"The Government of the Tongue"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Richard Allestree's "The Government of the Tongue" and his discussion in the book about the use of speech and how it impacts mankind's spiritual relationship with God. The paper discusses the many perversions of speech, querulousness, positiveness and obscene talk that Allestree describes. The paper concludes by suggesting that Allestree's discourse has applications that go far beyond the religious and it provides some examples of these applications.

Table of Contents:
Summary
Interpretation
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Returning to the war in Iraq for a moment, one can view the other side of defamation. According to Allestree, one engages in defamation, not only when one knowingly spreads falsehoods, but also when one spreads information without ascertaining whether that information is actually true. However, this type of defamation has not received the same type of secular condemnation as the intentional propagation and spreading of falsehoods. On the contrary, despite evidence that he led the nation to believe that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction without ascertaining the truth of those statements, President Bush was re-elected as president in 2004. Allestree's position would have suggested that Bush be held accountable for his actions, even though he did not appear to be motivated by malice. In fact, Allestree even linked this type of lying to idolatry, because it suggested that the speaker worshipped his own imagination over God. While such a statement may appear controversial, it certainly suggests that any political leader claiming to be a Christian has a moral obligation to ensure that he is speaking the truth, not merely that he is speaking what he believes to be true."

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