Unpopular Opinions

In our culture certain ideas or viewpoints are popular and other ideas or viewpoints are unpopular. There is nothing new about this reality it is part of what occurs in any society. What concerns me, however, is that we currently seem to be developing a climate in our culture in which the unpopular ideas are not allowed to be expressed. If you hold certain beliefs it is understood that you need to be quiet. There are indications we are moving in a direction in which people should not be allowed to even think certain unpopular ideas.

When centers of influence within the culture want to control what we think and say then we are moving toward totalitarianism. This is dangerous, unhealthy and oppressive. It’s also a serious pain in the neck!

Is this really what we want?

I encounter many viewpoints with which I disagree. In fact, I can even find myself getting agitated by some of the viewpoints I encounter on Facebook or other online forums. Occasionally I read posts and find myself thinking: “Are you kidding? Is this actually your point of view on this topic? This is ridiculous!!!”

After all, when a person’s opinion is so drastically different from my own it seems incredibly obvious, to me, that my opinion is the correct one. You all agree with this airtight logic, right?

However, I believe it is important to defend the right of people to think and express their ideas, including unpopular ideas. It would be nice if people would express their ideas respectfully and thoughtfully. The Bible calls us to speak lovingly. But the freedom to think and communicate ideas—even ones with which I disagree—is important. It is an extraordinary value which is worth protecting.

I may not agree with your viewpoint but I support your right to think it and express it.

The Phony Outrage Community And The PC Police Are Killing Free Speech

We have come to a point in our culture in which a person can say an innocent, relatively innocuous statement and suddenly be descended upon by the perpetually outraged PC Police.

By the time the self-appointed arbiters of what-is-allowed and what-is-not-allowed are done with their campaign of demonization against the hapless speaker of the politically incorrect word/phrase the very fact that the person actually exists has been brought into question.

What happened to freedom of speech?

It is on the endangered list.

What happened to a robust exchange of ideas?

It is frowned upon.

Jerry Seinfeld recently spoke about the “creepy” PC culture that now prevails on American college campuses. This is why he will no longer perform at colleges. Sadly, many of these institutions which—at one time—existed to promote a wide and freewheeling exchange of ideas have become the places that are least open to differing thoughts and opinions.

If things keep heading in this direction, soon legitimate discussion of certain subjects will no longer be allowed. There will be the culturally approved position on topics and all other positions will be banned. (And you will be obedient if you know what’s good for you…you punks!)

It’s too bad. I remember a particular class back when I was in my senior year of high school (approximately 145 years ago) in which we debated the current issues of the day. (Some of the issues are still hot button topics today, believe it or not.)

There were strong differences of opinion expressed. We argued. We even yelled occasionally. But we also laughed a lot and teased each other mercilessly. No one ever whined and complained with great indignation about being offended. It was fun. As a matter of fact, I recall it being one of my favorite high school classes. And then we walked out of the classroom and we were still friends. Crazy, huh?

What bothers me the most about the “I’m-offended-by-everything” crowd is that they are trying to pull all the rest of us into their dull, uptight misery.

I like to kid around, joke and tease in a fun way. I think it’s healthy for people to play around in this manner. Life can be very serious and it is important have some laughter, lightness and mirth. When I was young, a little teasing was even a way of being affectionate with friends. But I find now I do a lot of this joking around only in my own head and never out loud. When technology becomes sophisticated enough to actually read my thoughts and it is discovered I am teasing people in my mind, I’m really going to be in big trouble. (Maybe I’ll be old enough to blame it on senility when this technology is prevalent.)

[ Imagining some point in the future.]  “Are you kidding?!? You can’t take anything we read in Dan’s mind seriously! For crying out loud, look at the old codger, he’s drooling again!!!”

I have expressed a lot of foolish and cringe-worthy thoughts in my life. I’ve been wrong, misinformed, ill-advised, exhibited poor judgment and have drawn the wrong conclusions on many occasions. The truth is, we have all done this. Right? We’re human.

But if we have a culture that allows regular people to have freedom—including freedom of thought and speech—then us regular people are bound to get it wrong sometimes. I would prefer we put up with regular people saying dumb things than living in a culture in which the PC Police and the Phony-Outrage-Community control everything that is said.

“We must picture hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives with the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.”

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

*NOTE:  By the way, I wrote this thought yesterday and have started to post it several times and then stopped. Ironically, I’ve been hesitant to post a thought about not being able to share certain thoughts because I didn’t want someone to read it and then be hurt, or bothered, or offended. But I’ve determined it is important to express thoughts—particularly thoughts that make a case for protecting our freedom to express thoughts.

