OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
A few days ago, I chatted with a friend and must have wearied him with my responses. We had an extended text debate when he argued that as far as making faith distinctions, he does not “discriminate.” In response, I stated that “I do discriminate.”
As he continued to insist that he does not “discriminate,” I kept up my insistence that “I do discriminate.” Finally, I offered that we were using the word with two different connotations. On his part, the word “discriminate” is totally negative. It has to do with making an unjust or prejudicial distinction in treating different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, sex, age, disability, or what have you.
In essence, it is to treat people unfairly. On my part, to discriminate means to recognize a distinction or differentiation between right and wrong. It has to do with rationally evaluating something or someone’s behavior and deciding whether it is good or bad. It is to mark or perceive the distinguishing or peculiar features of the character of something or someone and making clear when to adopt the pattern or stay away from it.
I know that my positive use of “discrimination” does not straightforwardly fit within the frame of our contemporary culture in which we “tolerate” everything – any and every kind of (im)morality, behavior and attitude – and call them generosity. But I offer that our unwillingness to “discriminate” in the positive direction is what has gotten us into the kind of brokenness that we are facing in our souls and social order.
Let me use the case of Andrew Cuomo, Governor Cuomo of New York State and what is happening to him as an example of what I mean. After five months of investigation, the conclusion is that the allegations of sexual harassment by 11 women are verifiable. And after state Attorney General Letitia James unveiled the probe’s conclusions, President Joe Biden and other prominent Democrats called on the party’s one-time star to resign.
The Governor has said his accusers have misinterpreted his words, gestures and demeanor, insisting his behavior was always intended to convey warmth to the women. I do not want to deny his words, but the accusations and the findings have given me pause to think that someone has not been able to discriminate or differentiate.
Whatever the truth or falsehood, it is profoundly pathetic that the investigation marked the swift fall for a governor who became a popular national figure in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic by presenting himself as an authoritative presence in daily news conferences. We do not know how history will remember him, whether as a three-term governor who did some very positive things for New York or that he was a “sexual harasser” who is being forced to resign.
Here is another example, that of Harvey Weinstein. After The New York Times published an explosive report in October 2017 detailing decades of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, dozens of women came forward with their own accusations against the Hollywood mogul. Weinstein was fired from his company and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences within a week.
Since Weinstein, many prominent men from Hollywood, television broadcasters, news commentators, company executives, doctors, sports characters, judges, academy award winning artists, and politicians have been named. For whatever reason, some have survived the accusations while others have “fallen from grace,” as is said.
While I have used the examples of the men who seem not to have been discriminating, I wish to turn back the discussion to you who might be reading this reflection and ask how careful you are in your use of words, touching others and in your social graces. Are you discriminating? Are you careful in what you are doing to maintain high morality and integrity?
Here is what I am trying to state, namely that the Bible is clear in instructing us to “discriminate” regarding what is right and what is wrong, between truth and falsehood, sexual purity and infidelity, things pure and the impure, the holy and the unholy, the wisdom that comes from above and human wisdom, the service that is of God and mere human service, the worship of God and the worship of idols, love and lust, and justice and injustice, etc.
Yes, the Bible is clear. If you ever put your hand on a Bible, just go to the book of Proverbs and notice the two figurative women – the woman of Folly and the woman of Wisdom as they give instruction. The woman of Folly has nice words, but the end is destruction. The woman of Wisdom cries out, telling passersby to seek wisdom, knowledge and understanding, to follow her instructions to find life instead of death.
I hope that I have said enough to cause you to be willing to “discriminate” between what is right and what is wrong and that you do not just leave yourself open to any and everything that might lead to your destruction.
There is a better way. Seek the Lord. Discriminate.
