Facing Up to Differences

Fred Harburg

The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It, by Os Guinness (HarperOne, 2008), cloth, 224 pages, $23.95.

Os Guinness opens his richly packed book, The Case for Civility, with the bleak assessment that “It would be a safe but sad bet that someone, somewhere in the world, is killing someone else at this very moment in the name of religion or ideology.”

In 1949, as the 7-year-old son of an Irish missionary in Nanking, China, Os received his first, and life-changing, lesson on the politics of “civility”—or the lack thereof—when his family was caught up in the Maoist Revolution. (Although Os was spirited out of the country by fellow missionaries, his parents were not allowed to flee until three years later.) In this experience he learned what it means to be “different” in a very personal way. Building on this experience, he writes, “How we live with our deepest differences is a question that lives at the heart of American freedom, and soon it may be a matter of survival for the planet” (19).

Os writes this book as a Christian, but he is not primarily writing to Christians.” (22) In fact, he tackles such frighteningly divisive subjects as AIDS, “gay” marriage, and “faith-based initiatives” as subjects which all Americans must face while considering the implications of each topic in the light of rights, responsibilities, and respect implicit in religious liberty. He comments, “Common sense, not to speak of history and a sense of humor, could save America from much of the absurdity of its current rhetoric.” (91)

Lest you think Os is too avuncular to reproach “the brethren,” listen to him rail (briefly, if hotly): “I am appalled by the way the Religious Right attacks its fellow believers and demonizes its enemies.” (92) He even includes a little barb against the much-vaunted “Left Behind” series, which he calls “a craze which has intoxicated and diverted so many fundamentalists . . . ” (96)

Turning from differences to that which unifies all humans, Os makes the complementary point: “We can talk as long as we like, and be nice to each other as we can be, but we shall never find a common core of truth on which all good humans agree.” (147) He continues, “What divides us will always be as deep as, if not deeper than, what unites us” (148). Then he addresses religious convictions asserting, “At the level of faiths, our differences will always be deep, irreducible, and incompatible.” (149)

At this point you may be asking, what then is the point of a book that argues for civility, if there is nothing in our differing faiths that serves as a common core of truth upon which we can all agree? Guinness explains, “The better approach is to pursue civility not through searching for rational consensus or a mythical common core, but through setting up a mutually agreed-upon framework, or covenant, or charter, within which important differences can be negotiated and settled peacefully.” (149) In short, “Christians must choose to follow Jesus rather than the way of Constantine.” (162) Why? Because “. . . force of arms cannot be the normal language for conversation among the peoples of the world . . . Civility is a key, not only to civil society, but to civilization itself.” (163)

The Case for Civility is yet another strong contribution from one of the great thinkers of our time. It deserves a thoughtful reading from all who are concerned about how we might steer the sled upon which our world is speeding as it accelerates down a frightening slope. 

Fred Harburg is a management consultant and a Senior Fellow of The Trinity Forum.

Reviews, Business, Meaning and Calling, Mon 14 Jul 2008