*FINAL NOTE: If this post truly irks you and you are deeply offended by it, keep in mind that sometimes computers get compromised and something gets posted on a person’s account by nefarious, politically incorrect hackers. (It’s theoretically possible, right?)

No Answer From A Politician

A couple of hours ago I watched a politician respond to two back-to-back “yes or no” questions with long, rambling, meaningless statements. In fact, about 25 seconds into each comment my eyes began to glaze over and I could no longer tell what the heck she was talking about nor could I remember the question.

The response to each of the inquiries probably went on for close to a minute and yet despite all the talking she never actually answered either of the simple questions.

By the way, this politician is not one of the people running for president in either party. This person was merely giving her opinion about some softball political questions. There was absolutely no reason to hide anything or be evasive. She could have answered either question with yes or no and it would not have been a big deal. They were not “gotcha” questions meant to trap or embarrass her.

In a way this is fairly amusing. In fact, I laughed and yelled at the television when it was happening. But this is also part of the problem.

Most long-time politicians (like this person) have been so overly coached by advisors to be evasive, indirect and obscure when it comes to statements to the press that they have lost the ability to communicate in plain, simple, understandable ways.

It went something like this… Question: Do you like ice cream?

Answer: Well you know, ice cream is something we’ve been thinking about and studying carefully and we’re excited about the possibilities that are evolving in the field of ice cream these days. Of course, ice cream can be eaten in a cone or without a cone but there is no conclusive research available, at this point in time, about either method. Both have a reputation for being quite tasty. I’m out and about listening to the people and we are getting ready to present some findings one of these days. This will be far into the future when people have completely forgotten what this issue is all about, most people on earth have become comatose and frozen yogurt has become the topic of the day. However, we remain firmly committed to the good, ice cream eating people of this country…  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!

[Deep sigh…]

Since people in both political parties do this I do not consider it to be a Republican problem or a Democrat problem. I think it is, to some extent, inherent in politics. It is known and understood that this is how you play the game.

NOTE:  Wow, I just took a moment to re-read this piece before posting it. LOL! We are this early in a long election cycle and the politicians are already getting me irritated. I’m going to need to take some deep breaths, count to ten and relax, huh?

Will Standing Up For God's Truth Be Costly?

About five or six years ago a minister told me he thought he would probably go to prison one day because the teachings of the Bible would become so politically incorrect that they would actually be illegal. I remember thinking, “Wow, I hope this fellow’s concern is a crazy, extreme exaggeration.” But the guy did not seem like a kook. I did not know him well but he was smart, educated and eloquent. He seemed like a reasonable, credible, sane person.

Last week I was at an event and during a conversation with a pastor who is a friend of mine he told me, “I think there’s a possibility I will go to prison before I retire from ministry.” He basically invoked the same reasons the other minister mentioned. This man is in his early 60s.

I thought, “Hmm that’s two guys, now, who have shared this concern with me.”

Yesterday I was talking with yet another pastor who is a good friend and I mentioned these previous conversations. My friend said, “Yeah, I think that’s a possibility.”

That sound you just heard was me gulping.

I went into pastoral ministry in my mid-thirties. Entering the ministry as a vocation involved a significant change for my family and myself. So I had to think and pray about the matter a lot. It took me a couple of years to come to a sense of certainty that the call to ministry was, in fact, a genuine calling from God.

When I was thinking, praying and talking with people I trusted about this matter—I hate to admit it—but the idea of having to stand up for God facing truly difficult circumstances like, say, the possibility of prison never really entered my mind in any significant way. (The worst case scenario I imagined was putting several people asleep in the same service.)

I don’t know if these men are way off base—and if their concerns are just plain silly—or if what they are saying has some likelihood of happening. But what they have said makes me think about myself and my commitment to Christ.

To be very frank, I have never seen myself as a courageous warrior for the faith. This is not false modesty it’s just an honest, somewhat embarrassing, admission. But when my friend and I finished our meeting yesterday we prayed—as we normally do—and I prayed that he and I would always be willing to lovingly, graciously speak God’s truth no matter what the cost.

I realize this is a somewhat personal post. I am sharing it with you because I find the comments of my colleagues to be interesting and I thought you might find them interesting, as well. Also, I am sharing this because I want to be on record saying, “It is my desire to stand for God’s truth with love, gentleness, respect and grace and to trust in God as my protector.” I pray the Holy Spirit will empower me to do this.

