The Ungodliness of Gossip

Woodcut from Der Ritter von Thurn, German, 1498

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

― Exodus 20:16

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

― James 1:26

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
― Ephesians 4:29

Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.

― Socrates

Economic Times

It is far too easy to contribute to conspiracies that rip into the souls of others, that tear at people's reputations by myth-making, by gossiping and rumor-mongering.

This Lent, perhaps one might quit the chorus of rumormongers and stand among the humble, the poor in spirit. To that end, a few samples of right counsel have been included below to shake loose rotten fruit hanging from tired limbs.

Thanks to Msgr W for sourcing some thought provoking text that follows.

Catholic Register Staff

The Book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about the harm done by talking about other people.

• Proverbs 2:12 gossip is a part of the “way of evil” we should keep away from: “It (every good path) will save you from the way of evil, from those who speak perversely.”
• False witness is presented as the sort of inevitable stock-in-trade of gossipers in Proverbs 21:28: “A false witness will perish, but a good listener will testify successfully.”
• Advice from Jesus Son of Sirach is to keep one’s mouth shut. “A bad name incurs shame and reproach; so it is with the double-tongued sinner” (Sirach 6:1).

The early Church was not immune to gossip, and one can sense how the Apostle James was wearied by this constant failing.

• Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to save and to destroy. So who, then, are you to judge your neighbour? (James 4:11-12).

Stories and whispers about Jesus follow Him throughout the Gospels. At one point Jesus decides to confront the rumours directly:

• For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‛He has a demon,’ Jesus tells the crowd. The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‛Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children (Luke 7:33-35).

Herod’s fear of Jesus seems to be fed by palace gossip in Luke 9:7-9. When Jesus condemns the Pharisees for hypocrisy, He implies that the political party of religious leaders and legal scholars has been planting malicious stories about Him:

• When the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, He began to speak first to His disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops" (Luke 12:1-3).

Jesus’ successive trials before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod fail in the legal sense because they were based on gossip about Him — that is a patchwork of accusations created with the intention of isolating Jesus and making Him a scapegoat — rather than evidence. In the end, Pilate gives the gossipers campaigning against Jesus what they want rather than rendering a judgment on Jesus for anything He had done (Luke 23:24).

Whoever gossips to you will gossip about you.
― Spanish Proverb

Fr. Longenecker

Gossip destroys people’s reputations. It destroys people’s marriages. It undermines the Lord’s work. It spreads hate and fear. Gossip is like a hideous cancer. You cut it out in one place and it comes up in another.

So here are some ways to stop gossip: 

• Believe nobody and believe everybody. In other words, believe what the person has told you. They really do think what they have said is true and from their perspective it is true. However, remember there is always, always, always another side to the story. Therefore do not believe them. Stop and bite your tongue. 
• Gather all the facts. Don’t take anybody’s word for it. Find out what really happened from as many people as possible. 
• Go to the source. For goodness’ sake, have the courage and grace and common sense to go to the source. If Mildred gossips about George, go straight to George to find out the facts. 
• Give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Believe the best, not the worst. If you hear something bad about someone, imagine why they did that thing (if they really did) and what their good motivations might be. 
• Shut up. You don’t have to talk and tell everybody everything. Even a fool is accounted wise if he keeps his mouth shut. Talk half as much as you listen. 
• Challenge the gossip. Don’t believe it—and say sweetly to the person, “Do you really know if this is true?” 
• Challenge the gossip harshly: “What you’re telling me is filthy, destructive gossip! I refuse to believe it and I think you should keep your mouth shut!” (P.S. They won’t like that.) 
• Fix your eyes on the truth. Why waste your time in silly, useless gossip? 
• Focus on others. Do you know why you like gossip? Because it makes you feel superior. You gossip negatively about others because you think you’re better than them. So you would poison and destroy their lives to make yourself feel good for a moment. Yuck. 
• Pray for the persons involved. Just offer up an “arrow prayer”: Lord Have Mercy.

Pope Francis

"If we do not have peace in our heart, how do we think there will be peace in the world?" (Pope Francis) asked. "If there is war in my heart," he said, "there will be war in my family, there will be war in my neighborhood and there will be war at my workplace." Jealousy, envy, gossip and speaking badly about others create "war" between people and "destroy," he said.