This is Part 2 of my series examining the N-word from different perspectives: personal, cultural, historical, and religious. In this episode, we're looking specifically at the religious perspective.
Should followers of God be using the N-word—even when we use it as a term of endearment?
Instead of relying on what I've been told, I decided to open the religious texts and read them for myself. I looked at the Book of Mormon, the Tanakh (Jewish Bible), the Qur'an, and the Christian Bible to see what they actually say about profanity, offensive names, bad words, obscene speech, crude joking, and the way believers are supposed to speak to other people.
I couldn't find the Book of Mormon or Tanakh directly addressing profanity as we're defining it in this series, and I'm not going to force a book to say something it doesn't say.
The Qur'an and Bible, however, gave us some very direct passages.
We examine Qur'an 49:11, 4:148 and 17:53, along with Colossians 3:8, Ephesians 5:4 and James 3:8–10, reading the surrounding context instead of simply pulling out convenient sentences.
The question I'm asking isn't only “Who gets to say the N-word?”
It's also:
If we're claiming to follow God, should we be calling each other the N-word—or using offensive, obscene, and degrading language at all?
I'm not exempting myself from the question. Some of this research challenged the way I speak too.
This episode covers The Religious Perspective. The rest of the series will examine the N-word through the personal, cultural, and historical perspectives as well.
Real people. Real topics. Real talk.
Taylor Talk.
Should We Say the N-Word? I Checked the Bible & Qur’an | The Religious P... https://t.co/LKYOLbxOVs via @YouTube