Nasty Rhetoric

Nasty rhetoric could give us more trouble during these difficult times than all the ships at sea and planes in the air.

The other day I was sitting in a coffee shop and a man at the next table said to his companion, "I think we ought to send in ground troops and march from one end of that miserable country to the other and destroy everything in sight." I drank my tea in silence as he elaborated on his dire plan. This guy was mildly enraged.

Fear is not the only emotion we're feeling. The arm-in-arm companion of fear is anger, and Americans are now more steamed than we have been in decades. If we're not careful, our seething will soon boil over into a dangerous tantrum.

An article in the Los Angeles Times recently quoted a Muslim leader who warned in a pre-September 11 speech that "America has to learn. If you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come." Now, of course, people are wondering if this fine Muslim fellow was in on the Trade Towers tragedy. Or was he simply talking like an empowered Muslim who doesn't like certain things about America?

When you sit back and read that with an eye to history, it isn't much different from what many conservative Christian preachers have been saying for decades.

We get chastised every day of the week for months and years on end. We are probably the most scolded people in the world. Slowly, we are becoming ticked because people in many nations think we are self-serving scum. This conclusion comes after a long history of saving nations living at the brink of despair, and sending aid to countries that otherwise would suffer in poverty for years. There is no accounting for the world's condemnation of America and many are tiring of the constant barrage of insults.

That brings us to the topic, how nasty rhetoric can kill institutions and damage mission.

Here is an example. St. Bobby's by the Cemetery was a middle-class, blue-collar congregation. In many ways it exceeded its mission by opening a center for runaway youth in the old parsonage next door to the church. It had also a substantial ministry to gay males and lesbians who congregated for worship in the sanctuary on Sunday evenings.

But all of those services cost money. For years the church had postponed furnishing the adult lounge in favor of helping others. Finally the church leaders decided to mount a fundraising campaign to buy furniture for the adult lounge.

From the beginning Harry Haltenstall was against the adult lounge. That's because Haltenstall was against everything, even the cemetery and the youth ministry. He hated everything, always threatening to pull out of the church and leave his fortune to the community garden club. Posies, Not Perverts was Haltenstall's motto.

He began calling people with these two warnings: 1) your church will die if you finance this selfish adult lounge and 2) God will curse every member of St. Bobby's by the Cemetery, Pastor Doomly included.

At the December meeting, the adult lounge was voted down. This was just a start. Along with it, the ministry to gays and lesbians was given six months to find another sanctuary, and the parsonage was sold to the highest bidder. That bidder of course, was Harry Haltenstall.

Jesus said, "...It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." Matthew 15:11

Clark D. Morphew
11-07-01