Countering the Language of Assault Without Compromising the First Amendment

This is a statement made by participants in the Maston Colloquium convened by the Center for Christian Ethics on May 7,1996 in Dallas, Texas. The name honors Dr. T. B. Maston for his pioneering work in Christian ethics as a teacher, writer, and prophetic leader. The names of the participants responsible for drafting this statement are affixed.

We are a company of concerned Christians deeply disturbed by  the rising tide of hate talk now permeating America s air­waves and public discourse.

With blatant disregard for truth and decency, these practitioners of the language of assault cultivate contempt for basic American institutions and values and constitute a significant danger to our national well-being.

It is incumbent on concerned Christians who also take seriously the responsibility of citizens to turn this destructive tide of hate. As the history of this troubled millennium should have taught us, evil words too often issue in evil deeds. Lies repeated often enough and left unchallenged long enough can become catastrophically destruc­tive. With the World Trade Center and the Oklahoma City bomb­ings fresh on out minds, we do not need to go back to the 1930s and Adolph Hitler to be apprehensive.

As we see it, the problem is critical

1. Our American public square is being systematically poisoned by the language of assault: brutal attacks on public figures are now commonplace in the media as well as in the political arena.
2. This language of assault threatens the rule of law, under­mines authority, and chisels away at the civil contract which makes possible some measure of peace and tranquility.
3. Our liberties, gained at great sacrifice over a long period of rime, are being grossly abused and gravely endangered by an unconscionable perversion of our right to free speech as guaran­teed by the First Amendment.
4. The language of assault has been used around the world and across the centuries to foment unrest, foster rebellion, and incite to riot so as to prepare the way for tyranny and oppres­sion, a chilling prospect for our own country in our own time.
5. Silence in the face of such false witness nourishes the growth of the cancer of distrust, suspicion, resentment, and hatred of one another.

We feel compelled by conscience to confront this problem, to challenge its perpetrators, and to do all we can to help to rein it in.

Specifically, we support the following initiatives which we believe can help us to move in a better direction.

1. We affirm the importance of robust public debate and hon­est disagreement on issues affecting us all for we believe that an informed public forum is indispensable to a healthy democracy.
2. We call on opinion makers to stand up, to speak out, and to act courageously in opposition to the language of assault.
3. We encourage responsible Christian citizens everywhere to participate personally in the language of dialogue regarding important public issues.
4. We call on people of goodwill and especially on people of faith in God to build a fence of protest, rejection, and correction around those who may persist in spewing the pollution of hate into the public airwaves.
5. We commend those parents, teachers, clergy, journalists, politicians, and foundations who engage in the hard work of equipping people to be good citizens well able to discern for themselves between fact and fiction regarding public figures and important public issues of our time.

We believe in the First Amendment, treasure free speech, and want to continue to live in a country where the loss of this freedom will never be countenanced. The exercise of freedom of speech without the acceptance of the responsibility for its effects, however, fans the flames of moral chaos.

We therefore issue this call for thoughtful involvement on the part of media owners, media managers, media personalities, and media consumers—all of us—as we resolutely turn away from the language of assault and turn to the language of responsible public dialogue.

Signed:

• Jimmy R. Allen, Chaplain, Big Canoe Chapel, Big Canoe, Georgia; Author; Consultant; former President, the Southern Baptist Convention
• Franldin H. Littell, United Methodist Church Elder and retired Professor of Religion at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Barry W Lynn, Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Minister, United Church of Christ, Washington D. C.
• Elspeth Davies Rostow, Stiles Professor Emerita, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
• Oliver S. Thomas, Special Counsel, National Council of Churches, New York, New York
• Foy Valentine, President, The Center for Christian Ethics, Dallas, Texas

Updated Friday, December 28, 2001