Tom Tarrants was serving a 35-year sentence in prison for attempting to bomb a Jewish businessman’s residence. Previously, Tarrants had avoided any literature that didn’t support his white supremacist views. But with nothing to do in his tiny cell except think and read, he began devouring books about philosophy, history, and ethics. For the first time, Tarrants was forced to reexamine his extremist beliefs. He realized then how much he had been a slave to his ideology.

Tarrants grew up in a church in Alabama, attending every Sunday with his family. He had assumed he was saved. Even as he plotted terrorism, he had believed he was fighting for God and country. But reading Matthew 16:26 shook him awake: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” How utterly blind and foolish he had been to sell his soul in exchange for self-glory within the far-right movement! His hard heart cracked open, and he knelt on the concrete floor and asked Jesus Christ to forgive him.

Reading the Bible in prison convicted him that it wasn’t enough to simply not hate nonwhites: God had commanded him to love others, even his enemies.

There’s always a “someone” in a former extremist’s story. That “someone” awakens them from years of indoctrination and ignorance—and it’s always through unexpected kindness and empathy. For Tarrants, the “someones” were nonwhite inmates who befriended him. It was the Jewish attorney who vouched for him. It was the chaplains who brought him Christian books and tapes. It was the prayer group women who regularly interceded for him.

Tarrants became a free man in 1976. Over the years, he has co-pastored a multiracial church, served as interim pastor for an Asian American church, and participated in racial reconciliation events in the city.

Source: Sophia Lee; “Leaving Hatred Behind” World Magazine (8-1-19)