Diffamation et Obtrectatio!

Amici, Americani et Compatriotae,

It is time to speak out against slander. In Latin as in English, there are different words used to express this concept. Nouns include the following:

• Blasphemia: blasphemy (against God); slander; reviling
• Calumnia: sophistry, sham; false accusation/claim/statement/pretenses/objection; quibble; charge; accusation
• Crimen: indictment/charge/accusation; blame/reproach/slander; verdict/judgment
• Denotatio: ensure; disparagement; marking, pointing out
• Detrectio: removal, withdrawal; omission (words); blood-letting; purge; slander 
• Diffamatio: defamation
• Obtrectatio: disparagement; detraction; verbal attack inspired by malice or spite
• Vilipensio: disparagement; contempt

Verbs include the following:

• Diffamo: spread news of; slander
• Lacerare: to mangle; slander, torment, harass; waste; destroy; cut
• Maledicere: to speak ill/evil of, revile, slander; abuse, curse

Slander was the FIRST sin committed in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:1-7 gives us the story:

Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.

Notice how the serpent beguiles Eve with the words of slander in Genesis 3:4-5:

But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The serpent lied to Eve about God. In fact, the serpent called God a liar. Look at what Genesis 2:16-17 says:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”

Now the serpent tells Eve, “You will not die.” Then he attributes to God a nefarious intent – the intent to keep the eyes of Adam and Eve closed and like God – knowing good and evil! Yet Genesis 1:26 says that man was already created in God’s image, therefore he was already like God:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”

Slander or calumny is a violation of the Commandment which says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20). And St. Paul is clear about such people:

“I appeal to you, brethren, to take note of those who create dissensions and difficulties, in opposition to the doctrine which you have been taught; avoid them.” Romans 16: 17

“If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” 1st Timothy 6: 3-5

My experience is that those who spread vilification and calumny sooner or later suffer a backlash greater than what they have given to others, for “…whatsoever a man sows, that also shall he reap” (Galatians 6:7). Indeed, Hosea 8:7a states:

“For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Slanders are the offspring of their father the devil who is called Satan, and the name Satan in Hebrew mean Accuser. Unless they repent, such people must be ejected from the Body of Christ. They too are an infestation and infection which, if left to grow, will become a life-threatening cancerous tumor of death and destruction.