Careless Words Still Count in the Culture War

Certainly it is bad strategy to throw bombs carelessly, so why think we can speak so loosely? Ideas matter. One fallacy to be careful of is the Genetic Fallacy, where one dismisses an argument based on its origin. If some crazy uneducated tribal witchdoctor discovers a natural cure to cancer, although one might have good reason to think his findings are probably not sound given the track record of most witch doctors, there is no reason without more evidence to claim that he is wrong. The question is does that potion cure cancer or not.

In a similar fashion both Left and Right in the war on culture brandish inflammatory talk against one another often without addressing the issues. The last round Presidential “debates” were good examples of inflammatory accusations without real rebuttal of arguments, if any were actually given. When asked who won the debate a viewer would assess the winner through a set of weighted values often reading through what was actually said, and frequently the candidate that had a particular agreement on an issue was the winner. The deciding issue in this case may not have been mentioned!

While I will be the first to admit that the Christians in America have it “pretty good,” there is definitely a growing assault against traditional Christians. Stanley Kurtz has a nice piece on this from the National Review. I will cite part of his conclusion to tempt you to read the whole article. Kurtz says:

“The real danger is that a growing campaign of hatred against traditional Christians by secular liberals will deepen an already dangerous conflict. The solution is to continue our debates, but to change their framing. Conservative Christians cannot stop complaining of exclusion and prejudice until cultural liberals pare back their own excesses. Let’s stop treating honest differences on same-sex marriage as simple bigotry. Let’s stop using the courts as a way around democratic decision-making. Let’s stop trying to criminalize religious expression.”