The Words We Speak

A spin-off discussion that has reared its head in the aftermath of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmad Arbery has been the issue of speech or more particularly the issue of appropriate speech.  What words are we to use when we speak so as not to give offense to others and should that be our goal in our speech to be unoffensive?

To begin this discussion we must have an understanding of what it means to have free speech in our society.  The First Amendment of the Constitution says "Congress shall make no law.....abridging the freedom of speech."  In other words, the government has no right to control what you or I say.  We are entitled, if we so wish, to say most anything we wish.  

What the First Amendment does not say is that we have a right to exercise our free speech in every forum available.  For example, I have a Facebook page.  It is provided to me free of charge.  While I am given free reign as a rule to say whatever I wish on my Facebook page, the proprietors of Facebook are under no obligation to allow me to say whatever I chose.  Thus, should I say something that the proprietors of Facebook deem offensive,  libelous or factually untrue they are well within their rights to remove my words.  It is the same with Twitter, Instagram and other forms of social media.  I don't own those platforms so I must abide by the rules of those that do.  We deride censorship but it is only censorship if it is done by the government.

Similarly, private organizations have the clear right to regulate speech on their forums and at their events.  For the government to say that Facebook or Twitter must allow everyone a forum denies those organizations their right to free speech.

Above all we do not have free speech in our places of work.  It is well within the rights of an employer to limit what employees say, both on the job and in other public settings. Should I publish inappropriate material on my social media outlets or even in this blog, the leadership of the United Methodist Church would hold me accountable.

This leads us to examine the nature of hearing things that we find offensive.  One thing we all have to understand is that we aren't guaranteed to go through life and never hear something that offends us. We can only control our reactions to the things we find offensive.  We can then either explain our offense or remove ourselves from the offending situation.  Further, on a practical level, constantly looking to be offended is not a very enjoyable way to live.  Nor is constantly attempting to offend others a very satisfying life.

In  the end we can only control the words we speak.  What do the scriptures tell us about our words?  A basic teaching is that our words should be truthful.  The Ten Commandments instruct us to be truthful in what we say about others.  Jesus also calls us to integrity in our speech saying let our yes mean yes and our no mean no. He tells us to be so impeccable in our words that we need not have to swear to give them more force.

Also we need to remember to only say things that are useful and beneficial.  In the book of Ephesians Paul tells us to,  "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29 NRSV)  When we speak we must ask ourselves will our words be beneficial to the situation at hand?  Will our words inflame the situation or can they bring truth and order to a conflict?

John Wesley instructed the early Methodists to "Do no harm" and to also "Do good."  Our words have as much potential as our deeds to do either harm or good.  Before we speak them we should ask if the words do good or harm. 

In the end may we remember what the Psalmist wrote, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:4 NRSV)