Civility? Always. But Much More Is Needed.

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Former President Donald Trump has survived an assassination attempt. We thank God for his protection, and like many other voices this week, we abhor such political violence, boldly praying to God that virtue and civility might return to our public life together. As Christians, we are called into the middle of the chaos of the world in which we live with the power and wisdom of God’s preserving voice of the Law and His saving voice of the Gospel. Now is the time for such a principled, moral voice in our political life for civility and peace to endure in our communities. I’m reminded of a senator’s plea to all of us in a meeting together on the Hill after a disheartening court ruling on the issue of religious liberty: “We must continue to strive to do the right thing, but we must also do it rightly.” As I share a few reflections about what you might wish to pray for, or even what you might wish to “do” going forward, I am always reminded that God is in control and that the ultimate victory is always to those who put their faith and trust in Him, not in the princes of this world.

In the aftermath of this, it needs to be said that the American political experiment of “limited government and the virtuous pursuit of happiness by religiously motivated, morally directed, self-governing citizens” is reeling. The government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” a “republic” as Benjamin Franklin noted, needs committed, citizen-keepers to survive. It has been under threat for some time by a demonizing, labeling, and intimidating brand of politics in service to a secularizing bureaucratic government “over the people, in charge of the people, and seeking control of virtually every aspect of people’s lives.” That aggressive, overarching style of government has now mushroomed into violent hatred of whatever stands in its way, with more than one assassination attempt to its credit. Others? Yes, others. Two summers ago, Supreme Court justices were subject to unlawful protests, days of intimidation at their homes, culminating in a failed attempt to assassinate a sitting Supreme Court justice. The gunmen’s motivation? He was motivated to conduct his plot to prevent Roe v. Wade from being rightly ruled unconstitutional. Or recall the riflemen who started shooting at the Republican baseball team in 2017, wounding congressmen and staffers, almost killing Steve Scalise in the process. It goes without saying that a return to civility is a must, but that needs to be the fruit of a deeper change in politics that must happen for all our sakes.

I’m reminded of a C.S. Lewis quote that noted the danger of such an unchecked caricaturing of traditional values when he said:

The process which, if not checked, will abolish Man goes on apace among Communists and Democrats no less than among Fascists. The methods may (at first) differ in brutality. But many a mild-eyed scientist in pince-nez, many a popular dramatist, many an amateur philosopher in our midst, means in the long run just the same as the Nazi rulers of Germany. Traditional values are to be ‘debunked’ and mankind to be cut out into some fresh shape at the will (which must, by hypothesis, be an arbitrary will) of some few lucky people in one lucky generation which has learned how to do it. The belief that we can invent ‘ideologies’ at pleasure, and the consequent treatment of mankind as mere ulh, specimens, preparations, begins to affect our very language. Once we killed bad men: now we liquidate unsocial elements.1

At the LCRL, we rightly say, “Good politics can’t save us (it can only preserve), but bad politics can destroy us.” The politics of demonization and dehumanization (the “bad politics,” deeper roots of today’s incivility) must stop. And those who practice it must be defeated at the ballot box for this to end. I’ve been in Washington D.C. since 2017, and I’ve seen the demonization, the labeling, and the intimidation firsthand. Whether it was the roving mobs of protestors during the COVID lockdowns, or the unending, violent mobs on college campuses threatening freedom of speech and religious liberty, the demonization escalation continues, and the intimidation works. Just this week the tactic was used again. Amidst all this talk of civility, the Army was caught labeling pro-life groups as terrorist groups.2 This political delegitimization and demonization has become routine. Remember our friend Christian cake artist Jack Phillips? He won the Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case that protected his right to disagree with the sexual libertine mob, but since then, he has been perpetually sued, demonized, caricatured, and maligned as a bigot and a homophobe to this day. Why? Not to protect differing views of marriage. No, he’s being sued to silence his biblically informed, public voice about marriage and to force him BY LAW to publicly acknowledge something against his conscience through his art. Such coerced speech should frighten all sides in this cultural debate.

It also must be said that this brand of politics pre-dates President Donald Trump by decades. One might reference the documentary “The Best of Enemies” where Gore Vidal fashioned this labeling, demonizing style in his point-counterpoint arguments with William F. Buckley.3 Also to be noted, the demonizing and politicizing of conscience is happening all throughout the West. This weaponizing of the State against all those, Christian and non, who hold to traditional views of marriage, morality, church, family, and government, those who hold such views are being subjected to this same kind of demonization, political alienation, and even lawfare. (See Lutheran Bishop Johanna Pohjola and Päivi Räsänen, as international examples.) In America, the list of those being punished or intimidated continues to grow: Coach Kennedy, Mark Houck, Barronelle Stutzman, the Little Sisters of the Poor, et. al., those who publicly hold to views of marriage as between a man and a woman, or humanity as the beautiful binary of “male and female,” are subject to intimidation, public humiliation, even lost employment, and income. Amazingly, the notions of a limited government (as opposed to an overarching secular, bureaucratic state), equal protection under the law, equal access in education (school choice), parental rights (and responsibilities) concerning one’s children, sanity in sexuality (yes, the sexes are male and female), these are now caricatured as views undermining democracy when they are, in fact, views which undergird democracy.

A return to civility? Yes, but for such a notion to actually have meaning in our public life together, the politics of demonization must end. Such an effort has to be more than civilizing our conversation. This is about stymying the misuse of the coercive power of government against those who have conscience and

political differences with the milieu of the day. No more “Borking,”4 no more “high tech lynching”5 of those who believe the principles stated above, no more “labeling, demonetizing, or intimidating” those who hold views consistent not only with America’s founding, but consistent with a “Ten Commandments, natural law” vision of public morality for the needed public peace and civility for a free country. In order to stop such violent incivility, we must again assert the beautiful, moral wisdom of God in our relationships and in our culture. We must define anew the limits to what government should and should not do, freeing each of us to rise above the vitriol and be the kind of neighbors that need no government force to the contrary. In that way, love, not politics, indeed conquers all. That’s our LCRL prayer for our country.

The Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz is the executive director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty.

Be Informed
Learn why one party’s revamped platform does nothing for unborn babies.

Be Equipped
The Rev. Jim Roemke gave a benediction at the Republican National Convention in July. Learn more about his experience there by clicking here.

Be Encouraged
“When politics are so ugly, why do we engage at all? Because it's not about us. It's about our children and grandchildren. It's about freedom, but to say so is not enough. Liberty is great, but it is simply a space, an opportunity, to do things that matter. When we fight for liberty, it is not an abstract concept, but a place where we can live a better life, one that puts first things first. Politics matter only because other things matter much, much more, and we'd like to keep it that way.” –Rev. Peter Scaer

1 CS Lewis, The Abolition of Man, Ch. 3
2 Exclusive: GOP Probes Army For Labeling Pro-Lifers As 'Terrorists' (thefederalist.com)
3 ‘Best of Enemies’ Review: Great Minds, Vintage Vitriol - WSJ
4 In 1987, Senator Ted Kennedy “Borked” Robert Bork’s nomination by falsely caricaturing his legal stand, saying “"Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens." Amazingly, the principles and the party that Bork was associated with fought against slavery, desegregated the public schools, passed civil rights legislation, and presently stands for parental rights and choice in education . . . but the “bork” caricature worked and that smear has been utilized as a political strategy ever since.
5 Clarence Thomas’ description of the attack on his character because he was an originalist justice who believed that judges apply the law, they do not write the law.