Tag Archives: debate

Prayers and Reflections in a Tumultuous Season, Part I

This moment is about more than electing particular leaders. Underneath the political polarization and the cultural clashes is a spiritual battle raging for the destiny of millions. In these two essays, I want to offer prayers and insights that will help us be good dual citizens of the kingdom of God and the USA (or anywhere we are living). We must begin any reflections with our identity as God’s people who are holy exiles (Jeremiah 29; I Peter 2:9-17). Exile is NOT disengagement, a bunker mentality, or retreat from reality. Exile is engaging incarnationally and understanding all the forces arrayed for and against the purposes of God. Here are some paragraphs and prayers.

We need more thoughtfulness. In our autonomous, subjective world, we too often ditch critical thinking and careful speech, and parrot agitation propaganda rooted in ideological narratives instead of empirical and rational research and reflection. The truth of a matter can be nuanced, but we prefer clicks over conversation, emotion over ethics. We can have convictions with compassion, learn more about many issues, and debate kindly.

“Gracious and loving Lord, hear our cries for help and pleas for mercy. You are near the brokenhearted and attentive to the crushed in spirit. Come with your embrace to all suffering loss today. Bring your healing to the afflicted. Fill hearts with hope in the midst of unexplainable challenges. Use your people to bring help to the hungry, justice to the oppressed, and an invitation to new life when we surrender to you. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.”

If we lament the anger and divisiveness of public conversations, then we must not add fuel to the fire by speaking and writing reactively. Intense, lively debate over issues is vital, but playground name-calling and labeling masses of people diverts focus from serious moral and political reflection. May we find love and unity at The Table. Kyrie Eleison.

Holy Lord, search my heart and scrutinize my thoughts. I welcome your conviction leading to repentance and your compassion empowering empathy. Purify my motivations and transform my affections. May your glory and the good of others animate all I do. Displace envy with encouragement, for your kingdom has room for all to flourish. May unconditional love and uncompromising ethics win the day. Amen.

Holy and loving character will sustain us after the hype and loud noises fade away.

What Lies Beneath, Part Four: Recovering True Toleration and Public Ethics

“You are intolerant!” “Your words are triggering and encourage violence.” “You are killing people with your beliefs!” These are just a few of the phrases used by social media “influencers” to shut down free speech and reasonable debate. The same groups excoriate anyone defending the unborn and the aged, and they scream, “keep your laws off my body” as they desire abortion-on-demand, “gender-affirming care’ for children, and access to locker rooms and prisons for people for the opposite biological sex.

In other settings, we have Islamic radicals calling on democracies to punish any criticisms of their religion, and banning visual art concerning Mohammed. There are many locales in Western Europe and a few new ones in the USA where non-Muslims are unwelcome and subject to harassment.

There are also some fringe alt-right groups that peddle racism, theocracy, and xenophobia. A decade ago, a person said to me at a conference, “America went downhill once Ellis Island let in all those Eastern Europeans.” As I tried to recover from the shock, he doubled down and complained about every significant minority group of the last 200 years. I directly, firmly, and kindly said that this was racist and evil, and the opposite of America’s founding principles. I am still shaken by such blatant group hatreds.

What lies beneath all of these narratives is a historical inversion of the meaning of toleration. For context, let’s consider the historical trajectory of toleration, especially, but not exclusively in the West:

  • By 1700, after centuries of religious and political warfare, some states begin tolerating peaceful, non-conforming groups while still supporting a state religion.
  • By the 1800s, with the influence of the founders and framers of the USA, and some of the aspirations of other European thinkers, freedom of conscience and religion is seen as the first freedom and essential for human flourishing.
  • By the mid-1900s, most Western nations have removed all barriers to peaceful religious exercise and people of all faiths or none shared equal citizenship rights.
  • By 2000, even groups previously marginalized for their racial and sexual identities are now equals de jure (under the law), even while still pursuing de facto access and opportunities in society.

This is progress! Living peaceably with radically different worldviews, political opinions, and moral visions is what true liberty is all about.

Today, we see that extremist voices demand that toleration be redefined as celebration and anything less than agreement with their narratives and visions are reasons for cancellation, derision, and, in some cases, legal actions and physical violence.

We need to define toleration as the maturity to respect and cooperate with people that see the world very differently than we do.

