Quote:
Originally Posted by Jennifer5
Interesting. So are you asking at what point love overpowers truth? As if we're ignoring the truth out of love? Or perhaps I am misreading what you wrote?
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I guess I'm questioning whether acting out of Love, at the expense (even temporarily) of Truth, is justifiable.
I'm not talking about telling someone: yes, that dress
does make you look fat. I'm talking about "bigger" issues of confronting ignorance -- the kind of ignorance that threatens violence, like racism and homophobia.
We seem to be able to embrace Love pretty well, but we get skittish about embracing Truth. Why? Is it because, deep down, we fear that Truth is not on our side?
Eugene Robinson, one of my favorite news "talking heads" and a columnist and associate editor at
The Washington Post wrote
this the other day. He acknowledges that it is difficult for President Obama to address any racism because of his special role at the moment but that this should not let the rest of us off the hook. Racism is out there; it's a factor in our national debate, a dangerous one; it's wrong and it's harmful...and that's the Truth.
Anti-gay forces wield "God's Word", arguing that homosexuality is unnatural, sinful and against God's plan for us. This is their Truth. I have no desire to be impolite, but they're simply wrong. This is a Truth that many of us have come to know that requires no written corroboration. No book ever proved this to me. No book could. I
know it. I
feel it.
I've been fortunate enough to know and feel Love, too. But this is different; this is Truth.
Fine...hooray for me. So how do I go about communicating this to others? At what point does Truth get watered down enough to be sufficiently palatable to approach our enemies "out of Love"?