The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes by Chan Yiu Sing Lúcás;Harrington Daniel J. ;Keenan SJ James F. ;

Author:Chan, Yiu Sing Lúcás;Harrington, Daniel J.,;Keenan, SJ, James F.,;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Hurting Others by Our Spoken and Unspoken Words

As Brueggemann claims, most of us live in a society basically ruled and protected by law. In the United States, for instance, the courts safeguard the constitutional vision of civil and human rights. However, by recalling the false allegations against Assistant District Attorney Steven Pagones in the late 1980s, the Wenatchee sex abuse cases in the 1990s, and other such cases, many Americans realize that false witness against others continues to occur and that the legal system is sometimes unable to prevent false accusations and wrongful punishment of the innocent.[7] Therefore, in recent years states have begun to abrogate capital punishment statutes in light of DNA evidence of the wrongful conviction of many accused in capital cases.[8]

Still, what is most disturbing is when the leadership is involved. On both national and international levels we encounter investigations of administration officials or politicians who falsely witness and lie about certain policies that lead to wrong decisions, sociopolitical unrest, and even the death of many innocent people.[9]

Another common form of false witness outside the judicial context that causes damage in society, as a couple of theologians suggest, is stereotyping or racial profiling: we consciously or unconsciously project our prejudices against another group through statutory policies, mass media, and insensitive words. These prejudices are often “false and injurious judgments we have slipped into making without even thinking whether they are based on sufficient knowledge or justified grounds.”[10]

Here, no matter whether we set the context in the ancient Israelite community or in a highly civilized twenty-first-century society, false witnessing and dangerous words continue to pose serious harm to others. In and outside the legal system, we thus need to be careful of our speech and gestures so as to respect and safeguard others’ reputation, dignity, and even life.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.