Ben Franklin's civility model: 1-12-15
January 12, 2015
Over the years, people of faith -- though obviously not enough of them -- have stood for civility in public discourse. But that is precisely what is so clearly lacking today, as talk show hosts outshout guests and as flamers and trolls clog Internet comment sites with industrial-strength personal attacks.
It's disgusting. And it's one reason I shut off comments here on the blog a couple of years ago. It turned out that I had created one more platform for uncivil discouse in this country, and I didn't want to be responsible for that. I should have cut off comments sooner than I did, in retrospect (though readers can always e-mail comments to me; my e-mail address is on the right side of this page).
And the lack of civility in the culture today is the reason for such books as:
* The Case for Civility, by Christian author Os Guinness.
* You Don't Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right, by Rabbi Brad Hirschfield.
* In Defense of Civility: How Religion Can Unite America on Seven Moral Issues that Divide Us, by James Calvin Davis.
* Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World, by Richard J. Mouw, former president of Fuller Theological Seminary.
But what if in this time of fading religious influence, we had a more secular source to inspire us toward civility?
We do. I've found him. He's Benjamin Franklin.
In Walter Isaacson's wonderful biography, Ben Franklin: An American Life, which I'm reading, the author recounts how in Franklin's early days in Philadelphia, he created something of a debating and discussion society, known as the Junto, in which Franklin "began to work on his use of silence and gentle dialogue."
One way he did that, Isaacson writes, "was to pursue topics through soft, Socratic queries. That became the preferred style for Junto meetings. Discussions were to be conducted 'without fondness for dispute or desire of victory.' Franklin taught his friends to push their ideas through suggestions and questions, and to use (or at least feign) naive curiosity to avoid contradicting people in a manner that could give offense. . .It was a style he would urge on the Constitutional Convention sixty years later."
Franklin, of course, was right to encourage such respectful conversation. My guess is that if he were a guest today on the Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly show, he would be shouted down, in effect, with what Franklin once called "talking overmuch. . .which never fails to excite resentment."
I wouldn't want to subject old Ben to that, but I would like for some of today's uncivil yakkers to learn from him.
(The photo here today is one I took in Franklin's "City of Brotherly Love" a few years ago -- and although civil discourse does not require love, it certainly couldn't hurt.)
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DISHONORING ISLAM
I was moved by words said by the brother of the police officer (a Muslim) slain in the Charlie Hebdo massacre: “My brother was Muslim and he was killed by two terrorists, by two false Muslims.” Terrorists who claim to act in the name of Islam, by their actions, repudiate the religion.
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THE BOOK CORNER
Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good, by N.T. Wright. It having been several weeks since the former bishop of Durham in the Church of England, Tom Wright, came out with a new book, his many fans were becoming a bit anxious. But not to worry. Here's his latest work of Christian apologetics and explanatory theology. On the whole, it's quite good. He urges readers to return to the core meaning of the term "gospel," which means good news, and to think about the fact that Christianity's offering to the world is this news, not so much a new set of doctrines or advice about how to live a better life. Rather, Wright emphasizes, the news is that Jesus has been raised from the dead, that God has defeated death and, in the end, that changes everything. Wright's talent is to get to the central points of the faith and help people see them again, see them in new ways. He reminds us, for instance, that in Christ, the all-powerful creator of the universe came to humanity in weakness. And that reveals something crucial about a God who would, in fact, die for us to rescue us. Tom Wright is squarely in the center of traditional Christianity, unlike popular authors and scholars like John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. And he holds his ground there because he's insightful enough to show us old truths in new ways.
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P.S.: So sorry to learn of the death Sunday of Fuzzy Thompson, who made Kansas City a better place in which to live. He pushed us and pushed us to do the right things.
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