If we get toleration right, public ethics can be approached thoughtfully as we decide the answers to these three questions:

  • What actions and values will we prohibit because they are inherently wrong and/or proven to be deleterious to a safe and sane world? Heretofore, most civilized lands have protected children from a variety of influences (alcohol, tobacco, drugs, exposure to pornography, and much more), that adults can peaceably pursue. We have also declared several actions verboten, rooted in the ethos of almost every civilization: murder, theft, physical violence, etc. The questions before us today are vital: will we protect children from work and sex slavery? Will we continue to demand that some things are only for adults? Can people of conscience together declare that some things are off-limits?
  • What actions and values will we permit in a very diverse society? We already agree that freedom of conscience/religion is the first freedom. Will we continue to protect free speech even when debate opponents are uncomfortable? Will we fearlessly seek the truth of matters or be censured by disinformation panels? Can we live with differences and not coerce celebration? I want everyone to share my Christian faith – voluntarily! And I will defend the right of my neighbors to build peaceably their religious communities, arrange their lives differently, and seek my conversion to their thinking.
  • Finally, what are we supposed to promote as a free and virtuous society? Will we support biological, blended, adoptive, and foster care families as the preeminent educators of children? Will we call on parents to take responsibility for their children and stay engaged financially and personally if possible? Will we foster personal agency and social responsibility, entrepreneurial creativity and the common good? Will we promote true toleration, aiming for hearts of love and respect for all people, while also protecting ourselves from genuine evil?

Friends, becoming thoughtful about these matters is not a luxury for a few. It is a moral necessity for future generations.

Wisdom in Chaotic Times

As we converse, we need to include complexity and nuance as we aim for understanding. I am not qualifying any forms of evil or injustice but aiming for wisdom. There are two (among many others) critical thinking errors that often emerge as we aim for civil debate in the public square: The first is over-generalization, especially about groups of people. The second false combination, where we assume because a person thinks a certain way about one issue they will align on several others in a particular manner.


People vary greatly and do not always fit in tidy political categories. For example, as someone deeply concerned about protecting the vulnerable from conception to coronation, I want to see better gun control laws, more access to medical care and mental health services, and reform in our educational and economic policies so access, equity, and opportunity improve.


Racism in any form is a moral evil, calling for personal repentance and systemic change. Such transformations require humility and listening by those historically in power. And solutions that actually work will not fit neatly into ideological boxes. With the help of many friends and mentors, I am listening to many voices, most of which are unheard in a world of clickbait and “gotcha.” Business leaders and laborers, parents and clergy, academics and authors, social service workers and local public servants are all helping me grow in wisdom. 

As we respond to this moment, one message I am hearing can help. These are not my wisdom or words, but sisters and brothers on the frontlines. Their message to all well-meaning folks: Take time and find out what the people in the communities and neighborhoods desire and need and invite local residents to forge the solutions. Listening to parents and local business owners about education, work, housing, and other issues will yield wisdom. 

Defending the West

I desire that all others enjoy the opportunities, privileges and rights I enjoy. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is not a guarantee of outcomes, but a call for access and justice for all. Life is not a zero-sum game. There is room for all to fulfill their callings and develop their capacities.

Our deeply flawed President is correct when he challenges all lovers of freedom to consider the structures and values that contrast the best of the West with the totalitarian threats of Islamicism and radical global-secularists.

I am not defending the egregious actions and words of our leader(s).

I am asking that all of us look deeply into the first principles of virtue-based liberty and take responsibility for the moral and spiritual condition of America and Western Europe.

From the French Revolution to today, we see the tragic effects of removing reverence for the Almighty and replacing it with elitist scientism and technocracy.

I am NOT aiming to reify a prior age, but crying out for humility, reflection and renewal…and liberation from the anger, fear and hatred that spoils discourse and debate.

 

 

To (Perhaps) Our Next President

Dear Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,
Insults are substitutes for critical thinking and civil debate.

Calling Trump “racist” or “sexist” enables opponents to avoid both his record and serious consideration of their own classism and prejudices (i.e., “guns and religion” generalizations and marginalization)

Merely calling Clinton “crooked” does the same, preventing accountability for serious policy formulation (gender must not be the focus – policies and principles matter!)

Both candidates must offer insights on:
Immigration: can we be hospitable and wise?
Healing racial tensions.
National security and the fight against Islamic terrorism.
Balancing the budget and controlling the federal Leviathan.
Long-term entitlement stewardship.
Global military and political alliances and strategies.
The relationship between the federal government and freedom for persons and states.

Supreme Court nominees…
And there is so much more.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.