Be Angry & Sin Not
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Faith on Wednesday, October 13, 2010 10:00 AM
You’ve probably laughed as I have at this wise-crack:
“When asking WWJD, always remember that getting mad and knocking over the tables is a valid answer.”
I like that quip, but it’s a dubious guide for human behavior.
It seems to me our society has an anger problem, and one that works in opposing directions.
On the one hand, we seem to be increasingly thin-skinned about matters of little import.
On the other, we are passive and “tolerant” of behavior that “cries out to heaven.”
Msgr. Charles Pope has a simple and useful post about anger that navigates between these two shoals.
Here are a couple of points I think he brings out nicely.
First, he shows that meekness is a misunderstood virtue.
In modern English, meekness has lost its original vigor and tends to signify a person who is a bit of a pushover and easily taken advantage of. But in its original meaning, meekness describes the vigorous virtue wherein one gains authority over their anger. Aristotle defined meekness (πραΰτης ) as the mean between being too angry and not being angry enough.
He also discusses appropriate anger. Did you know, for example, that St. John Chrysostom and St. Thomas Aquinas both taught there were instances when it was sinful not to be angry? Msgr. Pope cites the example of a parent too blasé about his child’s serious infraction:
To fail to manifest some level of anger may lead to the false conclusion that the offense in question is not really all that significant. For example if a child belts his brother in the mouth and knocks out a tooth a parent ought to manifest an appropriate amount of anger to make it very clear that this sort of behavior is intolerable. To gently correct a child in a smooth and dispassionate way with no inflection in the voice can lead to the impression that this really isn’t so bad. Proper anger has a way of bringing the point home and making a lasting impression.
I think about the implications of this form of “righteous anger” in the public square a great deal without coming to any conclusion.
For example, there is a sense in which we ought to be angry about legalized abortion or the effort to redefine marriage because of the wickedness and injustice of these causes. To be indifferent on these matters implies a fault somewhere in our understanding or in our conscience.
On the other hand, an old battle axe who comes to the public square quarrelsome, armed with righteous fury and a sour puss, rarely does the cause any good and probably harms it. No one wants to be associated with people who appear mean or crazy.
Knowing this, the culture abuses such as “angry,” “bigot,” “hater,” using them as weapons precisely against Christians who are trying to love their neighbors by wanting what is best for them. The most effective weapon the culture of death wields, it seems to me, is the cudgel of “judgmentalism.” Few of us fail to shatter into silence once we’re pounded with that, and thus is much quiet acquiesence acquired.
What then? Are we just supposed to rage against injustice all the time?
Msgr. Pope has some advice about public anger, too, pointing out that while Jesus was often angry in the gospels—overturning tables in the temple, calling the Pharisees “whited sepulchres,” etc., there may be an important cultural dimension to consider. “Prophetic actions” were perhaps better understood in a culture accustomed to prophets:
We ought to be careful before simply taking up Jesus’ angry tone for two reasons. First, he was able to see into their hearts and properly conclude as to the proper tactics necessary. We may not always be able to do this. Secondly, the wider Western culture in which many of us live may not be as prepared to accept such an angry tone. It may be a less effective tactic in our setting and prudential judgment is a necessary precursor to using such tactics.
There can be a place for a judiciously chosen and controlled display of anger, in other words, but it’s never right to simply “let yourself go” and have a hissy fit.
Hop on over and read the whole post. Good food for thought.
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