Ideas, Not People

Should SharperIron serve as a place for people to out other people, especially leaders?

We don’t have a “final” answer to that question. What we do have is a clear idea of what SharperIron has been about so far and what it’s about right now. It is not about victim advocacy, justice, exposing coverups or holding evil-doers accountable.

For a few months (especially the last six weeks or so), conversations have been occurring in various places on the ‘Net expressing various levels of displeasure regarding SharperIron’s failure to “publish something about x” or “say something about y” or “hold z accountable.”

We’ve had a fair amount of discussion about that, and related matters, on the moderating team. Several of us have had conversations with concerned individuals outside the team.

The time seems right to try to clarify a couple of things.

Why SharperIron is not a place for “outing” people

1. No website can be about everything.

Though SI has “scooped” a story a few times in it’s six-plus years, that sort of thing has been more the exception than the rule. In almost every case, if something has turned out to be “big news” after it hit SI, it would have been big news anyway, because we learned of it through some published news outlet. So making news—especially about individuals—has not been “our thing.”

The site began with the publication of results of a survey of young fundamentalists. People wanted to talk about the issues on the minds of these men and women, the related theology, the history and direction of the fundamentalist movement, etc.

In short, the site began as a place to talk about ideas. Talk about individuals has had a role, as it often must in talking about ideas, but it wasn’t what we set out to do in the beginning and isn’t what we’re interested in doing now.

No website can be about everything, and each is free to decide what it wants to be about. We don’t want to be about outing leaders.

2. SI has no news division.

SharperIron is almost never in a position to do the kind of fact checking that a reputable investigative reporting site has to do. We have no full time staff at all, much less a professional reporting staff. Still, it might be helpful to compare us to a gigantic media conglomerate for moment. Take CBS. There’s CBS and then there’s CBS News. SharperIron is SI, and there is no SI News.

There’s a reason they do that. CBS News exists for the purpose of digging up info, sorting out conflicting claims and reporting. It’s operated by people who know more than “the TV business.” They have to know “the news business.”

We don’t have people like that.

Now if somebody with the skills and money wants to talk about launching that, we could definitely have a conversation or two. But we are not interested in publishing rumors about people. And if we cannot verify information or take it on faith in an institution that exists for that purpose (i.e., a news-gathering institution), it doesn’t matter how serious the charge is, how powerful the leader is or how “IFB” (Independent Fundamental Baptist, for those just tuning in) the leader or ministry is. The information is still rumor from our point of view.

Not only is SI free of any obligation to publish that sort of info. It’s got a Christian duty not to publish it.

You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. (ESV, Lev.19:16)

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices (Col. 3:9)

For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit” (1 Pet. 3:10)

3. People don’t need that from us.

In the history of the world, it’s never been easier to publish information—widely and rapidly—exposing hidden evil, unraveling conspiracies, holding leaders accountable and bringing powerful thugs to justice.

If SharperIron is silent about one issue or another, the overall sound level of the published word is not affected in the least. Our saying “don’t post that here” stops no one from posting it somewhere else or calling a local newspaper or TV station (or “20/20”).

As far as Internet options go, lots of what we’d rather not host here would be more than welcome in other forums. If you’re seriously looking for options, we’d be happy to point you in the right direction. The site contact form is the easiest way to reach us.

4. Where the power is.

If SharperIron has any power at all, it lies in our being able post thought-provoking articles about the principles and values that shape the choices our readers make, in posting news of particular interest to you, and in providing a place where you can discuss practical, theoretical, spiritual or just experiential concerns.

Nobody ever asks us whom they should invite to speak at conferences or church events. Nobody consults us in deciding how much to pay their ministry leaders, or how to handle their organizational conflicts or what policies they should adopt. People don’t seek our permission when they’re hiring pastors or professors or presidents or paper shufflers. They don’t ask us whom they should fire.

In short, we don’t have any organizational or institutional power in fundamentalism (or anywhere else). In reality that sort of power is so distributed now that no individual or ministry has enough of it to do the kinds of things some people seem to think SharperIron should do. But we have pretty much zero power of that kind.

What you can do

In light of these four reasons (and probably others), if your desire is to expose the wrongdoing of some leader or ministry, don’t plan to post it here. Instead, here’s what you can do:

1. If a crime is involved, take the matter to the authorities. God “has people” for that kind of work (Rom. 13:1-5).

2. If an ethics violation (but not a crime) is involved, seek resolution within the organization where the wrongdoing has occurred.

3. If that’s impossible, get your facts together—including information about how they can be verified by third parties—and write a well documented exposé. We don’t promise to publish anything before we’ve seen it, but we’ll definitely look at it.

4. If a matter has already been reported in news outlets (which have, presumably done fact checking homework) you can send us a Filings tip or start a forum thread (in compliance with the Comment Policy).

5. If SI or some other site doesn’t want to publish, there’s always Facebook or Youtube—or you can start your own blog. In some cases, even though we may not want to run the story here, if the facts look solid, we may link to you and help in that way. We do have people who know how to start blogs. You might be surprised how easy it is.

What’s a “coverup”?

One more thing: “coverup” has recently become a popular term in some corners of the ‘Net in reference to “IFB.” Some have argued that if SI is not aggressive in unearthing information about this or that, it is participating in a coverup. But for a “coverup” to occur, three conditions must be met.

1. You have information about the matter.
2. You have a responsibiity to disclose the information to a third party (due to law, ethical principle or both). The “third party” may be an authority figure, law enforcement officials, or possibly the general public.
3. You act to keep that information from getting to that third party (by lying, hiding the information, remaining silent, etc.).

It isn’t reasonable to define a coverup as “failure to do detective work and obtain information that a third party thinks you should give them.”

When it comes to handling sensitive information, our aim at SharperIron is to be biblically responsible both in the revealing of information and in the concealing of it.

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a thing covered. (Prov. 11:13)

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets; therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. (Prov. 20:19)

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ (Eph. 4:15)

- Aaron, Jim, Susan, Jay, Dave and some (but not all…yet!) other SI volunteers