For
the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food. Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good~
Job 34:3-4 NIV
Last week, as millions
of Americans prepared in earnest for the day of gluttony and games we
affectionately call Super Bowl XLV111,
The New York Times published an article by Steve Almond with a very
provocative title.
Is It
Immoral To Watch The Super Bowl?
Mr. Almond
passionately argues that it is immoral to watch the Super Bowl for three
reasons…
Football is an
appallingly violent sport~
Thousands of former
NFL players are now suffering brain damage from injuries sustained while
playing professional football~
Fans bankroll the
sponsorship of this barbarity by watching NFL games~
All of the reasons
Mr. Almond has given for his belief are unquestionably true. Not one of them
makes watching the Super Bowl immoral. Watching football would be immoral if society began the practice of forcing young men
to play football against their will and without compensation.
Immoral is a ridiculously strong term to describe a game where the participants are all free, healthy
people who are paid to participate. The
definition of immoral is…
Something that defies established moral principles.
The synonyms for
immoral are thought provoking and numerous. They include wicked, degenerate, corrupt, nefarious, lewd, depraved and indecent.
The Super Bowl is
none of those things. However, there are many situations in our world that do
qualify as immoral. The selling of human beings into slavery, military service
and prostitution is immoral. Abusing children is immoral.
The fact that nearly
half of all children born today will not be raised with the advantages of a
two-parent family is immoral. Adultery is immoral. The aborting of an unborn
baby every two seconds is immoral. Racism is immoral. Bullying people into agreement
is immoral. Persecuting people of faith is immoral. Theft is immoral. Ethnic cleansing is immoral.
China’s one-child per family policy and its enforcement practices are immoral.
Infanticide is immoral. These and probably a million other issues qualify, as
immoral, watching football isn’t even in the ballpark.
By classifying
football viewing as immoral, Mr. Almond unintentionally trivializes the significance
of the word and minimizes the necessity to act on issues that are actually
immoral and worthy of action.
Over the course of
the last decade there has been an epidemic of redefining and trivializing the
meaning of words. For example, tolerance
used to mean…
The willingness to endure, without punitive action, a view or person with
whom one disagrees
Tolerance has been
redefined to mean embracing and celebrating, without reservation, every behavior
and lifestyle choice.
The word racist was once a scandalous label
reserved for nasty people who mistreated or excluded others based on their skin
color or ethnicity. The word racist is now used to describe those we don’t like
or who don’t care for the policies of our current President.
Hateful was once defined as….
Holding a strong or pervasive
dislike of someone or something; the embracing of an attitude that may lead to
punitive action against the hated party
The word is now used
to describe any person who holds an opinion we find repugnant or even outdated.
The list of words that have lost their original definition could go on
forever.
I fear that if social
commentators begin the practice of labeling any activity with which they disagree
as immoral, yet another powerful word will lose its significance. Our
collective moral compass will be dumbed down once again and we will find
ourselves incapable of responding to authentic immorality when we witness
it.
It’s time we begin
the painful process of holding ourselves accountable for the words we choose. Insisting
that we reserve the word immoral for
situations that are truly wicked, degenerate, corrupt, nefarious, lewd,
depraved or indecent is a good place to start.
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and
light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter~ Isaiah 5:20
NIV
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