Think of an insult, epithet or slur; got one in mind? That was easy wasn’t it? We humans are exceptional at tearing one
another down, inventing all types of ways to debase our fellow humans. We have abusive slang based on race,
economics, culture, style of dress, religion, mental aptitude, sexuality,
physical stature or traits…you get the picture.
The social forces of the past 50 years have led to a
philosophy designed to do away with such negative appellations; we call it ‘political
correctness’, PC for short. We can no
longer call someone who cannot see ‘blind’ but must refer to them as ‘a person
with vision challenges’. Someone who we
might have once referred to as ‘retarded’ we now are told is ‘developmentally
delayed’. This movement leaves many
people perplexed, and sadly others deliberately increase their use of degrading
terms as a direct challenge to the forces of political correctness.
As I randomly reflected on this the other day, I wondered: Have
I misjudged the PC movement? As a
social-political conservative, my initial response to PC is negative
resistance, but shouldn’t I instead, as a professing Christian, stand shoulder
to shoulder with such a movement?
No.
I should be better.
Here is the problem with political correctness. It sets itself up as its own subjective moral
standard, a humanist creation, which demands adherence for its own sake. Political correctness is a self appointed
judge, jury and executioner, the goal of which is not to lift people up, but to
drag them down; restricting the voice of any who do not think or feel the way
they determine to be ‘right’. Its desire
is submission to its own rule; its method is fear and intimidation. Ultimately the underlying principle is
control, which lies at the heart of all human systems.
As a Christian, I look at these matters from a different
perspective- the fundamental dignity of a human being; a person as a person
with no thought to their color, gender, ‘handicap’, sexual choices (gasp!) or
any other attribute or trait. To see a person
as a person and therefore to extend to them the elemental respect to which
personhood entitles them.
There should be no debate over what makes a person a ‘person’. All those belonging to this species we
classify as ‘human being’ is a person- period.
From conception to end of life, this ‘human being’ is a full
person. The only reason we debate this
is to gain our own selfish ends (i.e. abortion, euthanasia, etc.).
Humankind was uniquely created in the image of God (Genesis
1:26-27). I am not going to debate what
this entails, the prime importance lies in the fact (the ‘what’) not
necessarily in the details (the ‘how’).
But of greater importance is the ‘why’.
We human beings are created in the image of God in order that we, among
all the creatures of the earth, may relate to and communicate with our Creator
in a unique way. The ‘fall’ of the first
parents into sin marred that image and ability (see the wording of Genesis 5:3)
but it did not eradicate it. Jesus of
Nazareth, the Son of God, reveals the full and true image of God (Colossians
1:15) and in Him the way is thrown open for that image to be renewed in human
beings (Ephesians 4:24).
The well known story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (found in Luke
10:30-37) is told in response to the question, ‘who is my neighbor?’ (see Luke
10:29). In the story the religious
personages debase the needy man by ignoring him. The Samaritan acts for the well being of the
man in need, not out of ‘political correctness’ but because it was the right thing to do! The man in need was a fellow human being-
period. That’s the answer to the
question.
Only through Jesus do we recognize that other people are my
neighbors. I would like to quote at
length from Malcolm Muggeridge:
“Jesus…provides the possibility of
loving God through, and in, Him, and, as part of the same process, of loving other
men, our neighbors, through, and in, Him.
Thus the two commandments become one; to be celebrated in a Man –Jesus– Who
dies, and sanctified in a Man –also Jesus– Who goes on living. As out of Jesus’ affliction came a new sense
of God’s love, and a new basis for love between men, so out of our affliction
we may grasp the splendor of God’s love and how to love one another. Thus the consummation of the two commandments
was on Golgotha; and the Cross is, at once, their image and their fulfillment…[and]
at last, triumphantly, we know what it is to love God, and looking outwards from
within this love, we see our fellow men, all of them…every variety of human
kind; see them all as brothers and sisters, members of one family, at once
enfolded in God’s love and chained together by it…” (Malcolm Muggeridge ‘Jesus:
the Man Who Lives’ Fontana 1976 p132-133)
PC does not seek for me to love my neighbor. It rather demands I keep my mouth shut, my
opinions to myself and my nose in my own business. It tells me what I can or cannot call someone
else, but isn’t that simply a continuation of the problem of assigning labels? God, through Jesus, demonstrates a compassion
and respect for the full dignity of a human being as a human being; a Christian
dare do no less.
As a Christian I roundly reject the presuppositions,
assumptions, motives and humanistic underpinnings of political
correctness. Instead, I challenge
Christians to step out in front, to take the lead in recasting the
discussion. It is about the fundamental
dignity of a person as a person, something that should be upheld by every
Christian, demanded by every
Christian. We refrain from insulting
people, not because we are told to by the priests of political correctness; we
treat people with dignity and respect because
it is the right thing to do!
When we
hear slurs or derogatory comments, can we be bold in challenging those actions
and attitudes not with the bullying threats of the PC philosophy, but in the
compassionate and well articulated presentation of truth? Not that we may exercise control over others,
but that we might be agents through which the Lord may redeem a small piece of
this fallen world.
