Whenever we speak, write or act, we are communicating far more than we may realise. When we speak, there is the content we communicate but there are also other signals we are sending out and they may be communicating far more. Sometimes those signals communicate things we would desire to say even if we are not conscious that we already are. Sometimes we may actually communicate something that we never intended.
Take this comment
“One helpful framework is the Catholic idea of “cooperation with evil.” This framework provides various parameters by which we can gauge how implicated we are in the sins of others. Our involvement can be judged by parameters such as “proximal vs. distal,” “direct vs. indirect,” “intentional vs. unintentional,” and “indispensable vs. dispensable.” If our actions are proximal, direct, intentional and indispensable to the sinful act, we are likely to be morally implicated. If our involvement is distal, indirect, unintentional and dispensable, we are less likely to be implicated.”
What exactly is that communicating? It is worth noting that this was not published in a technical, scholarly journal but in a popular level Christian newspaper. It’s from an article in Evangelicals Now: “A post assisted dying world: Three ways the church can prepare.” Yet, how many of EN’s readers tend to talk about things that are proximal and distal? Indeed, I would go so far as to suggest that the author hasn’t communicated much at all in terms of intended content to his audience. It’s gone straight over our heads.
Instead, he has communicated far more in what he has signalled by how he has written. The vocabulary and style communicate that this is a complex issue, far too complex for your average church member. This, even though he elsewhere points out that the ethics of euthanasia are going to affect not just doctors but nurses and taxi-drivers. So, a conversation is needed about how we respond to a coming law change. However, the signal is that most of us are excluded from that conversation. We are not up to it.
I am going to assume here that the signal was unintended. I’m sure that Evangelicals Now and the article author want all of us involved in that conversation. So, that being the case, can we start to communicate in a way and in a language that includes everyone in the discussion.
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Faithroots 