Is Rush Limbaugh’s Talent In Danger of Being Revoked?

Don’t look now, but Rush Limbaugh’s talent — famously quoted by him as being “on loan from God” — might just be in danger of being revoked. No, I’m not talking about God revoking Limbaugh’s talent in a permanent, out-of-this-world kind of way (as we have witnessed with the sudden deaths of Davy Jones and Andrew Breitbart just last week). God doesn’t always work in a direct, supernatural miracle kind-of-way. In medical situations, God will often use surgeries — and the hands of doctors and nurses — to carry out the healing of the Great Physician. God can accomplish His ends by whatever means He so chooses. Of course, those means will always be consistent with God’s character. He is not an “ends justify the means” God.

Which brings us to the case of Rush Limbaugh. I admit that I have listened to Rush through the years. Sometimes I have been more “in tune” with his commentary, even going so far as to subscribe to his online website on more than one occasion. For those subscriptions, I’ve been rewarded with a t-shirt and even a mouse pad. As I write this post, I am moving my mouse over that very pad — with not one, but two pictures of Limbaugh staring up at me. Rush, in a very real sense, is everywhere these days (even on my desk). But, not for reasons that would make me or most Christians (conservative or otherwise) very comfortable.

Limbaugh, always one to use hyperbole, satire, and parody to make a point, used his “talented mouth” in such a way that he had to not only eat his own words, but is trying to get both of his feet out of his mouth while struggling to keep his golden EIB microphone in his hand. That last act has become increasingly difficult in recent days. As of Monday, at least nine sponsors for Limbaugh’s #1 rated talk radio show have pulled their ads from the air in response to Mr. Limbaugh’s caustic and vulgar language used to describe Georgetown Law School student Sandra Fluke, who testified last week about President Obama’s Contraception Mandate.

While there are legitimate philosophical, moral, legal, policy, and religious differences related to Mr. Obama’s mandate — particularly the requirement that religious organizations and institutions (such as Georgetown University, a Catholic institution) provide insurance which covers “reproductive health services” (i.e., not just contraceptives, but abortion as well) — this serious issue, which has the very real potential to threaten religious liberty in this country, has been overshadowed by the coarse language of a radio pundit. Even if much of Mr. Limbaugh’s analysis of the fight over the Contraception Mandate is well-founded (I think it is), the name-calling was inappropriate and outside the bounds of civil discourse. Of course, I would defend Rush’s right to say stupid things, just as I would defend the right of those on the left to say stupid things. However, just because speech maybe protected does not make it right.

Did those who disagreed with Rush’s name calling have a right to call for a boycott of his sponsors if those sponsors did not discontinue their advertising? Absolutely. Even though conservatives generally don’t do well at organizing similar boycotts when companies support the lunatic left (what companies should be advertising on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show, anyway?), we shouldn’t hold that against the left. They are adept at using new media, including launching fast and furious social media campaigns using Twitter and Facebook to bring pressure to bear on companies seen doing business with undesirables (in this case, Rush Limbaugh).

But, there are at least three good reasons why Mr. Limbaugh should never have put himself in this position:

1. Mr. Limbaugh should have known that the language that he used was inappropriate and highly offensive, regardless of the political circumstances surrounding its use;
2. Mr. Limbaugh should have known that the Left is always looking for a way to bring him down and silence his voice;
3. Mr. Limbaugh should have known that the Mainstream Media (or, as he calls them, the “Drive-by” Media) will always employ a double-standard when it comes to judging the words of conservatives (for example, Al Sharpton as opposed to Pat Buchanan).

If Rush Limbaugh would have been thinking, he would not have even needed to depend on reasons 2 and 3. He would have known that calling a young woman a “slut” and a “prostitute” and encouraging her to post online videos of her having sex. I don’t care how good an argument one has against Obamacare and the President’s contraception mandate — the former being an encroachment on individual liberty and the latter being a frontal assault on religious liberty — we (and I speak as a Christian and as a pastor) cannot condone such vile and vulgar language, even if we may agree with the principles being espoused.

I believe in passionate debate and dialogue on the pressing issues of the day, whether in the political arena of our country or in the political arena of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, I believe that our discourse can still be civil (although who gets to define civil and uncivil is itself debatable). However, I believe that reasonable people, even if they vehemently disagree on the issues, know crude and crass language when they hear it.

I have a dear friend who I graduated both Kindergarten (Mrs. Christian) and High School with in Lake Placid, Florida. We both live out west now (she in the northern cold country and I in the warmer desert climate), but we keep up on Facebook. From reading her recent Facebook posts in the wake of the Limbaugh kerfuffle, it would be safe to say that she and I would disagree on how we view the President’s Contraception Mandate. I respect her opinion, even if I don’t hold that same opinion myself. That’s the beauty of friendship and freedom — we can and should be able to “agree to disagree” without becoming disagreeable or downright mean. For Christians, that takes on an added dimension of speaking the truth in love, with our words seasoned with grace. That is a lesson that Mr. Limbaugh would do well to remember before his loaned talent is revoked — by God or by whatever means God might allow!