FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP / ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
Hate speech is on the rise. It is like a cancer being spread under the garb of “freedom of speech.”
As observed, contemporary communications technologies amplify the scale and impact of hate speech. The form of speech – including online – has become one of the most common ways of spreading divisive rhetoric globally, threatening peace worldwide. Even AI (artificial intelligence) is being employed to perpetuate hate speech.
Much of the hate speech in the public square is directed by xenophobia, racism, sexism, antisemitism, and political extremism. It is of interest that some politicians are being called strong because of the vitriol they are spreading. Those who support them do not care about the integrity of their character; they care that they can present the worst of hate speech.
Some individuals make hate speech and call it entertainment. Some laugh with those giving the hateful entertainment, but experience has shown that when hate speech is thus used, it becomes a motivation that only leads to violence.
Some people’s hearts are full of hatred, and they spill it out in what they say in angry words and hateful pronouncements. They breathe bitterness and resentment and everything and everyone, for as the Bible says, “Out of the abundance of their hearts, their mouths speak.” (Luke 6:45)
Some say they use hate speech “to tell the truth.” But one needs to ask, “What truth?” Indeed, it is not the truth of the gospel about love. Quite likely, you have heard, “Love speaks the truth.”
The apostle Paul instructed the congregation he raised in Ephesus, “Speak to one another in love” (Ephesians 4:15, 25). Whether they were offering doctrinal correction or helping one another to do the correct thinking, the point was that they needed to speak in love.
In his excellent essay on the supremacy of love, the apostle Paul wrote:
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV)
Let me follow with one of the great quotes that I have kept close to my heart over the years:
The grace of Christ received into the heart subdues enmity; it allays strife and fills the soul with love. He who is at peace with God and his fellow men cannot be made miserable. Envy will not be in his heart; evil surmising will find no room there; hatred cannot exist. The heart that is in harmony with God is a partaker of the peace of heaven and will diffuse its blessed influence all around. The spirit of peace will rest like dew upon hearts weary and troubled with worldly strife. Christ’s followers are sent to the world with the message of peace. Whoever, by the quiet, unconscious influence of a holy life, shall reveal the love of Christ; whoever, by word or deed, shall lead another to renounce sin and yield his heart to God is a peacemaker. (Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 27, 28)
I reiterate that hate speech is a tragedy whether done in the public square, the family, the church, or among friends. More than ever, hate speech causes “hurt people hurt people.” More violence is done with hate speech than guns, spears, or swords. At times the violence created by hate speech has become so dangerous that public media and governmental agencies have been forced to place a limit (censor) to address such speech. But censorship is not genuine if it does not come from a heart of love.
Let us ensure that when we speak the truth, we speak and act in love. And remember that whenever one speaks, they might be perceived as weak, but note that what is called weakness often becomes our strength.
