Lengthy rambling “Can’t we all just get along” diatribe follows. Feel free to skip to the next post.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Anil Dash<\/a> points to an interesting article about business differences in the internal cultures of the US, including everyone’s favorite group, Red States vs Blue States<\/a>.<\/p>\n That brought to mind the laity meeting I went to Tuesday night to discuss the Bishop’s Task Force Report. For those just tuning in, in response to the profound divisiveness in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado over issues of same-sex relationships (more on that in a moment), the bishop organized a task force to recommend how we can live together (and to what extent) — to define the common ground.<\/p>\n While some folks were hoping for a definitive statement of “X is allowed,” or “Scripture says Y,” what the task force came up with were a set of principles as to how we, as a diocese, can work on these issues with mutual respect, “passionate patience,” and, in short, behave more like Christians than Partisan Political Attack Dogs in an Election Year when it comes to these things. <\/p>\n Two of the reps from the task force were there, a priest who was the head of the task force (a self-described conservative who disagrees strongly with the bishop’s theological stance on same sex relationships), and one of the two lay people on the task force (a gay man who’s served as vice-chancellor to the bishop and who is an avowed liberal on these matters).<\/p>\n Something they said sort of crystallized some of the Red\/Blue vitriol I’ve been seeing for a while. One of the most straightforward, yet difficult, things that the task force decided to do, in their very first meeting, was to recognize that they were all in the room (I paraphrase, because I can’t recall the exact words) prayerful people of good will who were seeking to be good Christians.<\/em> That such a thing had to be said, let alone the act of will it took to accept it, was a sign of what the task force saw as the deep divisions of mistrust within the diocese, in this as well as many other matters. Such an act of will, though, allowed recognition that it is possible for folks to disagree on profound and important pieces of theology without ascribing sinister motives, hidden agendas, or, frankly, evil intent — something that has seemed to characterize too much rhetoric (from both sides) in the current brouhaha in the diocese.<\/p>\n I think something similar has happened within the political culture of the US. There has always been a certain level of dislike, even mistrust, of political leaders and ideologues. This got a huge boost in the Watergate era, and that generational event has finally moved into the mainstream.<\/p>\n But beyond that, we seem to have moved in our civil debate over the direction America should go into not just disagreement, but active mistrust of others. Whether it’s characterizing, not just candidates, but their supporters as cheese-eating surrender-monkeys<\/em> or backwoods wingnut theocrats<\/em> or unwashed commie hippies<\/em> or neocon frat goons <\/em>or just plain old idiots <\/em>— well, that’s always been a time-honored characterization of folks who vote differently from you. But it goes beyond simply thinking others are wrong (because you’re, of course, right) but thinking that others are evil, <\/em>that of course they have hidden agendas, that they cannot be trusted, that they are bad Americans<\/em>.<\/p>\n Consider this statement:<\/p>\n I think we are all thoughtful people of good will who are seeking to be good Americans.<\/em><\/p>\n I have friends, close and distant, who hold very different political views from myself. I get around this by avoiding political conversations with them, except in relatively cool, safe places like blogs. But while I think they are wrong on occasion, I can’t imagine thinking them un-American. If they express a political opinion counter to mine, I don’t automatically assume a hidden agenda against me. I think they are thoughtful (as much as most folks are — probably more so, in fact), certainly of good will, and pursuing what they perceive (and which, in most cases, I actually agree) are the highest American ideals. That we disagree (sometimes with a wry “which is the lesser of evils?” shake of the head, sometimes not) on the direction that pursuit should take in our communal American life is both fair and acceptable, but it doesn’t require vilifying them or their motives.<\/p>\n Would that too many folks I hear, or read, on both the Left and Right (or Blue and Red, to get back to the subject line) would do the same. <\/p>\n The next step, going beyond one’s friends and family (where, one hopes, it’s relatively simple to overlook such things) is to extend the same benefit of the doubt — heck, assertion of no doubt — to others. To not assume <\/em>that the idiot you see screaming and capering about on TV at a protest is out to destroy the American dream, is an enemy of the state and people, but to work from the supposition that he, too, is acting out of good will and the pursuit of being a good citizen (even if he’s showing poor judgment in how he does it or in what cause he backs).<\/p>\n To judge people on their actions, <\/em>not on their inferred motives.<\/em><\/p>\n Heck, what if we even extended that courtesy to politicians? Is it really necessary to actively mistrust or demonize Bush or Kerry, or can we extend even them the polite courtesy of treating them as thoughtful people of good will who are seeking to be good Americans? Even if we treat it as no more than a courtesy, it seems to me that of more importance is not whether they are evil or good, but whether, on matters of policy and leadership, they are right <\/em>or wrong. <\/em>Not that good and evil aren’t important, but, being human, they (as with all of us) carry an admixture of the two, and arguing about that seems more problematic than whether their proposals (and track record) matches what we’re looking for or what we think will work best to make the America (and world) we want.<\/p>\n Maybe that’s going too far. Maybe we can’t humanize (as opposed to demonize) politicians (let alone political operatives) that far. But certainly we can do it for those “civilians” around us. They may all be wrong, of course, but that doesn’t make them evil, only, at most, misguided. And it’s a lot easier to live and work with misguided people of good will than conniving idiots who are out to destroy us all.<\/p>\n Just a Thursday morning ramble. We’ll return to our regular trivia in a moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lengthy rambling “Can’t we all just get along” diatribe follows. 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Ron O'Neill to try and determine the \"common ground\" within the diocese on same-sex issues has come up with a suggested compromise,...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6050,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/06\/02\/formal_communic.html","url_meta":{"origin":6312,"position":1},"title":"Formal communications","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 2-Jun-04 9:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"The formal letter from Bishop O'Neill to the clergy of Colorado has been transcribed by someone and put online. 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I wandered into the room about halfway through, to find that there was a resolution proposed that\u00a0said: Resolved: That the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado call upon its parishes and members to encourage constructive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Episcopal Church"","block_context":{"text":"Episcopal Church","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion\/religion-episcopal-church"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episcshield.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6443,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/01\/theological_bit.html","url_meta":{"origin":6312,"position":3},"title":"Theological bits and pieces","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 1-Sep-04 11:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"My impressions and thoughts, on first reading, of the report of Bishop's Task Force. 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