its limits for you. At 1:50:54, the stream moves into prayer and homework: tell someone about Jesus and offer practical help. You need not reproduce the broadcast’s intensity. Speak with a person, listen to their answer, and offer something they would welcome if you can. Listen to the full stream through the final assignment at 1:50:54. Wyatt connects his response to the tragedy with how Christians speak to and help people. Consider whether your next reply to a hostile remark leaves any opportunity for a useful conversation. ## Takeaways - Describe what you know about a tragedy without assigning collective guilt. - Before answering an attack, ask what you hope the exchange will accomplish. - Begin a faith conversation with a question whose answer you want to hear. - Read Isaiah 58 with attention to both the quarrels it condemns and the care it calls for. ## Scripture - Isaiah 58 - 1 Corinthians 9:22 ## Recording timestamps - [The warning against responding to tragedy through group hatred](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc&t=137s) - [Wyatt discusses political identity and group hostility](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc&t=486s) - [Why Wyatt connects defensiveness with insecurity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc&t=678s) - [Beginning a faith conversation with interest in someone's life](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc&t=2262s) - [The reading of Isaiah 58 on fasting and practical care](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc&t=5110s) - [A closing assignment to move beyond watching](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwwuKjchBAc&t=6654s)