Whose Blood Is on Your Hands?

“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination to him… hands that shed innocent blood.” (Proverbs 6: 16,17c).
We are all familiar with the commandment “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13) and would readily agree that it is wrong to shed innocent blood. Why is it then that no one gives a second thought to slandering an innocent man’s reputation or assassinating his character? Isn’t the principle the same? Murder kills the man’s body but slander slays his spirit. How much blood do we have on our hands, brothers? “And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:15). I recently heard a pastor friend tell about a Christian radio program in which a listener called in to ask the host his opinion of a certain Christian author. The host said that he didn’t know the writer that well, but from what he knew, the man was a liar. The host stated that the author had claimed in his book that he once worked with the Associated Press; however, the host had done his own research on the author, and he had never worked for the A. P. The author, who had not heard the program, was given a tape by a friend and contacted the host to set the record straight. (Indeed, he had worked for the A.P.). The host would not return his phone calls. Next, the author wrote to the host and included check stubs from the A.P. with no response. The book publisher and a prominent pastor contacted the host, but no retraction was ever made. The host refused to offer an apology or correct his mistake, and his listeners were left to believe that the author was a liar. The host shed innocent blood by making a judgment that he should not have made. Whose blood do we have on our hands?