Reblog: "Name-calling is rhetorical pornography" from CNN Belief blog

Today at the CNN Belief blog, three evangelical Christian leaders have written up a fantastic post on name-calling.  They begin with the old statement we've all probably heard as children "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me", and reject that completely.  Words matter.  Names do hurt.  They then go on to state very clearly that the name-calling that seems so prevalent in our popular culture these days is  inconsistent with the Christian message.  I like that at the end, they make the connection that not only must we find "nicer words", but we must find "a transformed perspective", which is based on "the innate humanity and dignity owed every individual".  It is not just words that must be kind, but attitude, our internal orientation toward others that we disagree with or don't like, that has to be fixed.