"You Lie!"

I don't consider Joe Wilson a hero, and his comment (yelled during President Obama's speech) was inappropriate. While conservatives might agree with Mr. Wilson and say that Obama was indeed lying, the accuracy of the statement is beside the point. Wilson's behavior was wrong in the timing of his comment, for which he apologized, as he should have done - an apology that the White House accepted.

That being said, this report is much more disturbing. The implication here is that any criticism of a Black President made by anything other than a Black citizen or Congressman is racist. Joe Wilson is White, President Obama is Black, and so Joe Wilson must be either racist himself, or he is assisting racists in their cause. It puts any of us who are not Black in the impossible situation of having to prove a negative; that is, that we are not racist when we criticize President Obama's policies.

Questions to consider: what about when Black people criticize a White President? Or a Chinese person criticizing a Black? What about a Black from one country criticizing someone who is Black but from a different country? Am I racist for saying 'Black' instead of 'African American?' Why is someone not racist for calling me 'White' instead of Scottish American?

There are no end to the questions, and really no answers to be had either, outside of Christ. We (as Christians) can say that judgment on the basis of color is wrong, because we are all of us created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). We can further warn those who would judge the heart that this is not the realm of mankind (1 Samuel 16:7, Revelation 2:23). In other words, we can say that Joe Wilson is wrong, because he broke the rules of Congress. We cannot call Joe Wilson racist because we don't know the workings of his heart. Were we to witness a series of events in addition to this one, then we could begin to see a pattern of behavior that could be accurately labeled (James 2). But instead we see proponents of an ideology - in this specific case, liberals - painting both Joe Wilson and many of the protesters that were in Washington over the holiday weekend with the same broad brush of 'racist.' They are acting in the exact way they accuse Joe Wilson and others of acting, which is a sin (again, James 2).

Let none of us do this ourselves - either in response to this story, or in life. Loving our neighbors and teaching them Truth in gentleness and patience will lead them to Christ (2 Timothy 2:24-26). Hurling insults and labels back and forth - however accurate we think they are - does nothing to advance His Kingdom.