Over the last week and a half, we the people have been engaged in some sincere soul searching over whom and what to hold responsible for the horrifying massacre in Tucson. In the days since the shootings, many politicians, advocacy groups, and media figures have pointed to our heated political discourse, issuing pleas to "tone down the rhetoric." Within faith communities this discussion has been compounded by the terrible words and actions of the Westboro Baptist Church, which has been protesting at the funerals of the victims.
It's very likely, as we have witnessed before, that soon our country will move on from this conversation without a soul-satisfying resolution. Before we move past this moment, we must embrace the opportunity to find a deeper understanding of ourselves in it. We must ask ourselves important questions like, "How do we balance our freedoms and rights with what we know to be healthy and good?" and "How do we apply 'turning down the rhetoric' in our own lives?"
Neither state nor church can -- nor should -- set rules to limit speech. By their very nature such institutional rules would jeopardize our freedom. However, as decent human beings, we know there are boundaries between speech that is helpful and speech that is harmful. Stripped of the ability to set rules, the question for both church and state becomes: "How can we reinforce and protect those boundaries when rules are not an option?"
What is required in both institutions -- and necessary for us to remember in the face of the violence just experienced in Tucson -- is the concept of "obedience to the unenforceable."
In the Christian tradition, one way to understand the whole of the Bible is through this concept. The Bible documents the gradual recognition that the relationship between God and God's people can only rest upon obedience to the unenforceable. The opening books of Scripture depict how God establishes rules so that human obedience is the way in which we connect with God. Over and over again people fail to obey the rules and jeopardize that relationship with God. The great prophets of the Old Testament articulate the shift away from enforcement of rules to a covenant of love as the form of relationship God desires. God's coming in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, completes this movement. Jesus invites us to love and serve Him. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew offers a way of life that is unenforceable but compelling in its call to obedience, unenforceable obedience.
So, when the boundaries between helpful and harmful speech are unenforceable, what can we do, in church or state, to reinforce and protect those recognized boundaries? How do we inspire obedience to the unenforceable?
One way is to take responsibility for our own selves and commit ourselves to honor freedom of speech as the fragile privilege that it is. We can take special care to be respectful in all we say and do. We can learn from the courage of people in places that do not have the history of freedom we so take for granted like the Christians practicing their faith in Baghdad or the people of Tunisia speaking up for free elections.
President Barack Obama has been a model of obedience to the unenforceable in political speech since he emerged on the political scene at the 2004 National Democratic Convention. He consistently refuses to engage in incendiary language and constantly invites everyone to participate in the civil discourse upon which good government depends. He called us all to this same restraint again last week in Tucson.
We can also shun those who exploit freedom of speech through incendiary and hateful rhetoric. This is a difficult discipline, especially when our immediate emotional instinct is to react, to push back, and to forcibly patrol that border between help and harm. That kind of "eye for an eye" instinct only serves to feed the problem. It brings further attention to the perpetrators of extremist speech and gives them the opportunity to proclaim their freedom to say it and shield themselves from consequence.
Westboro Baptist, led by Fred Phelps, thrives on using incendiary and hateful speech. They show no obedience to the unenforceable lines between help and harm and insist upon using their right to freely practice their religion by picketing outside of funerals, most recently of those shot to death in Tucson. They also protest at the funerals of our brave men and women who die in battle.
Westboro Baptist relies upon negative publicity to gain more attention and truly abuse the unenforceable boundaries of the freedom of expression in the church. They count on outraged reaction to give them another chance to speak up.
The model I look to and rely on for the serious discipline of shunning extremists is the response that Trinity High School in Washington, Pennsylvania, gave when Westboro Baptist came to picket there last fall. When officials learned of the planned protest, they dismissed school early so no one was there. Then, students, parents and community leaders organized a Diversity Fair at a church hall in town to highlight the opportunities in their community for meeting all kinds of people. It was a great example of responding to hate with love while also taking a stand by shunning those that use hateful language.
