It's September 2017 and in recent days there has been a fuss about athletes who take a knee during the national anthem. This act is clearly within any person's right to freedom of speech as set forth by the constitution and upheld by the Supreme Court. As I understand it, the general theme of this action is to protest against racial injustice, essentially saying that as a society we are not living up to the ideals that the flag represents. There are two particular aspects which I would like to address regarding this.
First of all, many people seem to be outraged and seem to be personally offended when athletes take a knee during the national anthem. I think this is quite revealing about what a person values. There are many great sins in our society that we should have a righteous anger about. And we should have a righteous humility about these sins, knowing that even if we don't commit these particular sins, it is only by the grace of God that we don't. Allow me to mention only a short list of such sins. 1. Abortion 2. Racism 3. Pornography 4. Adultery 5. Divorce
So these are things that we should really be lamenting. These sins make this whole "taking a knee" thing seem like small potatoes. Christians should not be getting bent out of shape about it. We need to think carefully about what we say, and what we post, like, and tweet. If our most angry Facebook post is about the national anthem, how is that a testimony for Christ? If we are to be known for opposing something, let us be known for opposing the real sins in our lives and in our society.
In addition, this fervor about the flag and the national anthem often looks like patriotism at the start, but tends to quickly spiral into some form of white supremacy. A quote that has been attributed to Colin Kaepernick is "There's a lot of racism in this country disguised as patriotism." I agree with this statement, and I think many Christians need to seriously examine their heart to see what may be hidden under their patriotism. Even without the racial issues involved, patriotism could become an idol on its own, just like a desire to have a fancy car or a new job.
See also this article on Patheos about idols.
The second issue I want to address is the disregard for truth that is increasingly present on social media. There have been many false stories circulating about this "taking a knee" situation. I know it's so easy to like or share something, but we really need to seriously consider if what we are sharing is true or not. Fake news is a serious problem. But I think that the issue can go even farther than that. If false statements are made about a specific person with the intent to harm them, it's not just fake news; it's libel and it's illegal. Let’s do an example.
Let's say someone posts a fake story on Facebook and it goes viral. In this story they claim to have seen a police officer hurting an innocent civilian, but they provide no details. They conclude with "What a horrible police department! I hate the police." Now of course that will get a bunch of people riled up and mad and it's all based on a stupid piece of fake news. That's bad enough, but it is not libel.
If a person posts a similar false story, but they name a specific police officer committing the crime at a specific place and time, now we have libel. And all the people liking and sharing the post are contributing to the libel. I don't know what the legal ramifications of that would be, but it should really make us think twice about anything we say or do, especially online because of how these things can go viral.
So wrapping up this post, people do have freedom of speech to take a knee at the national anthem. If this bothers you, take a serious look at your heart to see what the real issue is. And secondly, you do not have the freedom of speech to commit libel. Please be careful about what you like and share on social media.
First of all, many people seem to be outraged and seem to be personally offended when athletes take a knee during the national anthem. I think this is quite revealing about what a person values. There are many great sins in our society that we should have a righteous anger about. And we should have a righteous humility about these sins, knowing that even if we don't commit these particular sins, it is only by the grace of God that we don't. Allow me to mention only a short list of such sins. 1. Abortion 2. Racism 3. Pornography 4. Adultery 5. Divorce
So these are things that we should really be lamenting. These sins make this whole "taking a knee" thing seem like small potatoes. Christians should not be getting bent out of shape about it. We need to think carefully about what we say, and what we post, like, and tweet. If our most angry Facebook post is about the national anthem, how is that a testimony for Christ? If we are to be known for opposing something, let us be known for opposing the real sins in our lives and in our society.
In addition, this fervor about the flag and the national anthem often looks like patriotism at the start, but tends to quickly spiral into some form of white supremacy. A quote that has been attributed to Colin Kaepernick is "There's a lot of racism in this country disguised as patriotism." I agree with this statement, and I think many Christians need to seriously examine their heart to see what may be hidden under their patriotism. Even without the racial issues involved, patriotism could become an idol on its own, just like a desire to have a fancy car or a new job.
See also this article on Patheos about idols.
The second issue I want to address is the disregard for truth that is increasingly present on social media. There have been many false stories circulating about this "taking a knee" situation. I know it's so easy to like or share something, but we really need to seriously consider if what we are sharing is true or not. Fake news is a serious problem. But I think that the issue can go even farther than that. If false statements are made about a specific person with the intent to harm them, it's not just fake news; it's libel and it's illegal. Let’s do an example.
Let's say someone posts a fake story on Facebook and it goes viral. In this story they claim to have seen a police officer hurting an innocent civilian, but they provide no details. They conclude with "What a horrible police department! I hate the police." Now of course that will get a bunch of people riled up and mad and it's all based on a stupid piece of fake news. That's bad enough, but it is not libel.
If a person posts a similar false story, but they name a specific police officer committing the crime at a specific place and time, now we have libel. And all the people liking and sharing the post are contributing to the libel. I don't know what the legal ramifications of that would be, but it should really make us think twice about anything we say or do, especially online because of how these things can go viral.
So wrapping up this post, people do have freedom of speech to take a knee at the national anthem. If this bothers you, take a serious look at your heart to see what the real issue is. And secondly, you do not have the freedom of speech to commit libel. Please be careful about what you like and share on social media.
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