Opinion: Many who claim to be Christians guilty of hyper-abusive speech

Like me, you probably heard it from your mom or dad, but you are not sure when. It’s a sort of truism, told to kids for generations: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

The line first appeared in a publication in Liverpool, England, in 1857, but was a common saying long before that. Don’t we wish it were true?

Ask Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, who had to leave their home because of threats, harassment and intimidation after being falsely accused of voter fraud. Ask Paul Pelosi, who was bludgeoned with a hammer in his home because his wife, Nancy Pelosi, was vilified over and over by her political opponents and by those who repeated and broadcast the lies and threats. Thousands among us, politicians, poll workers, civil servants and others have been threatened or attacked because of incendiary language used by politicians and pundits and amplified exponentially on the internet.

Freedom of speech is a precious value in our nation and guaranteed by our Bill of Rights. It is the second of the four freedoms guaranteed to us in that First Amendment. The first is religious freedom, including a prohibition against supporting any religious establishment, the third is freedom of the press and the fourth is freedom of assembly. All are preserved in one terse paragraph, and they are interdependent. We cannot be assured of any of the freedoms if any one of them is weakened.

Thus, any of our freedoms can be abused to the detriment of all of them. Hyper abusive speech can undermine the ability of people peacefully to assemble, disrupting school boards and other routine meetings. Hyper abusive speech, when amplified by a chaotic internet, can turn our free press into a messy stew of disinformation and fact checking. Hyper abusive speech can turn religious organizations from advocates for justice, compassion and unity into megaphones for division and belligerence.

Ours is not the first generation of Americans to experience lies, threats and verbal abuse, but it is the first to see those words being turned into sticks, stones and bullets from assault weapons on a daily basis, including the horrific massacre of innocent people and children.

Why is this happening in what we must and should be able to rely on to be a just and civil social order? Of course, the animosity and belligerence that now besets our society has long been the frightening and horrific experience of minority groups in America. It was always there, but now it is shamelessly virulent, ubiquitous and undeniable, except by those who have a financial or political stake in pushing weapons and who seem to revel in stoking fear.  Their words do hurt.

A lot of blame is aimed at a generation of young people who seem obsessed with social media. But there is nothing new about what is at the heart of this crisis. Robert Reich reminds us that the aging philosopher, Cicero, wrote: “Older people who are reasonable, good-tempered and gracious bear aging well. Those who are mean spirited and irritable will be unhappy at every stage of life.” We live among a number of mean spirited, irritable, unhappy people who feel free to verbalize their anger, and others who gleefully repeat and magnify it on the internet.

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It is a sobering fact that many who claim to be staunch Christians are among the offenders. They and all of us should read or reread Jesus’ words, especially in Matthew Chapter 13. His disciples were being criticized for eating without having washed their hands. Jesus responded: “Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.”

Thanks to the Bill of Rights and our nation’s founders, we have freedom of speech. It is fundamental for a free society and, for better and worse, it reveals what is in the hearts of some among us. It is disastrous to the victims of violence and to our whole society for some to abuse this precious gift. For the sake of our fragile domestic tranquility, those  who have arrogance, hatred and slander in their hearts should please, “bite your tongues.” You probably heard that from your parents, too.

Rev. Dr. Rollin Russell is a retired minister of the United Church of Christ and a faculty member of Lancaster Theological Seminary.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Freedom of speech reveals what is in our hearts