What they say...and what they really mean

Mad magazine, in its never-ending effort to poke fun at hypocrisy, used to publish articles titled "What They Say...and What They Really Mean."

What Rick Warren says:

The idea is really around civility...
Right now civility is a losing battle. It's easy to demonize from a distance. When people sit behind a screen they lose all civility. The anonymity makes people more ad hominem. One of my three life goals is to help restore civility to civilization. I just think the Internet has made us ruder.

What he really means:

Shut up and get with the program!

There's a man named Richard Abanes who acts as an attack dog for Rick Warren, trolling the Internet for negative comments about RW or about Mr. Abanes himself, and attempting to completely shut down sites that he doesn't like. Just ask Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries.

"Civility" is not necessarily a virtue. The Lord Jesus Christ himself probably wouldn't pass Rick Warren's civility test; just read Matthew 23 (the whole chapter); Mark 11:15-17; Luke 11:37-52; and John 2:13-16, 8:39-55.