Watching Our ******* Mouths
Featured, Letters from the Editor — By Jordan Green on September 25, 2009 at 12:00 am
Some weeks ago, Dylan Peterson published a post on our old blog entitled “The Cost of Blasphemy (Priceless)”.
Dylan was new to our site. He is a talented writer who’s work has appeared in Killing the Buddha, Relevant, and his blog, which also features a piece on the “Top 10 Basketball Moves“. Dylan is the sort of writer we love, with courage and skill.
The writers invited to write for our blog have a high level of freedom. They were able to post whenever they liked (this is not the case any more, but solely because we want to be able to schedule our content, and edit more heavily for formatting and typos). I saw Dylan’s post a few hours after it had gone up, scanning it quickly. I flipped out a bit. I pulled the post as quickly as I could, and called John Pattison to discuss it.
The post was a comedic piece regarding Google Ads. Dylan was frustrated by the cheesy nature of the ads Google was assigning to his blog, and wondered how he could avoid links to sites offering Bible degrees. He figured posting a number of offensive phrases would do the trick, and listed them in order. After I read it more in depth, I better understood its point. It was a very funny post.
However, the post contained a number of words and jokes not usually associated with Christianity, as well as an image of a sculpture featuring a chorus line of naked Christs (from the film Clockwork Orange). If you are not easily offended, you can view that post here. Do not go there if you are bothered by such things.
Before I pulled the post, it received a considerable amount of feedback through comments and emails Dylan received directly. Here’s a sampling (all quotes sic’d):
“…a couple days ago, maybe a week, you wrote a post about adsense on your blog. and you said some other things. im just curious, whyd you say the things you did? out of comedy? or just because? or out of anger? venting? you post got deleted as well. why did it get deleted? its not something i would expect to be on bwc either. but what do i know.”
“I was just reading your blog post on Burnside Writers blog entitled Blasphemy and I thought it was hilarious. Did they take it off the side because it was too vulgar? I don’t think there was anything wrong with it because it was hilarious.”
“Umm . . . yeah. I think we need someone to start editing the blog. But maybe that’s just me.”“This is the funniest blog I’ve read on Burnside for a while… and that’s saying something. I envy your humorous blog writing skills.”
And, from Dylan’s former pastor: “Dylan, what’s going on with you, my old friend? These words don’t seem appropriate to who I know you to be. And they disturb the heart of a friend who feels attacked by their vitriole and passion.”
“I guess what’s really shocking is hearing a Christian reiterate stuff like that. When you become a Christian, you’re taught that you’re supposed to suppress those things that don’t attribute to your most holy appearance. I just don’t buy that. I think it sometimes takes the vile and discomforting powers of immorality to make the clearest point about real morality.
But more than anything, yes, it was trying to make people laugh.”
My guess is our editing is on the permissive end of the Christian media spectrum. In the past, we’ve freely allowed words like “damn,” “hell,” and “ass,” (though, to my knowledge, we’ve never allowed “hole” as a suffix). We’ve allowed the word “shit” on occasion. We have even, once or twice, published the contextual use of the f- and c-word when it was a direct quote and we felt its use was warranted. The latter two were never permitted in any comedic sense.
I doubt it’s surprising to say I, personally, have a liberal view of profanity. The Bible has a number of verses pertaining to language (many of which you can read about here). To me, though, these verses address what is being said as a whole, not individual words. The closest analogy might be sex. Sex is not a sin, but there are circumstances under which sex is a sin. Another might be the word “God,” which is beautiful and powerful, but becomes sin when not used for His glory.
Some words (the f-word, for instance) are extremely difficult to contextualize.
A few years ago, a close friend was killed in Iraq. Many of his family and close friends attended Imago Dei with me. That same week, Rick McKinley, our pastor, had a friend who was shot and killed by his own son. On Sunday, he saw me in the foyer.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“Not so good. You?”
“Same.”
“The world is fucked up,” I said.
“Yeah, it is,” he replied.
It’s possible this was sin, but I didn’t feel convicted, even in church. Maybe my heart is hard, but it felt an appropriately strong word, a time where “messed up” and “fallen” did not convey the sadness I felt.
Many words, like “shit” and “ass” are far less innocuous, especially for post-Boomers.
