Talking religion and politics with civility: 4-25-16

In this midst of this ridiculously bitter and disappointing presidential race, five people who don't see eye-to-eye on everything came together a few nights ago to speak with civility to one another about religion and politics.

It was an encouraging display that offered hope for people who worry that Americans have become hopelessly divided and that both religion and politics are to blame.

The event, held at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (COR) in Leawood, Kan., was presented by the American Public Square and moderated by the Square's founder, Allan Katz.

The participants were the Rev. Adam Hamilton, COR's founder and senior pastor; Kansas state Sen. Steve Fitzgerald, a Republican who represents Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties; the Rev. Wallace Hartsfield II, pastor of Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church and a professor at Central Baptist Theological Seminary; the Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of Faith in Public Life, and the Rev. Jim West, lead pastor of Colonial Presbyterian Church, which is part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church denomination.

Did they agree on everything?

Oh, my, no. But they acknowledged common ground when they found it and they sought (and offered) deeper explanations about matters about which they seemed to occupy separate ground.

A few highlights:

Hamilton: "Seventy-five percent of Americans claim to be Christian. If that 75 percent actually lived out the gospel of love that Jesus taught, we could have a great discussion about issues."

Exactly. But we flawed Christians fail to live out that gospel a lot of the time so we fight each other over politics often in unfair, divisive ways.

Butler: "Unfortunately, in this day and age, we've sometimes forgotten some of the rules of civility."

Our common political discourse today is proof of that assertion.

Fitzgerald: "We (Americans) have an amazing amount of freedom. It's the first time in history that religious freedom is a right, guaranteed. (But) there can be no law other than the law of God."

Yes, Americans have that freedom, even the ones who make lack of religious freedom an issue where it isn't much of one. As for his second statement, let's move on to:

Hartsfield: (Responding to Fitzgerald's idea about the law of God): "The issue here. . .is who has the right or the power to discern what God's law is. I would think that politics, working in an ideal way, should provide a table at which all the voices are represented. Religion becomes one of the voices. . .The goal of sitting at the political table is trying to discern the common good."

Yes, when Fitzgerald mentioned God's law, he failed to say whose interpretation of that law gets privileged. In a properly operating American constitutional system, no one's interpretation automatically goes to the head of the class.

West: "The fundamental reality. . .is that we are all religious people."

Right. Even people who declare themselves atheist or agnostic or spiritual but not religious are making theological decisions.

I found myself more in agreement with Hamilton, Butler and Hartsfield than with West or Fitzgerald, especially on the way in which religion should affect politics.

Hartsfield put it this way: "Politics. . .(should) work to check the voice of religion if it dehumanizes."

One of the ways I would argue that some branches of religion currently are working to dehumanize people is through so-called religious freedom bills that would protect business owners who claim religious reasons for not wanting to provide such basic business services as baking cakes for same-sex marriages. As Hamilton and Hartsfield noted, this protection essentially is no different from protecting restaurants and hotels who didn't want to serve African-Americans before the civil rights movement got public accommodations laws passed.

But whatever the differences over public policies expressed by the panelists, all of them demonstrated what civil discourse looks like. And that is so rare today that I salute them all.

(In the photo here the panelists, left to right, are Hartsfield, Fitzgerald, Katz, Butler, West and Hamilton.)

* * *

THE PEOPLE THE POPE RESCUED

It's pretty humbling and remarkable to read about some of the Syrian refugees whom Pope Francis brought from Greece to Rome with him recently. In this Los Angeles Times piece, for example, one refugee "recalls a rebellious neighbor's decapitated head hanging from a balcony for three days," but now says, "I will stay here in Italy and live like an Italian," adding with a laugh, "I am loving this lasagna."