A season to renounce hate speech
December is a month of holy seasons to both Christian and Jewish faiths. Therefore, it is an apt time to raise a serious issue that both faiths address in their sacred scriptures. Before revealing and addressing such an issue, however, it’s important to name the holy days and times that both celebrate in December.
For the Jewish faith, there are two such events. The first is Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights. It began on December 7th and ended on December 15th. The second is less known to most non-Jews and is called Asarah B’Tevet. It is a fast day representing mourning for the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. It relates to the destruction of Solomon’s Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon. It takes place on December 22nd.
For the Christian faith, there is one event that also involves a period of time leading up to it. The latter is called Advent and refers to the waiting for the promised Jewish Messiah. The former is Christmas or what is doctrinally called the Incarnation (“the embodiment of God the Son in human flesh as Jesus Christ”). Christmas takes place on December 25th. These represent the birth of Jesus Christ.
For both Jews and Christians, these holy and sacred events are devoutly followed and celebrated by those seeking holiness, justice, and righteousness in their personal lives. This entails adhering to the commandments and principles of their scriptures, the Torah for the Jews and the Holy Bible (containing both Old and New Testaments) for the Christians.
With such understanding and recognition of December as a holy season, it is an apt time to address a serious moral issue in our nation. That moral issue is hate speech. What is perhaps the most hateful of hate speech has not even been recognized as such. Yet it is so abhorrent, if not both unkind and untrue, that this is a fitting time to call it out and address it. That hate speech is name-calling, and two of the most prolific forms of it are found in the words “homophobic” and “racist.”
Both words are unkindly and rudely used against many innocent people. They are simply called such — not for entrenched negative attitudes toward others but simply because they either disagree or disapprove of concepts or ideologies held by those calling them names. Even their purpose of usage is controversial, as it appears, more often than not, to basically shut down debate and discussion or even more hatefully to stigmatize another person.
So, how does this relate to the scriptures of Jews and Christians and the moral ideals of justice and righteousness? Both the Torah and the Old and New Testaments in the Holy Bible forbid false testimony and slander against others. The Torah’s Ten Commandments include: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” The Christian Bible’s Old Testament reads the same. In the New Testament Jesus says: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
Name-calling is essentially a form of false testimony and slander. There is little doubt today that discussions profusely contain accusations of these two words. Now in this holy season for followers of these two faiths, Judaism and Christianity, it’s time to address this issue and these sins in our personal lives by refusing to use them and to lead our nation in raising its standards of speech by renouncing these two prolific forms of hate speech. This is not only a “holy season,” it’s an “apt season” to pursue civility.
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