Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World

- Some examples from Donald Shoemaker, Chairman of the Social Concerns Committee, FGBC

"Hate Speech" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World, Part I

According to newspaper reports, Rebekah Rice's Mormon faith was ridiculed by other students at Maria Carillo High School in Santa Rosa when they would ask her questions like, "Do you have ten moms?"

She said back, "That's so gay." I'll let people younger than me say whether this expression is really referring to sexual orientation when it's used by teens. More to my interest is the sad fact that Rebekah ended up in the principal's office and got a warning and notation placed in her student file. Seems she uttered "hate speech."

Which leads me to ask three questions.
1. Whatever happened to the First Amendment, which is supposed to
prevent the government from hindering free speech? Not that this is an
absolute right-it isn't. But limiting free speech requires the government to meet a very high standard of proof that the speech is indeed dangerous.
2. Why weren't those who ridiculed her also charged with "hate speech"?
If we're going to be in the business of policing speech, shouldn't ridiculing someone's religious beliefs be just as prohibited as making a remark that might be a slur about sexual orientation? If speech restrictions are supposed to "creating a safe and inclusive environment" (as one supporter of the action against Rebekah says) shouldn't they also exclude religious slurs?
3. What would the outcome be if public schools had to remove everything
from their environment and curriculum that might offend religious people?



"Forgiveness" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World, Part II

"I really need to forgive you. Not for you, it's for me so I can let go."

So, the theory goes and this one instance illustrates, we "forgive" others for our own sake, not for the offender's sake or as a step toward reconciliation.

What a different notion from the way God forgives us! Imagine God saying, "I forgive you for sinning against me. And by the way, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for me, so I can let go of the feelings I have."

Leave it to modern thinking, including some notions by Christians about "forgiveness," to make it me-centered and therapeutic rather than relationship-centered and reconciling. Here is the Christian word: "God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." (II Corinthians 5:19 NIV)



"Guilty of Causing an Accidental Life?" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World, Part III

According to the Boston Globe (March 7), a lawsuit seeks compensation for a botched abortion and for the costs of raising the child who accidentally lived.

"A Boston woman has filed a lawsuit alleging that a doctor at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts bungled her abortion in April 2004 and that she had no idea she was still pregnant until about six weeks before her daughter was born in December.

"Jennifer Raper, 45, of Charlestown, wants Planned Parenthood, the doctor who performed the abortion at the Boston clinic, and another physician who allegedly failed to detect her pregnancy in July 2004 to pay damages, including the cost of rearing Raper's 2-year-old daughter."



"Online Killing" - Our Morally Topsy-Turvy World - Part IV

"A righteous man cares for the needs (well-being) of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel." (Proverbs 12:10)

I grew up in Ohio where guns and hunting were commonplace. Still, I think honorable participants in the sport of hunting should avoid gratuitous injury and killing--taking life just for the fun of it.

Perhaps having grown tired of killing fictitious characters in video games, some are turning to actual killing of animals via the Internet--using a Webcam and rifle perched on a remote-controlled device. "Slouched at a computer, the 'hunter' perks up as a 12-point buck eases into view on his screen. Maneuvering his mouse, he swivels the rifle and focuses the cross hairs. With a click of the mouse, the rifle fires a bullet, mortally wounding the animal." (Associated Press report)

Is this an on-line mutation of cock fighting? Does this say something about the truism that those who are cruel to animals will be cruel to people? I don't know, but the practice is disturbing and contrary to sportsmanship as I know it.