Civility

I’ve been trying hard to ignore the whole media-creating a story and then reporting on a story nonsense in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy that occurred over the weekend in Arizona but thanks to opinionated partisan friends on Facebook it’s been impossible to ignore. I don’t have any commentary to add, but I did like this quote from James Calvin Davis, author of a book entitled In Defense of Civility.

“The tragedy in Arizona this weekend signals how desperately Americans need to commit to restoring some sanity and civility to our public discourse. It is inaccurate and offensive to attribute the actions of Jared Lee Loughner directly to the rhetoric of a specific political party. But it seems undeniable to me that the general viciousness, violent innuendos, and mutual loathing taken for granted in our political culture right now set the scene for this kind of act. Political violence is a powder keg that will keep going off until we figure out a different way of talking about our deepest disagreements. Americans need to learn how to disagree civilly and fruitfully, and now is the time for religious Americans to step in and lead the way.”