The rampage in Tucson shattered our peace. In our self-searching afterward -- for a moment -- we see more clearly than usual the unenforceable rules of decency and civility our communities live by. The challenge for us all is to hold on to that clarity through this tragedy and beyond, to be, day in and day out, utterly committed to obeying the unenforceable.
Follow Rev. Dr. Janet Edwards on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RevJanetEdwards
Westboro Baptist Church Picket Schedule
Westboro Baptist Church - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Extremism in America - Westboro Baptist Church: About WBC
The 30 Best Anti-Westboro Baptist Church Protest Signs: Pics ...
Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Funerals Of Arizona Shooting Victims
I've witnessed a handful of these WBC protests and counter-protests, as well as the positive outcomes they've left behind after our community pulled together to stand against hate.
When the WBC visited the DFW area last, organizers turned the event into a fundraiser and collected over ten thousand dollars from around the country for the AIDS Resource Center Dallas. Furthermore, our Holocaust Museum celebrated a record-breaking day in attendance and sales of souvenirs, memberships, and t-shirts to many visitors who never even knew what the building was before the WBC came to town.
I'm not sold on the notion that ignoring or shunning the WBC is the right answer, though. They've proven in the past twenty years that they'll be around regardless of audience size or media coverage. Additionally, the WBC is using its young children as incendiary tools. These kids have been repeatedly exposed to narrow escapes led by police and crowd violence. It's nothing short of child abuse, and we can't ignore that.
I am a soldier, a veteran of the war in Iraq, and an atheist. I've done a lot of work, made a lot of phone calls, and written letters and op-eds, in support of equal rights for gays and lesbians in this country. my senators and my representative all know me at this point from all of my calls asking them to vote for the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and thanking them when they did.
I'd like to think that I am just the type of person, whose death they would celebrate.
I'd like to take this opportunity to formally invite them to my funeral (time and date TBA). I invite you to come inside the funeral home, and to the cemetary. To my friends and any family who shows up, you are to treat the WBC with respect and even kindness. I'd like Pastor Phelps to speak at my funeral. I'd like them to be seated prominantly, preferably with my gay friends and my buddies in the Army.
The reason is very simple: If evil people hate me, it must mean that my life was good. If the Westborough Baptist Church wants to protest my funeral, I can think of very few things that would be a greater badge of honor.
Good to see that all those years that gay men and lesbians were enduring these types of hate-filled protests at their funerals you just sat back and watched. Nice to know that as long as it was gays and lesbians no one really stood up to protest. Is Phelps right? Does "god hate **** " and did the gays and lesbians deserve this kind of treatement at their funerals for all these 20 years? Or since it didn't hit home for you, since you're not gay or lesbian, then was it just not important enough to do something about? How very honorable of you. Now, can you tell me the definition of a hypocrite?
People such as yourself have already predetermined that all Christians are hypocrites so there's really no use trying (sigh).
Should it ever by my own funeral, of course, it's a well-known fact that I've always been a great fan of water balloon fights and full-contact street dodgeball. :) Waivers, please, the entry fee's for LGBT civil rights charities. :)
Political pundits, Rush Limbaugh forged a career out of eliminationist rhetoric, and those that follow his model do the same! This has not been imitated by the left, I suspect it's due to a subconscious gender association to the political extremes, the left being feminine and the right not.
American culture has changed. The Bush administration was extremely polarizing, newscasts became polarizing and threaten debate by providing different positions with different facts.
With the election of president Obama, and this would have happened with a White WASP Democrat too, the right wing found itself out of power. And being outside of power is a wonderful thing because you get to NOT be responsible - you can attack and attack and attack and never have to defend!
And very gradually something sick happened. The eliminationist rhetoric of entertainers like Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck - it found its way into the speaking of actual politicians and people of authority and political power. And when that happened, it shifted the very culture we live in. A poster of president Obama backed with a swastika and a Hitler mustache on his face - this is the socially acceptable political discourse of