By Mackenzie Grizzard | Staff Writer
Baylor hosted a virtual civil discourse panel with several faculty members on Thursday dedicated to finding a middle ground in the divisiveness of American politics and Christianity.
In a particularly polarizing election season, the panelists urged Christians to step back from combative attitudes when it comes to politics and start listening to other perspectives.
Dr. Leslie Hahner, a professor in the communications department, was on the panel and said that love heals contention brought by politics.
“To love those who disagree with us, even those who hate us, is an incredibly powerful commandment,”Hahner said, “and that commandment, as we enact it, allows us a way to heal our broken political hostilities.”
Hahner highlighted the “nefarious” ways politics has infected the body of American democracy and the dangers of misinformation.
“There are millions of people who would love to use our democracy and use our patterns of civil discourse to turn us even more vitriolic and even more polarized,” Hahner said.
Hanher emphasized the importance of having positive, interpersonal discussions that reflect “Christian values.”
“If we abdicate that responsibility, then we are allowing those people with nefarious goals to pursue whatever it is they would like to pursue,” Hanher said.
Christians have an undeniable responsibility in shaping democracy they want, according to Dr. Elise Edwards, associate professor in Baylor’s Department of Religion.
“We have a responsibility to participate in the ongoing work of strengthening democracy, making sure others voices are heard and that every voice is counted in a way that is aligned with the dignity that we have within our Christian tradition,” Edwards said. “Our public discourse only becomes what we make of it.”
Edwards argued that if one wants to see a different world without the divisiveness of politics, one must create it for oneself. Despite this, she warned of the dangers of painting the colors of politics and religion too closely together.
“I am very much a defender of the separation of church and state in some regards,” Edwards said. “Politics should not be used as an instrument of the church, and the church should not be used as an instrument of political power.”
Passion-centered politics is all too common during election season, particularly when it boils down to red vs. blue. Dr. Matthew Anderson, assistant professor in Baylor’s Honors Program, recognizes this integral part of democracy.
“Democratic institutions have to inflame people’s passions in order to animate us to volunteer and get our neighbor and to go vote,” Anderson said. “Democracies thrive [and] they need turnout, [which] intensifies the passions around things.”
These passions can play an unwitting role in how political discussions are engaged in and why they are so often incredibly contentious.
“If you’re dealing with folks who you don’t have an immediate common ground with, it’s usually best to establish that common ground and then move onto more difficult or contentious issues,” Hahner said. “That relational way of interacting gives us a stronger sense of how we can connect to one another across differences and not to be combative in those moments.”
In these moments of contention, the panelists said Christian love is the cure.
“In a Christian context, love is the greatest virtue and one of the hardest,” Hahner said. “It is the antidote to the division in politics that we see.”
Hahner also warned lecture attendees of the people behind the curtain using divisiveness as a means to spread agendas.
“The division we’re facing isn’t unintentional,” Hahner said. “It benefits political parties and it benefits political leaders who use our divisiveness [and] who use our divisions to build their own power.”
Dr. Rebecca McCumbers Flavin, senior lecturer in Baylor’s political science department, suggested that all Christians begin with practicing humility, especially when it comes to political discussions.
“[It’s important to have] the intellectual humility to recognize the position you disagree with isn’t a dumb one and that there can be provocative, intelligent arguments that you’re not going to agree with,” McCumbers Flavin said. “You can try to listen to them and try to understand them, even as you maintain your own personal convictions and values.”
