Pondering Incivility

We don't know Pr. Earl Janssen, nor have we spent much time reading his blog, Pondering Pastor. But like most of our colleagues, he seems bright, faithful and good-hearted, than which we ask no more of a priest or a believer.

Still, we think he's been getting some mail intended for us.

Back in August, Pr. Janssen wrote a piece about the Ten Commandments. Seems than Glenn Beck had suggested that they were acceptable to all Americans, and Pr. J argued that this was a little off-base. Atheists didn't care much about, say, keeping the Sabbath holy. The Commandments are universally applicable only within a community of faith.

This is a cogent argument, and we're glad he made it, not least because we get a bit tired of the natural law enthusiasts trying to argue that their pet indefinable figment is somehow magically enshrined in the Decalogue.

Problem is, of course, that in the current cultural environment, you can't step on Glenn Beck's toes and expect to go un-abused. Or perhaps the problem is that, much as we hate to say it, there is a streak of vituperation in the Lutheran spirit. Either way, some fellow calling himself "LUTHER" (as well as, comically enough, a couple of other names) wrote in to argue with Janssen. Or, really, to vent spleen in his general direction.

In a newer piece on the subject of civility, Janssen observes that, in the ensuing exchange, he has been called:

• bitter
• condescending
• elitist
• all-knowing
• small of heart
• socialist

Hmm. So far as we can tell, this doesn't describe Janssen. And yet the accusations sound eeirily familiar. We left Pr. Janssen a note, suggesting that his reader has simply sent those comments to the wrong address.