Silenced and Slain by Ridicule?
Why should anyone respect scientific or theological perspectives presented by a trial lawyer?
Good question. Hold on. You might let your guard down.
I claim no expertise in biology, cosmology, or other scientific fields. Although I've spent a lifetime studying God's word, I possess no theological doctorate degrees. However, I have labored more than thirty years as a trial attorney. It requires a unique skill-set in the art of advocacy.
Good advocates need to understand opposing views, so I intentionally make time to read and investigate such materials. Recently, I re-read a book by Richard Dawkins entitled The Blind Watchmaker. A few simple phases in his preface caught my attention.
He wrote, "Explaining is a difficult art....You have to become an advocate and use the tricks of the advocate's trade."
Now ... that's definitely in my wheelhouse. But I despise any arsenal of "tricks" attributed to my trade.
By 2006, Dawkins ratcheted-up his advocacy (as he put it) to free believers from the "vice of religion altogether." In The God Delusion, he sought to advance his quest by heaping ridicule on all religions and anything supernatural. No-holds-barred ridicule. Rinse. Wash. Repeat. Over and over again. Hoping to discredit and denigrate religious belief.
Unfortunately, I see the same dynamic in play through 24/7 opinion news and social media. Unadulterated ridicule has infiltrated far beyond the realm of late night comedians. But so much of it extends far beyond good-natured jesting. Way too much of it is cruel and deceptive - Tricks to discredit and destroy the "other side" in the war of ideas.
Proverbs 26:18-19 (NIV) gives us a good reminder.
Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death
is one who deceives their neighbor and says,“I was only joking!”
I'm not an absolute kill joy. I laugh at a good joke too. But sometimes, it's not funny. The point where it crosses the line may be subject to debate, but you usually know it when you see it. Simply put yourself in the shoes of the ridiculed and imagine how it would feel to you.
Deceptive ridicule is quite effective, but it is reckless and dangerous. Oftentimes, such trickery is little more than overt character assassination. Deceptive ridicule kills hearts and souls - effectively. But what the heck, "I was only joking." Right?
Tricks are a poor substitute for honest advocacy. And it doesn't really take a trained lawyer to see it.
Great points. In my experience, most ridicule neither creates strong arguments or builds a solution. When you do disagree with someone, your point was to show empathy in how you regard that person. However, how do you try to reason with someone who doesn’t want to listen to you or actively goes against your views? It’s very difficult to get in a right mindset when you already feel like the victim. The easy way is to shut them out, but it feels like a band-aid versus progress.