23 October 2006

And on the topic of the 8th commandment...

...a few days ago an anonymous poster attacked the folks at CPH as being motivated by greed. I deleted the post when it came to my attention, but it had been on for several hours at that point. I should not just have deleted it; I should have defended my friends and colleagues at CPH. Even when I totally disagree with one of their policies (and anyone who reads this blog knows at least ONE policy I disagree with), to attribute the motive of greed is simply wrong. The 8th commandment calls for us to explain our neighbor's actions in the kindest way; and the kindest way in this matter is that the folks at CPH believe that they are following the laws of our land and showing good faith to those who let them use their material by a careful adherence to their copyright policy. I'm all for CPH revisiting the subject, but these folks do not deserve to be termed "greedy." So let's call a halt to assigning the worst motives and instead begin to practice the discipline of the mouth (and hand): "Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord, and guard the door of my lips!"

4 comments:

DebD said...

I don't know if it was wrong to delete or not. But I do know that several bloggers delete (or refuse) all anonymous comments. Those who are unwilling to give their name rarely have something positive to add to the conversation anyways.

Deb

William Weedon said...

I don't mind anon comments, but I do mind anon attacks on others. I think there's a difference. But I confess that I do very much appreciate it when folks sign their names and especially when they have blogs - fun to go and check out what they write about too. I confess to being totally addicted to reading blogs!

Anonymous said...

thank you for feeding my addiction. I cannot reciprocate with my own blog for you to read because I am too busy reading (and sometimes posting to) yours and petersen's and juhl's and stiegemeyer's and my sister's http://deac.lightandshadows.net/, and, and... so I don't have time to write my own
pax

cheryl said...

It's a real hairy issue. On the one hand, God commands us to obey our laws, and as you pointed out it's merely showing good faith to respect whatever copyright laws are in place. But on the other hand, to even put copyright on anything pertaining to church material, I can't help but feel is contrary to the Gospel. I can understand copyright to the extent that people would like to keep tabs on where something is being used. I mean we don't want the JW's using "Thy Strong Word" for example. But beyond that, I'm extremely uncomfortable with it. It in effect says, "Mine...Mine...Mine..." when these hymns, prayers, ect. are "God's...God's...God's", and should be distributed freely.

That's my two-cents anyways.