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For many of our readers, discussions of profanity preach to the choir. I’ll admit my own language can, on occasion, fall certainly on the wrong side of the line. The boundaries between my close friends, or old Army buddies, have been blurred over the years. I’ve made jokes in my private life I’d never post here. Partly, this is because Burnside is public: anyone from family to potential employers can look back through our archives…my gestating daughter will likely have access to what I’ve written decades from now. Mostly, though, it’s because there are things I’ve said I’m not proud of.
My guess is, I’m not alone. Especially when it comes to the readers of this site.
Further, when deciding Burnside’s policy on censorship and profanity, we have to remember potential advertisers. We have to remember we’ll be linked to from any number of more conservative sites. We have to remember children might stumble across our pages. Regardless of our personal beliefs on profanity, it’s simply considerate to remember these things, as well. At the same time, this is still our site, and we want to be honest about ourselves and our communication. We like pushing the boundaries of typical Christian media, of being able to say things and address topics other sites can’t.
I think that’s what the readers who supported Dylan’s post are hoping for: a different voice in Christian writing. They feel, as we often do, bound by legalism. On the other hand, if we don’t write wisely and with our faith at the forefront, we also run the risk of being bound by sin.
Beyond profanity, there will be writing on this site readers don’t agree with (Dan’s review of Mark Driscoll’s book sparked some of that). There will be times we are unwise, and rash, and hypocritical. There will be times we err on the side of permissiveness, and times we err on the side of legalism. We want to be as thoughtful and as measured and as wise as we can be in our writing, but I think we, as a site, would rather err on the side of unwise honesty than hold our tongues from fear of judgment.
This is the tightrope each of us toe on our Christian walk. It’s refreshing to remember we’re ultimately safe whether we fall one way or the other.
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(ADDENDUM: One area I, personally, draw the line at is using the Lord’s name in vain. Of course, interpretation of the third commandments is up for debate. Karen Spears Zacharias once admonished me for saying “Good lord!”, and I’ve been thankful she pointed that out ever since.)
15 Comments
Though I was the one who said someone should start editing the blog, I fall on the more “liberal” side of this issue. I didn’t leave my comment because I was offended. I thought the post was funny but a bit excessive for public consumption. If I wrote like I talk to my best friends, I wouldn’t want it on BWC. I don’t think I’m doing anything wrong or sinful by using profanity (though I agree that such words CAN be sinful), but I understand that BWC is fighting an uphill battle with a lot of Evangelicals as it is. I wouldn’t want to make things worse without good reason. I thought Dylan’s post needed some parts (and art) pruned for the same reason.
I think the question shouldn’t be whether this or that word can be used; it should be what makes for good writing. Sometimes the f-word is exactly what you need. Other times, it’s gratuitous. I trust our editors to decide. I also think most of us understand concerns related to advertising and growing our audience.
I remember Dylan’s post, and how shocked and delighted I was to see something so controversial/funny come out of a Christian writer. I laughed out loud, because obviously he didn’t agree with all the ridiculous statements he made, he was making a tounge-in-cheek commentary on the stereotype and image that Christians are so often locked into (see Ned Flanders above.)
I’m probably biased though, since this typically is my thing, being the “controversial” Christian. That’s one of the reasons I love BWC so much, because it’s hard being the Christian girl with lots of gay friends who says shit sometimes. It’s nice to find others like me, who don’t constantly stay in the lines, but still strive to love Christ whole heartedly.
Do you mean you say the word “shit” or you talk a lot of shit. My money is on both. ; )
Steve! Who told you!? Yes, I talk a lot of shit. But I also use the word as an adjective, occasionally. I won’t lie, I like to do it sometimes in Christian social settings just to shake things up and see how people react. Usually it works well and gets people more relaxed. Sometimes not though.
I’ve been looking for bible verses which define what words are sinful, and, aside from using God’s name in vain, I cannot find those verses. It’s amazing how much Christians will take in as truth if it’s said by other Christians often enough.
It seems contradictory to me to refer to one’s self as a bible-believing Christian and still insist that shit and the other words mentioned hear are sinful. Either the bible is your standard or it isn’t.
Having said that, I know when it’s rude to say those things, and I won’t say them under those circumstances.
