Changeling is the latest psychological thriller directed by Clint Eastwood. The film is set in late 1920s Los Angeles and is based on the true story of a woman who recognizes that the boy returned to her after a kidnapping is not her son. After confronting the city authorities, she is vilified as an unfit mother, branded delusional, taken into police protective custody and placed in a mental institution -- for her own good. The film was written by J. Michael Straczynski, who spent a year researching the case through archived city records. What is absolutely amazing about the film and the historical narrative is the dialogue used to disguise evil, redirect attention and call those who were innocent and righteous wrong, delusional and obstructionist. I could not help but reflect on how this same style of language is used in politics today.

It is not unusual to hear a particular politician talk openly about confiscating the wealth of one class of people to freely give it to another class of people, not based on merit but based on a personal idealogy of what constitutes redistributive justice. The Bible says that if a person does not work, they should not eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

It is not uncommon to hear a particular politician speak of why he or she is willing to kill unborn babies or terminate the life of a child in an act of infanticide who is the object of a botched abortion attempt.

It is not uncommon to hear in politics why a nation will not be made more secure from illegal aliens who come into the country to rob its citizens of their resources by breaking their laws, abusing their health care system and violently assualting indiviuals in a crime wave.

It is this making of evil noble that I find amazing.  

I think again and reflect on how language is used in acts of domestic violence to make an aggressive personality appeal noble. A man abuses his wife and then insisists on how much he loves her and how tragic it is she has acted in such a way he had to beat her. Or, a mother abuses her children and then justifies with flowery language why she so acted. I know of this personally. Such language became part of my childhood memories.  

The same ability to make evil appeal noble is found in religion. It is found in the local assembly when people move to hurt a pastor and then use language to persuade others to do the same. It is found in religions of the middle east when clever words and carefully crafted ideas full of nuances and innuendos allow the most vile acts to be justified such as female mutilation or so called holy wars. Is it any wonder that the ethics of the gospel command Christians to be different.

• Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

• Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

• Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.