On the eve of the Inauguration which seemed to make “inclusiveness” its by-word, two religious leaders, a conservative Evangelical and a liberal Jew launched the new Civility Project in an attempt to foster more dialogue between increasingly polarized voices in American society.
As an article in the Christian Post explains:
DeMoss, an evangelical conservative, and Davis, a Jewish liberal, developed the idea behind The Civility Project during a meeting in Washington six months after Sen. Hillary Clinton ended her campaign for the presidency.
“As dissimilar as our religious and political beliefs and opinions are, we found ourselves drawn to each other’s love for this country,” recalled the two, “and a conviction about the importance to its future of trying to change the polarizing, attack-oriented political culture that has become all too common in recent years and, instead, to bring civility back as the staple of American politics and life.”
As an example, DeMoss and Davis referred to the uncivil events that erupted amid and after the campaigns for and against California’s Proposition 8, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman.
“[W]e both condemn the vandalism by some who opposed the proposition directed at those such as Mormon Church members who supported the measure,” DeMoss and Davis stated despite their different stances on Prop. 8.
“We also oppose the often blind hatred, violence and discrimination against gay people by certain individuals, who claim they act in the name of religious beliefs while violating other religious tenets,” they added.
To participate in the project, there are three promises that need to be made to govern the way a person expresses their ideas in public discourse. You can find them fully listed at the link above, but in short, they involve promising to be civil in expressing a viewpoint, being respectful of the people with whom one agrees, and calling out incivility in others when it is present.
The comments on the news story announcing the site don’t give this particular author much hope that this movement is going to get much traction…