Sunday, September 13, 2009

A Plea for Civility in the Public Forum

I have been troubled lately by the responses of many of my conservative brothers and sisters in their efforts to draw attention to prominent and controversial political issues. It all started with a two-hour video of a recent town-hall meeting on the President's health care plans right here in Brevard County, Florida. I was distressed when I saw members of the liberal opposition being shouted down when they attempted to voice their approval of a public option. I then witnessed a woman rudely berate the AARP spokesperson for her failure to ensure that enough microphones were available for all (the woman had apologized for that up front and assured the audience that she had tried to get enough mics but couldn't.
I could go on....
I have witnessed the same scenario from other videos of town meetings across the nation that I've watched. Conservative speaker rises, makes blanket accusations of rising socialism to uproarious applause, then sits down. Another, more liberal member of the audience rises to challenge the statement and is insulted or does not get the chance to speak.
The final straw was the recent well-publicized incident in the halls of Congress where South Carolina Representative Wilson publically accused President Obama of lying.
Can we talk? I praise God that we have a form of government where opposition is seen as healthy and that we are able to express our disappointments in healthy ways. But what I have seen from many Christians is nothing less than a wholesale violation of scripture done in the name of freedom of speech. I also am witnessing a phenomenon that is positively un-American, one which we Christians associate with the worst excesses of the opponents of liberty: gagging those with whom we disagree. And if we can't stop them from speaking, let's just accuse them of lying.
I am appalled.
We have violated Romans 13:7 which commands us to render honor and fear to authority - whether we like them or not. Let's not forget that the Roman Imperator of Paul's day was all but absolute in power.
We have turned our back on I Peter 2:17 which also calls the body of Christ to honor the king and to show respect to authority.
We have forgotten the command that our witness to the world must be accompanied by gentleness and respect (I Peter 3:15).
We have also forgotten that, to paraphrase Augustine, our citizenship is in a heavenly city and that if we become too engrossed in the earthly city we will become disillusioned, for it will never totally accommodate the kingdom of God. We seem to forget that one hallmark of liberal theology that begat the social gospel movement was the belief that we could bring in the kingdom of God if we worked just a little bit harder for social and political change.
Now I'm not fundamentalist in the sense that we should abandon culture and politics and retreat into our holy huddles. On the contrary, as a history professor I am painfully aware of what happened in our culture, and in the political arena when we jumped ship in the latter 19th century.
I don't mind protest. I agree with Jefferson's assessment that a little revolution is healthy. But I don't think he had in mind the lack of civility that seems to be the norm today.
I am re-reading H.W. Brands' majestic biography of Benjamin Franklin and was fascinated by Franklin's assessment of the role of printing in the public form regarding opposing viewpoints:
Printers are educated in the belief that when men differ in opinion both sides ought equally to have the advantage of being heard by the public; and that when truth and error have fair play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter....
I also become concerned when Christians I know seem to know more about the political perspectives of their favorite talk show host and very little about what the Scriptures have to say about government and our responsibilities toward it. We seem to forget that every network is run by sinners. My perspective as a Reformed Christian also teaches me that all our motives and actions are tainted by sin and cannot be completely trusted. Our Founding Fathers recognized this truth or Constitution would look very different.
We have such short memories.... and few of us read anymore. If we did, we'd know how much abuse was heaped upon President Washington when he took a neutral position in the war between France and Britain in the mid-1790s. The insults he endured from those who saw his decision as a betrayal of our former Revolutionary war ally almost convinced him to return home after his first term.
We also need to remember that as much as we love Jefferson, he was touted as being an "anti-Christ" and that the US would become a godless nation if he were to become president. It didn't, of course, but that didn't stop the insults.
Come to think of it, we've never really mastered the art of civility, have we.
It's time for Christians to set the example and stop conforming to the world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It's time to stop setting aside the command of God to pursue our own traditions.
Isn't it time for us to heed Santayana and remember the lessons of history so we won't have to repeat them?