A call for civility in the Georgia House today

There is little civility in modern politics. To that end, here are the comments delivered today to the Georgia House by Dr. David B. Jones, senior pastor of Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church. He was asked to give the morning devotional.

I thought we could all use a reminder of the case for civility, in our daily lives and on this blog. Enjoy

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for your kind invitation to be here. And I want to thank my friend and parishioner, Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, for her generous introduction.

While I’m grateful for this opportunity, I should tell you that delivering a religious message in a setting like this without stepping on somebody’s toes is a real challenge. For that matter, it can be a real challenge in one’s own congregation. We Methodists still tell the story of a pastor who was assigned to a new congregation back in the 1930s. In his prayer the first Sunday at his new church he got around to the political situation and prayed, “Lord, we ask you to bless President Roosevelt.”

Suddenly he remembered he was in staunch Republican territory and realized he’d just put his foot it in with his new congregation. So he quickly backed up and said, :Lord, I meant Teddy, not Franklin.” His quick thinking got him out of a jam. But we all know how ugly it’s gotten to be out there since then.

Back in October of 2005 the Associated Press posed this question in a national survey: “Compared with 20 or 30 years ago, are your neighbors
more rude?” It will come as no surprise to you that 7 out of 10 respondents answered “Yes.” That was 5 years ago. I hate to think what the response would be now.

Whether we’re talking about television, the Internet, public meetings, religious congregations, or the halls of government, it’s become commonplace for people to shout at each other and circulate mean-spirited e-mails. A colleague even tells of a sign on a gate he passes each day as he drives out of his neighborhood. The sign reads, “Forget the dog: Beware of owner. Keep out!”

Things recently got so bad in New Orleans that a group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clergy got together and decided to send their congregations a message: “Get ahold of yourself,” they said.

Bruce Nolan reported the story in the Religious News Service. He says the clergy drafted and began circulating what they call a “Faith Statement on Public Discourse” that urges members of their congregations and the public in general to be civil toward those with whom they disagree. By the way, the clergy also sent copies to their local, state, and federal politicians, too.

The statement is founded on a premise that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all share: namely, that “since we regard all human beings as God’s children . . .we regard an offense against our neighbor as an offense to God. . . .Violence begets violence,” the statement says, “in speech and in action.”

So the clergy of New Orleans are calling on people to show respect for those with whom they disagree, to debate the issues instead of demonizing their opponents, and to stop circulating e-mails that are designed to humiliate individuals or groups.

You know what I think? I think we may be reaching the saturation point with incivility. I think we may be ready to say, “Enough of this!” With the exception of a few wingnuts out there, people everywhere are showing signs that they’re hungry for the return of civility and respect.

Along those lines, I commend your Speaker for the tone he has set since taking office, and for his determination that this House serve as a model of decency and decorum even in the midst of understandable disagreements over important issues.

Speaking of which, the last time each of you heard from me was when I wrote you on behalf of 2,000 delegates representing 350,000 United Methodists in 930 churches in the North Georgia Conference. We’d just voted to oppose legislation that would allow anyone other than law enforcement officers to carry concealed weapons in houses of worship. We had a lively debate about it. It was all pretty civil, by Methodist standards. But in the end, it wasn’t even close – the vote, I mean. In case you forgot.

But back to the matter at hand. If I seem to have a sense of urgency about this, it’s because I do. So much so that I’m ready to start my own movement with its own motto: “Get ahold of yourself, and get along with each other.” If I had a religious text for this movement, it would come from the Hebrew Bible, where the prophet Amos says, “How can two walk together, except they be agreed?” A more modern and accurate translation says, “How can two get along unless they make an appointment?”

Along those lines I have two quick suggestions. The first has to do with agreement: In whatever arena we find ourselves, let’s focus on using our common sense to seek common ground for the common good. People are ready for those of us who lead them to cooperate in order to get done what needs to be done.

My second suggestion has to do with appointments: Let’s make it a point to spend some time with persons we don’t agree with. For instance, what about making it a point, each week the House is in session, to have breakfast or lunch or coffee with someone you don’t know well from the other party, just to get to know them better?

Who knows, you might like them. It might even lead to something like this. The dean of American political commentators, David Broder, wrote a column a few years ago about what happened while President Reagan was recovering in the hospital after the unsuccessful assassination attempt in 1981.

The day after the shooting, James Baker, the White House Chief of Staff, called Max Friedersdorf, who was Reagan’s congressional liaison, and said, “Get over to the hospital and stay there until I tell you to leave. If any congressmen or senators come around, make sure the Secret Service doesn’t let anybody in.”

Friedersdorf said he stayed on duty for the next three or four days. Then, Baker sent word that the President had recovered enough to start seeing people. The first person to be admitted, Friedersdorf said, was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill.

When the Massachusetts Democrat arrived to see the Republican President, Friedersdorf moved to a corner of the suite where he was out of the way. Later he told Broder what happened:

“Tip got down on his knees next to the bed and said a prayer for the President, and he held his hand, and kissed him on the cheek. And then they said the 23rd Psalm together. The Speaker stayed there quite a while. They never talked too much. I just heard him say the prayer and the psalm, and then I heard him say, ‘God bless you, Mr. President. We’re all praying for you.’”

“The Speaker was crying. The President was obviously still a little sedated. But he knew it was the Speaker because he said, ‘I appreciate your coming down, Tip.’ Tip sat there by the bed and held his hand for a long time.”

Broder asked Friedersdorf how it happened that Reagan’s first visitor was the leading Democrat on Capitol Hill. “Well,” he said, “the fact that Tip was a Democrat didn’t bother anybody. We didn’t even think about it. Tip had been calling constantly to see how the President was doing. There was a bond there.”

When Broder asked Friedersdorf that day in 2006 if he could imagine that sort of relationship flourishing between a President and a top congressman from the other party, Friedersdorf said, “Absolutely not.”

I think he was right then. I think he would probably be right now. I think he doesn’t have to be right forever. And I think the power to change that in this country is partly in your hands.

In his invitation, Mr. Ralston said I was to share “brief inspirational remarks and prayer.” So with a smile on my face and real hope in my heart, I leave you with a prayer offered by Lyman Beecher, a prominent theologian and reformer in the years leading up to the Civil War, who stood in his pulpit one Sunday and prayed:

“O God, grant that we may not despise our rulers; and grant, O Lord, that they may not act in such a way that we cannot help it.”

God bless you all!