My best personal experience of non-political collaborative activity was when I practices a martial art called aikido in grad school. Going 2-3 times a week to practice a martial art that involves throws and joint locks, you learn to trust people completely. You know who you can trust with your body and you know them well in a specific way, but you don't know their job, their politics, their last name. 6 months after you've come to enjoy getting thrown across a room, then you find out who is gay, who likes the Tea Party, etc.
Great intro. to the "Democracy in Tension Summit." The complex issues around using all of the political tools a democracy has to offer to help create a more just society while honoring the dignity of everyone are well-framed in the Aaron Simmons/Robert Talisse conversation. I look forward to engaging the ideas and the questions raised in the upcoming course. Lots of food for thought.
What a valuable conversation! It sparked me to reflect-even during your discussion—about the theological ramifications of judging others one-dimensionally on their political beliefs. The campground story was a great example and a modern parable of how we shortchange ourselves and others with polarized thinking.
The throw out a half-assed thought in response to Talisse & Simmons, the entire question of what "church" should be regarding political mobilization vs. apolitical community gets ugly as Hell (even if one used better terminology than I just did)
I agree with Dr. Talisse's analysis of the paradox and problem of belief polarization, and the danger that it can cause us to cognitively devolve into Manichean extremists, as it were, who divide the world into two camps, the camp of light populated by people who agree with us, and the camp of darkness populated by people who disagree with our beliefs or values. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar not a phallus, and sometimes someone who strikes us as an authoritarian right-winger and aspirational fascist is in fact an authoritarian and fascist who poses a real threat to democracy, not someone we've unfairly demonized as a fascist. I think that historically there have been political movements and parties that really were camps of darkness, the classic and cliched example being the Nazis; and that today in the United States and various European democracies there are right-wing populists who do very arguably constitute a similar camp of darkness and that it would be a dangerous mistake to fail to acknowledge their threat to democracy out of a desire to be open-minded and rise above belief polarization. We need to be conscious of the risk of succumbing to belief polarization, and make a conscious effort to avoid doing so, but we must also not shy away from denouncing and opposing folks whose beliefs genuinely make them enemies of democracy and a liberal society.
My best personal experience of non-political collaborative activity was when I practices a martial art called aikido in grad school. Going 2-3 times a week to practice a martial art that involves throws and joint locks, you learn to trust people completely. You know who you can trust with your body and you know them well in a specific way, but you don't know their job, their politics, their last name. 6 months after you've come to enjoy getting thrown across a room, then you find out who is gay, who likes the Tea Party, etc.
There does seem to be a value in that.
Great intro. to the "Democracy in Tension Summit." The complex issues around using all of the political tools a democracy has to offer to help create a more just society while honoring the dignity of everyone are well-framed in the Aaron Simmons/Robert Talisse conversation. I look forward to engaging the ideas and the questions raised in the upcoming course. Lots of food for thought.
What a valuable conversation! It sparked me to reflect-even during your discussion—about the theological ramifications of judging others one-dimensionally on their political beliefs. The campground story was a great example and a modern parable of how we shortchange ourselves and others with polarized thinking.
I look forward to the upcoming series.
I need to listen to this at least 2 times.
I'm most of the way through my first listen, and I'm being challenges in good ways, but its also not sitting great.
The throw out a half-assed thought in response to Talisse & Simmons, the entire question of what "church" should be regarding political mobilization vs. apolitical community gets ugly as Hell (even if one used better terminology than I just did)
I agree with Dr. Talisse's analysis of the paradox and problem of belief polarization, and the danger that it can cause us to cognitively devolve into Manichean extremists, as it were, who divide the world into two camps, the camp of light populated by people who agree with us, and the camp of darkness populated by people who disagree with our beliefs or values. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar not a phallus, and sometimes someone who strikes us as an authoritarian right-winger and aspirational fascist is in fact an authoritarian and fascist who poses a real threat to democracy, not someone we've unfairly demonized as a fascist. I think that historically there have been political movements and parties that really were camps of darkness, the classic and cliched example being the Nazis; and that today in the United States and various European democracies there are right-wing populists who do very arguably constitute a similar camp of darkness and that it would be a dangerous mistake to fail to acknowledge their threat to democracy out of a desire to be open-minded and rise above belief polarization. We need to be conscious of the risk of succumbing to belief polarization, and make a conscious effort to avoid doing so, but we must also not shy away from denouncing and opposing folks whose beliefs genuinely make them enemies of democracy and a liberal society.
this says much more about the tensions of Democracy in the US than it does in Australia