Scott Kamps
Words are vital in every conflict.
When used rightly – and kindly – words promote understanding and further agreement/unity. When misused, words aggravate offenses, driving people further apart.
In our increasingly- polarized country, it’s imperative that leaders – especially those proclaiming Christ –exemplify wise words that bring knowledge/healing.
God’s Word through James is so pertinent to our current culture: “…let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.” These words are readily ignored/neglected when news or clips that exacerbate indignation (rightly or wrongly) rapidly go viral.
I’m not blaming social media, but social media brings this ugliness out in all of us – and we’re drawn to it. If you’re like me, when you read/see something that you perceive to subvert or corrupt morality – leading to injustice – you tend to be slow to listen, quick to anger and very quick to speak (usually harshly).
God, give us grace to be patient with each other.
Sometimes issues/words need to be responded to, gently and graciously. In this spirit, I’m compelled to address Eric Reece’s column last week (“Protesters, ICE raiding churches?”). As a convictional conservative, there’s not much that Eric Reece and I agree on and it would take an entire newspaper to respond to the column. In the spirit of being slow to speak, I’m only pointing to the most egregious error – an objective error (not my opinion).
Reece referenced the Jan. 18 events in Minneapolis, when a leftist-activist mob invaded an evangelical congregation on the Lord’s Day, intentionally interrupting worship for political protest. To Reece’s credit, he wrote what happened “was not a pretty sight.”
But that’s insufficient; at one point a hostile “protestor” yelled at children in the congregation, “Do you know your parents are Nazis? They are going to burn in hell.”
The egregious error occurred when he wrote, “…two journalists who were arrested later by federal agents for being on-site covering the story.”
This statement is blatantly false. Don Lemon may spin the story to say that he was arrested for journalism (he’s got the right/freedom to try that defense in a court of law), but he was arrested/charged with conspiracy to deprive others of their civil rights and with interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshippers. Nobody has the first amendment right to violate someone else’s first amendment rights. It’s essential to get the facts before we disseminate our views (sources are crucial).
Public trust in institutions is currently incredibly low; very nice men that lead them aren’t trusted because they have given out false information too often. Individuals can lose the trust of those they serve if they spread false information as well.
If Mr. Reece really wants to “continue to work together for the betterment of all” (and I believe he does), then his words need to promote truth and understanding. Misrepresentations (intentional or inadvertent) only bring more hostility/polarization.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.