WASHINGTON (RNS) — Sitting under the imposing columns of Washington National Cathedral, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox turned to longtime political strategist Donna Brazile and shared his change of heart about her.
“I grew up as a Republican; I grew up watching you on TV, as a Democrat, and there were so many times that I thought: I would love to just argue with her,” he said during a Wednesday (Feb. 21) forum on civility attended by more than 750 people.
“And I finally get up here on stage and I finally get to meet you and I just — I love you and I’m so impressed by you.”
The two were among the speakers at a forum at the cathedral called “With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All: Reclaiming Civility in American Politics.” The event, timed to the start of an already contentious election season, was held in partnership with Wesley Theological Seminary, along with the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University and Deseret Magazine, two institutions affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“As we head deeper into this election year, I can think of few topics more important than
civility and the need for civil discourse in order for our democracy to thrive,” cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith said as the forum began.
He said the cathedral’s programming focus this year on promoting humility, compassion, love and forgiveness should “remind people that even our worst enemies, political or otherwise, are the beloved children of God and should be treated as such.”
Panelists participate in the “With Malice Toward None, With Charity for All: Reclaiming Civility in American Politics” program at the Washington National Cathedral, Feb. 21, 2024. (Video screen grab)
She said there need to be alternatives to the “idols” of hate that can lead to clicks and followers on social media.
“There’s a place and a way of living that does not require you to debase yourself or your neighbor. These institutions are important, vitally important, because they give us hope.”
In a later discussion, between Joshua DuBois, a Pentecostal minister who became executive director of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during Barack Obama’s presidency, and Peter Wehner, a Trinity Forum fellow and former speechwriter for three Republican administrations, the two agreed that civility does not mean people should keep silent so as not to offend their listeners.
“We’ve got to find that sweet spot where you can still speak lovingly but prophetically when you see something that you just know in your gut is wrong,” said DuBois of preachers and other people of faith, citing the example of King’s critique of white moderates in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”
“I think we need an active, a lived civility that is not quiet, that doesn’t take a back seat but leans into the healing of this country.”
Wehner, a Protestant who identifies as a former evangelical and a “politically homeless” conservative, added that civility includes listening and refusing to speak in dehumanizing ways.
“I think that the confusion that there is with civility is that it is synonymous with lack of conviction, that it’s devoid of principles and it’s always backing down — I really don’t think that that is what civility means,” he said. “But you can’t give up on justice at the altar of civility and you certainly can’t, as a person of religious faith, do that.”
On Friday, during the National Governors Association’s winter meeting in Washington, Cox is set to continue his efforts toward civility.
He is scheduled to host a discussion with U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Amy Coney Barrett on “How to Disagree Agreeably.”
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Source : ReligionNews