What happened to grace, forgiveness?

My recent article on civility and the need for it is well explained by a recent article in USA Today.  Here is a full copy of just a part of it written by Jon Gabriel, editor in chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to

The Arizona Republic:

We now live in a “Cancel Culture” which is the tendency for public-facing organizations to cancel speakers or performers because of something done a long time ago that is now deemed inappropriate.  It is spreading for one simple reason: It works. Instead of debating ideas or competing for entertainment dollars, you can just demand anyone who annoys you to be cast out of polite society.

Way back in the mists of time, say five years ago, if you didn’t like a TV show or movie, you wouldn’t watch it. Now you can ensure that no one watches it, just by slinging some outrage on social media.

Our new-found “woke mentality” is America’s new Puritanism. Instead of using a handy list of sins written thousands of years ago, modern sins are ever-changing. A joke that was deemed progressive a decade ago is retroactively condemned as hate speech.

“If you say the wrong thing, everyone is throwing the first stone. It’s a perversion. It’s really, ‘Look how righteous I am, and now I’m going to press refresh all day long to see how many likes I get in my righteousness.”

When the mob has burned one witch, they tighten the buckles on their hats and pore through old YouTube videos for their next victim.

It’s time for the perpetually offended on the left and right to bring back two concepts the Puritans were at least familiar with: grace and forgiveness.

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