Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life
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Before the schoolyard bully beats up his victim, he
calls him names. This is a way to dehumanize the
victim, and therefore make it easier to justify
attacking him.
In this verse from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
says that using dehumanizing language is sinful.
"Raca" was an Aramaic term of contempt. The respect
and love we are called to have for other human lives
is not limited to action alone; it also has to
manifest itself in language.
Professor William Brennan, in his book Dehumanizing
the Vulnerable: When Word Games Take Lives, traces
the dehumanizing language used to oppress various
groups of people in history, such as our
African-American brothers and sisters, or our Jewish
brothers and sisters in the Holocaust.
He then shows that the same kind of dehumanizing
language is used against the unborn, who have been
called "parasites," "tissue," and "medical waste,"
among other things.
What are we to do instead? We are to affirm one
another, including the unborn, with ennobling
language that inspires respect and love. The unborn
are precious children, they are our brothers and
sisters, they are the image of God. Let us multiply
the language of affirmation, as we hasten to the day
of their protection!
