The Tennessee Valley Tragedy
If you haven't heard, there was a shooting at a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, Tennessee. A man, who seems to have believed that liberals and those fighting for gay rights were directly to blame for his and his country's problems, entered the church during a children's program and opened fire. He killed two people, one of whom seems to have stepped in front of the gunman to protect others.
Click on the link title for an Associated Press story.
Click here to leave a note to the congregation.
If you want to be heard, it sometimes seems you need to say that whatever bothers you is a threat to all the world, and whatever you enjoy is somehow a blessing for everyone. I've heard people seriously speak of killing spammers.
XBOX 360s won't end world hunger. The internet is not a cesspool of sin and destruction. The United States did not plummet downhill the day the Civil Rights Act gave some measure of equality to people of all races, and the Presbyterian church did not sign a pact with the devil when it began ordaining women.
Listen to how the Olympics will be promoted in a couple of weeks. We will be told that winning a medal is "glorious" and losing is "devastating."
Almost no one who engages in this kind of speech intends for it to result in violence. And almost no one who hears it reacts that way. It doesn't start the fire, but it does fan the flames.
I want to ask two things of you:
First, be aware of what's being said. Will a vote for one candidate or another really cause the destruction of all that is holy? Will the product in the ad really end all your problems? Watch out for people making mountains out of mole hills because they're selling mole hills.
Next, watch what you say. Measure your speech. Have the courage to say that your idea is good, but isn't the best idea EVER. Have the integrity to say that your opponent's idea is wrong, but isn't the word of Satan. Think about what you say. We all say things we regret, but put some of your attention into giving appropriate weight to your words.
Read the biblical book of James for some other thoughts about this.
Click on the link title for an Associated Press story.
Click here to leave a note to the congregation.
If you want to be heard, it sometimes seems you need to say that whatever bothers you is a threat to all the world, and whatever you enjoy is somehow a blessing for everyone. I've heard people seriously speak of killing spammers.
XBOX 360s won't end world hunger. The internet is not a cesspool of sin and destruction. The United States did not plummet downhill the day the Civil Rights Act gave some measure of equality to people of all races, and the Presbyterian church did not sign a pact with the devil when it began ordaining women.
Listen to how the Olympics will be promoted in a couple of weeks. We will be told that winning a medal is "glorious" and losing is "devastating."
Almost no one who engages in this kind of speech intends for it to result in violence. And almost no one who hears it reacts that way. It doesn't start the fire, but it does fan the flames.
I want to ask two things of you:
First, be aware of what's being said. Will a vote for one candidate or another really cause the destruction of all that is holy? Will the product in the ad really end all your problems? Watch out for people making mountains out of mole hills because they're selling mole hills.
Next, watch what you say. Measure your speech. Have the courage to say that your idea is good, but isn't the best idea EVER. Have the integrity to say that your opponent's idea is wrong, but isn't the word of Satan. Think about what you say. We all say things we regret, but put some of your attention into giving appropriate weight to your words.
Read the biblical book of James for some other thoughts about this.
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