Political name calling intended to humiliate, social media provocateurs, and cable news programs do their best to incite division and hostility between opposite sides, in a game most reasonable people do not want to play. The final months of this year’s rush to the election finish line are likely to be even more brutal than ever, as one candidate or another tries to inflame animosities and incite violent rhetoric. Even God has been used as a pawn to gain political favor with voters. Sojourners put out a bumper sticker during the 2004 campaign that said “God is not a Republican or Democrat.” It was popular, but the message didn’t get through. Momentum remains twenty years later to put Christian faith under the umbrella of political identity. God is not happy with it.
Snide remarks about others, nicknames that denigrate, and generalizations that slather whole groups with scorn, have become the usual way with which some politicians talk about their opponents and anyone who does not support them. But it didn’t start with them. That way of talking began to flood public discourse as soon as it was learned that anyone could say anything and get away with it on the internet. Let’s face it, that kind of talk has been the fodder of malicious gossip and cruel jokes for many centuries, but it was confined to small gatherings around the kitchen table or local bar. There were a few notable exceptions, but it was not generally carried out into the streets. The internet not only created an avenue for it to become a part of public discourse, it invited, encouraged, and rewarded it. No wonder it is so easily tolerated by some political leaders.
Holy Scripture declares that God condemns it. Secular history declares that it leads only to the undermining and downfall of civil society and economic prosperity. There is such a thing as righteous indignation but unrestrained emotional venting and self-righteous indignation is never it. Righteous indignation is the honest, truthful confronting of injustice without rancor or viciousness. It sounds simple enough, but we, you and I, too often claim as righteous, self-serving anger over the unfairness of it all . We claim as righteous the virtue of our own prejudices and our uncritical acceptance of rumors and conspiracies. More often we mean no harm, but harm is done just the same. It has become more common for words to be intentionally used to cause as much damage as possible. It is a sinfully cruel act that generates evil extending far and wide.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul advised Christians to “ Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 4).
Words useful for building up extend beyond the community of faith into the larger communities of city, state, and nation. There is a sense in which Christians are exiles in a land that is our home for only a short time, as we await a new and greater life in God’s kingdom. With that in mind, it is incumbent on Christians to adhere to the exhortations of the ancient prophet Jeremiah when he wrote to the exiles in Babylon that they should “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29).
Amidst the incivility of today’s social media provocateurs and savage language from politicians and candidates, Christians are encouraged to offer a firm, confident, well-reasoned voice of civility in the public arena, advocating for greater godly justice and the building up of what is good and needed in the nation. I’m an Episcopal priest who writes political commentary, so I confess it is sometimes hard to do so without dropping a few mean spirited words. I’ll try to do better. You too, whether in private or public.