Civil Discourse

Dear God, I Would Like My Presbyterian Church (USA) Back

Bruce Reyes-Chow | Posted 02.18.2012

Read More: Pcusa, Presbyterian Church, Presbyterian, Civil Discourse, Religion and Sexuality, Presbyterian Church (USA), Religious Tolerance, Christianity, Religion News

With recent developments in the PCUSA constitution that now make it possible for openly LGBTQ folks to be ordained into leadership, there has been quite a bit of finger-pointing and blame.

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Celebrating a Virtually Forgotten Media Maestro

David Tereshchuk | Posted 02.02.2012

Read More: Theodore Roosevelt, Columnists, Finlay Peter Dunne, Commentary, Chicago Tribune, Mark Twain, Civil Discourse, Political Incivility, Media News

December's days are to dwindle down to year's-end, and I'm already into holiday time's mental excursions. They're taking me off-road a bit, into the b...

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Invoking Hitler's Name: A User's Guide

Brandt Goldstein | Posted 01.11.2012

Read More: Genocide, Tea Party, Nazi Germany, Evil, Joe Klein, Celebrity Chefs, Holocaust, Hitler, Wall Street, Pol Pot, Mario Batali, Babbo, Glenn Greenwald, Fox News, Civil Discourse, Mao Zedong, World War II, Stalin, Media News

On November 9, celebrity chef Mario Batali made the mistake of comparing Wall Street bankers to Hitler. (He also threw Stalin in there, but let's keep this simple.)

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I Am Not A Bible-Waver

Rev. Anne Howard | Posted 09.05.2011

Read More: Karen Armstrong, 4th of July, Faith, Compassion, Christianity, Social Justice, American Public Discourse, Public Discourse, Religion and Politics, The Beatitudes Society, Bible Waver, Jacob Needleman, American Civility, Civil Discourse, Religion News

We sure don't need any more screaming. My inbox and my Facebook feed fills up every day with screams from my favorite progressive organizations and people, faith-based and otherwise.

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Civil Discourse

Steven Weber | Posted 08.29.2011

Read More: Civil Discourse, Comedy, Republicans, Comedy News

I certainly don't want to inflame passions unnecessarily or get people mad. I just want to state a fact that we should all be aware of and all be able to deal with in a sensible fashion.

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Big Questions Of Faith In HBO's 'The Sunset Limited'

Cathleen Falsani | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction, Faith in Film, Cormac McCarthy, Civil Discourse, The Sunset Limited, Tommy Lee Jones, Religion News

Art is maddeningly dynamic. It does not, and will not, mean the same thing to one person as it does to another. There's no finer example of this than the recent HBO film The Sunset Limited.

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Civil Discourse and the Delights of Discontent

Gordon Marino | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Hardball, Tea Party Movement, Civilty, Discourse, Chris Matthews, Civil Discourse, Politics News

Not long ago Chris Matthews shook his head when a spokesperson for the Tea Party refused to condemn Michele Bachmann's claim that the founding fathers...

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Jews, Israel And Free Speech: A Response To Rabbi Wolpe

David Moshman | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Ethnic Cleansing, Bds Movement, Free Speech, David Ben Gurion, Zionism, Israel Debate, Rabbi David Wolpe, Civil Discourse, History of Israel, Religion News

Rabbi David Wolpe has provided guidance to readers as to which Jews should be permitted to participate in public discourse and education about Israel and which should not.

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Clinton, Bush Join Arizona's New Civil Discourse Institute

AP | ALLEN G. BREED | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, Bill Clinton, George HW Bush, Arizona Shooting, University of Arizona, Gabrielle Giffords, Civil Discourse, National Institute for Civil Discourse, US News, Giffords Shooting, Politics News

TUCSON, Ariz. — Two former presidents – one Republican, the other a Democrat – will chair a new national institute to promote civili...

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Wisconsin Putting The Civility Back Into Discourse

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Wisconsin Labor Protests, Beer, Collective Bargaining, Politics, Wisconsin, Madison, Scott Walker, Civility, Governor Scott Walker, Civil Discourse, Labor Unions, Unions, Madison Protests, Wisconsin Protests, Politics News

(Reuters) - When the two sides in Wisconsin's bitter battle over the future of the state's unionized public employees converged on the Capitol on ...

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Religion, Metaphor And Getting The 'Nazi' Out Of Our Rhetoric

Scott Perlo | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Israel-Palestinian Conflict, Jon Stewart, Talmud, Fox News, Keith Olbermann, Power of Speech, Nazi Rhetoric, Sarah Palin Blood Libel, American Civility, Metaphor and Media, Nazi Metaphor, Civil Discourse, Obama as Hitler, Religion News

Precise and measured description is now an untraveled path in contemporary political discourse. "Life and death are in the power of the tongue." Let us speak more carefully.

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It's Time for a Return to Civility

Ed Gurowitz, Ph.D. | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Leland Yee, Michelle Bachmann, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Rush Limbaugh, Tucson Shooting, Sarah Palin, Gun Control, Civil Discourse, Politics News

I'll start with a clean-up. In my earlier column on the Tucson shootings I had a number of my facts wrong and several readers pointed this out.. The w...

