Pious lip-service

“I don't think either party has a monopoly on good or on evil.”

http://dangerousidea.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-improving-tone-of-political-debate.html

“I don't know what to say to people who think that anyone to the left of John McCain is an intellectually dishonest evildoer.”

http://dangerousidea.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-on-tone.html

This is yet another example of Reppert’s constitutional inability to honestly and accurately represent his opponents. Because he’ll lose the argument if he has to address the actual issues, he finds it more convenient to erect a straw man.

In my exchanges with Reppert, did I cast the issue as a choice between Obama and McCain? Did I make this an issue of party affiliation?

To the contrary, I’ve explicitly drawn the very distinctions that Reppert is trying to blur.

For example, in one response to Reppert, I said: “To begin with, I’m a conservative first and a Republican second. My ideological identity is primary, not my partisan identity. My ideology selects for my party, not vice versa.”

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/09/brain-on-idle.html

And in another response to Reppert I said: “Christians can have a good faith disagreement about whether to vote for McCain. For a number of conservatives, McCain is one or two or three compromises too many. Christians cannot have a good faith disagreement about voting for a man like Obama.”

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/10/victor-repperts-debate-flow-chart.html#1903077880869272527

Finally, let’s put “tone” into Biblical perspective. There are lots of folks in the church today who judge a person by his tone rather than his substance. It doesn’t matter what he says or believes. The only thing that matters is how he says it. Using nice words. Being polite.

The Bible has a term for this: “lipservice.”

“And the Lord said: “…this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me’” (Isa 29:13).