A few years ago, I finished my thesis on Supportive Housing for Mental Health Recovery. I found the standard DSM-IV descriptions of depression, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders to be dry and abstract. To help people understand what the illnesses felt like, in the body of my thesis I chose to use quotes of what if felt like to have suffered under those illnesses, and f*** was used a few times. When my supervisor first saw it, he laughed at the juxtaposition, because I was the nice girl who never swore or got angry. As a writer, I left them in without censure because to delete them took away from the sorrow of the writer, and the feeling of the illnesses for someone who has never felt that way. But I have long since held the belief that sometimes, those are the only words to use to get across how I feel to people who think I’m the controlled christian girl who doesn’t understand hurt or pain. They’re used so rarely, that if I say them, people do notice, but more often then not, they simply realize that something serious is going on in the background. I’ve chosen only to use them at times when no other words would suffice.
thanks for this piece. i think swearing is like the NT church struggling with whether or not to eat meat sacrificed to idols. it wasn’t inherently right or wrong; believers were supposed to do whatever was least offensive to their brothers.
by the way, jordan, the cross-shaped urinal drain raises its own set of questions. what are you, the evangelical version of Duchamp?
This probably won’t be the last time BWC has to struggle with this essentially editorial question. Pottymouthing is part of the great emergence, I think. This open discussion of how to struggle Christianly with it is as helpful as anything you’ve done here. Scum of the Earth in Denver had a similar challenge in a church setting a few years’ back; the pastor’s book (coming out next spring from IVP) walks through their process in a really helpful way. But you handled this really well, and I respect you for it.
This is a great discussion. There things (in this case specific words) that work in some environments and not in others. Painted faces, giant foam-fingers, and megaphones are right for a football game but generally wrong for church (unless you’re pentecostal). Contractions are fine for my comment here but taboo in my master’s thesis. Hands in pockets in outside the local coffee shop:no problem; while in a military formation: out of the f—ing question!
It is the responsibility of this website to determine where in the world it fits. I would argue that it serves as something of a bridge between the secular world and Christianity, while dodging the traditional American Christian cultural. That being said, the a reader on this site should be able to navigate the articles without feeling like they sat next to the painted-face, super-fan at church.
In addition, for a group professing to be creative writers, I’m sure there are some super creative and interesting ways to say the same thing. (In many cases, this is how the Bible gets away with it. For example, goats weren’t just having sex, they were jumping on each other; seductive women weren’t just hot, they were like honey on the lips. And I think it might be kind of funny of we used the term begat today.)
And don’t forget the King James Version’s “His loins smote together” meaning “He pissed himself”. That has to be one of our all-time favorite KJV-isms.
I really liked this article (and the blog), I agree with the idea that there is an appropriate time and place for all language. Just like sex, alcohol, and all the other traditionally taboo elements of Christian culture, foul language is in the same boat.
I think it is important to recognize that using foul language is one of those things that the world sees as something Christians don’t do. On the one hand, your language might cause someone to think critically of your faith, but on the other hand they might find it to be relief from Christians they’ve experienced in the past. I’ve experienced both, though I don’t have a resolution to this dilemma, any thoughts?
Lastly, I will say that people who drop the f-bomb every other sentence in everyday language typically come off as pretty stupid, regardless of their worldview.
This is a really coincidental topic to something that happened to me over the weekend. I swore in front of my parents for the first time in my life, and I was seriously sweating about it beforehand because I knew to be honest to myself, and to quote myself accurately, I had to say “Dammit”.
I have problems with few words. I dropped a few while playing basketball at lunchtime. But it was the first time I’ve played in 2.5 years after a major injury, so honestly, it felt completely normal. But yet I was waiting for one of my parents to say something… and then nothing. After 30+ years, it’s about time.
As for the context of this site, Jordan, I agree with the others: you did an effing good job presenting a hell of a topic; you definitely have your shit together.
I’m proud of Dylan.
I love Jesus and the F word. A lot. I am well-read and an effin amazIngly steong thinker and communicator. And dropping F bombs in everyday conversation is my natural dialect.
It is the most emotive word that I know.
Sometimes I use it in writing.It’s like strong seasoning that when used properly can add a layer of flavor that kicks effin ass.
Just sayin’…