Sunday in America

The headlines were ugly Sunday.

“Three killed and five injured in mass shooting in Southport.”

“Four killed, eight injured in shooting and fire at Michigan church.”

That came after Charlie Kirk’s murder and threats of violent retribution.

Sunday night, there was a welcome voice of peace and sanity.

On 60 Minutes, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (photo) urged Americans to condemn political violence: “I’m not asking anybody to hold hands and hug it out. I’m not asking for that. I’m trying to get people to stop shooting each other. That’s it.”

Cox, a Republican, first spoke out after Kirk was killed in his state.

He said then, “Our nation is broken. We’ve had political assassinations recently in Minnesota. We had an attempted assassination of the governor of Pennsylvania. And we had an attempted assassination on a presidential candidate and former president of the United States and now current president of the United States. Nothing I say can unite us as a country. Nothing I can say right now can fix what is broken.”

On 60 Minutes, he blamed the “cancer” of social media. “It is taking all of our worst impulses and putting them on steroids. It is driving us to division. It is driving us to hate.”

As chair of the National Governors Association, Cox brought 23 governors from both parties into a “Disagree Better” initiative.

But he acknowledged that his voice is out of place in President Trump’s Republican Party.

Sunday a week ago, Trump said at Kirk’s memorial service, “I hate my opponent.”

Sunday morning, many Americans went to church. Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor.”

Which voice will we heed?