I must be one of the luckiest people in the world. Everytime I find myself in a situation in which I have no clue what to do, a solution always seems to find a way into my lap. It happened this week about this column. I had about seven different ideas for what I should write about. I wanted to write about the Writer’s Guild strike, Christmas music before Thanksgiving, happiness or the television series “The Office,” just to name a few. Monday night I went ahead and wrote the one on happiness, but I knew it needed a lot of work. Then I opened up The Daily Reveille on Tuesday morning. I read two excellent columns by Rebekah and Eric, then I went to the letters to the editor section. It started off pretty well; it’s not often that there’s a positive letter defending my column. So I was feeling pretty good when my eyes moved over to the next letter titled “Women ‘stop acting like whores.'” I figured this would be a pretty interesting letter from one of the Consuming Fire Fellowship preachers. Then I read that it began “As a Catholic …” I’m very grateful no one was around me when I read that. If they had, they would have heard a prolonged string of curse words that will probably require a good half hour in confession to get rid of. Let me be clear: I am no friend of VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood. I think the organization assists in the killing of children by its support of abortion and promotes a view of women and sexuality that ultimately leads to women being used and broken. I think contraception further hurts relationships and I don’t like that they promote it. Unless a relationship has both partners giving fully of themselves, including their capability to reproduce, the relationship isn’t living up to its potential. When I see them standing out in Free Speech Alley wearing cheerleader outfits or condoms, I think they’re promoting something dumb in a dumb way. That said, it is important to recognize that however misguided the organization VOX is, VOX is still composed of human beings. The VOX president who wrote the letter to the editor asking for increased funding for birth control on campus is a human being (shocking, I know). She may be terribly wrong, and her actions may have terrible consequences. But in disagreement, Catholics and, really, all people are called to care for our opponents. Insults like “whores” do not further the debate. Rather, they unnecessarily hurt, and the ones who are doing the insulting show a lack of Christian charity. The problem for Christians is that we’ve been caught up in the way modern America debates. We’re used to debates and political discourse as entertainment. We watch “Hannity and Colmes,” “The O’Reilly Factor,” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and laugh when one of the commentators scores a point by insulting their opponent. A little satire of political opponents never hurt anyone, but there used to be a line of decency that simply isn’t there anymore. We’ve lost the sense that debates are not games in which we have to win at all costs. Rather, debates are supposed to be about a common search for truth. An argument with someone should have the goal of a greater understanding of an issue. That doesn’t mean we have to give ground or meet somewhere in the middle. Instead, we should seek to present and defend our side well while understanding the position of our opponents. From a Christian perspective, this is vital. We have to recognize that those who attack Christian truths are not our enemies. Rather, they are victims of sin who deserve our prayers and care. Jesus did condemn hypocrites, but the prostitute He said not to stone. We have all been victims of sin, and we have all, at one point, said things that have undermined the Kingdom of God. We have needed mercy and forgiveness and will need them again in the future. When we recognize this about ourselves, we can move to trying to bring those who disagree with us back to the fullness of truth. This mission is not furthered by a personal attack on our “opponents,” and Christianity doesn’t allow anyone a carte blanche for a field day on one’s opponents. When both sides learn to treat the others as human beings, then maybe we can come closer to finding the understanding that we all desperately seek.
—-Contact Michael Denton at [email protected]