P.S. I came across this quote from the respected Christian writer and thinker, A.W. Tozer, several years ago. I know I’ve shared it before but I continue to share it because it is very meaningful to me...

“Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other. But let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God himself.” A..W. Tozer

Bland Homogeneity, Sameness and Political Correctness

I think it may be possible that political correctness and the attempted thought control that goes with it has contributed significantly to a kind of bland homogeneity in thinking and communicating.  There is a bored sameness I am often encountering these days with books, movies, TV, radio, blog posts, magazines, talk shows and other forms of communication.  In fact, I think, in some ways, political correctness is contributing to our culture losing some of its creative edge.

I listened to a podcast a while ago in which it was suggested that stand-up comedians and radio shock jocks are more cautious about what they say nowadays.  I know this might be an odd point for a minister to be making but hang with me for a minute while I try to explain this a little further.

I’m not trying to defend all the things stand-up comedians and shock jocks say.  I’m quite certain people in both of those fields say lots of things I would find to be rude, offensive, inappropriate and just plain wrong.  However, it was interesting for me to hear people who have been involved for a long time in both of those fields talking about being in a cultural climate in which they understand they must censor some of the things they would say.  We’re talking about people who have historically been precisely the ones who would say all the things people know we’re not supposed to say.  They were the rebels who didn’t give a rip.  They were daring.  They were intentionally outlandish and outrageous.

These are the very people who push the boundaries.  These are the people who say what other people may secretly be thinking but would never in a million years speak out loud.  They find the odd things to poke fun at in all the various areas of life.

Please understand, I am not suggesting that if we simply allow stand-up comics and radio shock jocks to be even more vile, ugly, insulting, demeaning and outlandish the bland homogeneity in thinking and communicating will end and creativity will flourish.  In fact, I wrote this essay several months ago and have been hesitant to post it because I’m concerned I will be misunderstood.  I simply refer to that podcast discussion as an illustration.  It is an illustration of the stifling power of political correctness in our culture.  The point is that even for the people who were among the most likely to push boundaries the thought and speech police are having some effectiveness at shutting down free expression.

Think of it this way, if stand-up comics and shock jocks have some hesitation when it comes to speaking their minds what about the average guy who may have an opinion that doesn’t fall within the carefully defined parameters of the cultural watchdogs?

We talk a lot about being tolerant of different opinions and viewpoints but in some ways it really seems like we are becoming less tolerant.  Certain ideas and positions are correct and other ideas and positions are not correct. If your ideas are not the correct ones, we all know you better keep your mouth shut and be careful.

And my theory (it is just a theory, I’ve been wrong before) is that this has an effect.  I realize this is not the only factor, however, this politically correct censorship is a contributing factor to a bland homogeneity of thinking and expression.  I think it is possible that years and years of political correctness is even having an effect on creativity.

Fortunately, there are still some voices that are fresh, creative, interesting, unique, courageous, authentic and surprising.  Freedom of thinking and freedom of expression still exist.  I find myself searching for those voices, even when I disagree with them.  They challenge my thinking.  And at least, they’re not dull.  They are still out there.  I am more and more thankful for those brave voices.

Political Correctness And The Nice, Safe, Tame Jesus

The proponents of political correctness would like to suggest to us that Jesus was always, first and foremost, nice.  But if we honestly examine the accounts of Jesus’ life what we find is a man who is always loving while, at the same time, maintaining an uncompromising commitment to the truth.  Look closely.  The result of being loving and truthful is that all of Jesus’ words and behaviors wouldn’t necessarily be described as “nice.”  Have you noticed?  For those who take Jesus seriously, this is important.

Being nice is a good thing.  I like “nice.”  I’m in favor of people being “nice.”  I want to be perceived as a nice fellow.  (Hey, it happened once, back in the 80’s.  It could happen again.)  But when good confronts evil, when right confronts wrong, when truth confronts deception, it’s possible that standing for what is good, right and true will not be perceived as nice.

Some people don’t want a Jesus who might upset things.  Jesus, however, does not change to conform with people’s desires.  (That’s probably not very nice, huh?)

When we try to make Jesus into someone who was always tame, safe and nice, we make Him into something that does not represent the truth of who He really is.

Stand With The Bible Or Go With The Culture?

For 2000 years the Bible has been acknowledged and accepted as the trustworthy and authoritative source of teaching about God and morality by Christians all over the world. Now, we find that the Bible is saying things that are politically incorrect in American culture. Question: Should I go with the flow of the culture or should I stand with the unpopular positions of the Bible?