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The Religious Case For Less Civility And More Passion

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Politics, Religion, Gabrielle Giffords Shooting, Congress, Political Rhetoric, Passion, God, Health Care, Civility, American Civility, Civil Discourse, Religion News

All this talk about civility is beginning to make me uncomfortable. Civility refers to courteous and polite behavior. But courteous and polite behavior is not, in and of itself, a religious value.

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Participation In Politics And Theology: Deal With It!

Jason Derr | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Jerry Falwell, Theopoetic Method, Political Discourse, Non-Dualistic Politics, American Politics, Civil Discourse, Political Conversation in America, Liberty University, Poetry and Religion, Religion News

If we can construct our politics as a conversation that negotiates for common space and shared dreams, then maybe we can stop talking about how to moderate our political discourse.

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My Conversation With Bill Bradley

Tavis Smiley | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: State of the Union 2011, Sotu, Civil Discourse, Sotu 2011, Tavis Smiley Bill Bradley, Obama SOTU, Bill Bradley, Politics News

Bill Bradley weighs in on how President Obama can use this moment of the State of the Union to rise above the negative discourse that is so pervasive in American politics.

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After Tucson, the State of the Union

Jim Wallis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Liberals and Conservatives, Human, Sojourners, War in Afghanistan, Low, Compromise, Immigration System, Immigration, Arizona, Priorities, Marginalized, Commitment, Republican, Media Forums, Senator Tom Coburn, Members of Congress, Conflict, Liberals, Health Care, Biggest Banks, Union, State of the Union, Civil Discourse, State of the Nation, Attack, Public Discourse, Veterans, Senator Charles Schumer, Politics, Horrible Tragedy, Common Ground, Congress, Families, Rediscovering Values, Moral Issue, Recession, Barack Obama, Corporations, Demonization, Republican Senator, Disagreements, Orphan, Change, Reflection, National Commitment, Political Leader, State of the Union Address, Conservatives, Politics News

The speech Barack Obama gave in Tucson was a memorial to the victims of a horrible tragedy, but the spirit of his speech could also shape Tuesday's State of the Union address by calling us to be worthy of each victim's sacrifice.

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Please Pass the Civility

Laurie David | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Family Meals, Civility, Obama Tucson Speech, Family Dinners, Parenting, Civil Discourse, Family, Politics News

Civility is first taught and modeled in the loving embrace of the family. How much more "local" can you get than your family's kitchen table?

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To Form a More Perfect Union

Gary Hart | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Abraham Lincoln, Civil Rights Movement, Progress, A More Perfect Union, JFK Assassination, Civil Discourse, John F. Kennedy Inaugural, Politics News

Perhaps it is our fate to always have a climate of anger and hatred with us. But if it is our fate, we will make little progress toward a more perfect union.

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Speaking of Violence: Words In The Wake of Tucson's Tragedy

Rev. Barbara Kaufmann | Posted 11.17.2011

Read More: Violence, Arizona Shooting, Politics, Tucson Shootings, Political-Rhetoic, Inflammatory Speech, Civil Discourse, Violent Words, Violent Rhetoric in Society, Violence in Society, Culture, Healthy Living News

The disconnect from humans and from humanity occurs when we harden our hearts, or when we become desensitized or armor ourselves so as to not feel.

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The Ugly American Is Back

Simon Jenkins | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Freedom of Speech, Christina Taylor Green, First Amendment, Obama Speech, Bbc, Obama Tucson Speech, Freedom of Expression, Fox News, Political Polarization, Citizens United, Fairness Doctrine, Civil Discourse, Politics News

Free speech needs its own discipline, however enforced. The best rebuttal of the politics of hate is a torrent of love, and if not love then at least of facts.

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Clergy Urges Congress To Unite Behind Push For Civility

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Arizona Shooting, The Civility Project, Public Religion Research Institute, Civility in America, Civility in Political Discourse, Jared Lee Loughner, Faith-Based Call for Civility, Gabrielle Giffords, Capitol Hill Newspaper Roll Call, Civil Discourse, Congress, Religion News

By Nicole Neroulias Religion News Service (RNS) A coalition of more than 50 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders sent an open letter to Congress urg...

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Sarah Palin Revealed

Rabbi Irwin Kula | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Arizona Shooting, Blood Libel, Guilt, Hate, Sarah Palin, Political Rhetoric, Arizona, Civil Discourse, America, Jewish, Politics News

Here we go again. Sarah Palin has ratcheted up the rhetoric. In her words, chastising the media, she proclaimed, "within hours of a tragedy unfolding,...

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Something is Missing in the Middle with No Labels

Joe The Nerd Ferraro | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Joe the Nerd, Congress, Columbia University, Caucas, Coffee Party, Civil Discourse, No Labels, Politics News

That will fill some of the gap in the middle.

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Putting The 'Civil' Back In American Civilization

Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: American Political Life, American Culture Wars, God in Politics, Christians and Politics, American Political Debate, American Civility, Christianity in America, Civil Discourse, Christian Civility, God in America, Religion News

By Mark Hanson Religion News Service (RNS) The recent election campaign should wake us all and stir us to action. Our nation's political climate has ...

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Conviction and Civility in American Public Discourse

Richard J. Mouw | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: LGBT Politics, Civility in America, LGBT Issues, Public Discourse, Christianity and Homosexuality, Civility in Politics, Religious Civility, Evangelical Christians, Civil Discourse, Cultural Civility, Religion News

People these days who are civil often lack strong convictions, and people with strong religious convictions often are not very civil. What we need is convicted civility.

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