Ask the Editor - Using the judgment of charity

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, July 10th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MEGAN BASHAM, HOST: And I’m Megan Basham. Next up, WORLD editor in chief Marvin Olasky on using the judgement of charity.

MARVIN OLASKY, EDITOR IN CHIEF: This past month we’ve received lots of generous letters from WORLD members, but I’ve seen two concerns. Here’s the gist of one of them: “You’ve interviewed two Democrats, Michael Wear and Justin Giboney. You seem sympathetic to them. I thought WORLD was a Christian magazine.”

We are a strongly pro-life Christian magazine. Sadly, the national Democratic Party is the pro-abortion party. It would be wonderful for unborn children if the Democratic Party became pro-life. That’s what both Michael and Justin want. 

If that happened, the Democratic Party would probably have other problems, including its tilt toward socialism. But we can still remember, by listening to Michael and Justin, that political opponents are not enemies. Writing for or reading a Christian magazine reminds Christians that while we were still sinners, Christ died or us. 

The second question from several readers goes like this: “How can anything good come out of people saying “Black lives matter. What about white lives?” 

The Bible tells us to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We do not want others to interpret our words in the most negative way. We should not assume that anyone who says “Black lives matter” is anti-white. Using the judgment of charity, I hear people saying “Black lives matter too.” 

Christians should agree with that. At the same time we should note that the slogan is not the same as the organization called Black Lives Matter. BLM embraces unbiblical ideas. It emphasizes radically changing structures rather than hearts. We can reject the organization while being glad that attitudes are changing.

After all, when I taught journalism history at the University of Texas, I told students about a New York cub reporter a century ago. He runs into the city room all excited. He tells the editor he has a great story, about a murder on the subway. He wants to write 1,000 words about it. The editor asks, “Who died?” The reporter says, “Colored man.” The editor replies, “OK, give me two sentences. No one cares.” 

Christians should care. 

I’m Marvin Olasky.

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