Building Bridges
(or... This has got to stop)
It's the wake of another contentious culture war issue.
On one side of me, I have friends that actively work to use the force and effect of law to deny equal treatment to the families of my other friends.
On the other side, I have the other friends who respond with anger, vitriol, and outrage.
The first side belives itself to be operating under the best direction of their moral convictions.
So do the second.
In this space and in others, I've committed to defend the rights of each person on both sides. I suspect that the way that each side treats the other is seen as incredibly hurtful, and neither side truly feels how badly it is hurting the other. In fact, I just had an experience a couple of days ago where my (admittedly clumsy) attempt to explain to someone that they're being hurtful got me shut out of the discussion.
The conviction of one side's beliefs pushes them to uphold what they feel is a moral stand.
The conviction of another side's identity pushes them to fight for equality without compromising that identity.
The conviction of my beliefs demands that I affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and justice, equality and compassion in human relations.
To further that end, I have an idea.
I still think that it is possible to talk about things from a place of compassionate and respectful discussion. I just don't think it can be done in my LJ, or yours, or yours, or in Twitter. That puts an element of "this is my space, you talk about things here at my pleasure" that isn't terribly conducive to a give-and-take interaction.
That would require a neutral space. A sacred place. A place where upon entering, one must make the conscious decision to leave behind the rancor and vitriol of the existing debate and speak to adversaries in a way one would like to be spoken to. The intent is to convince and persuade, rather than to rage or attempt to ratchet up the legal restrictions.
The leaders of the state religion of Ancient Rome had a title which translates roughly as "The bridge builders". The term for a bridge builder in Latin is pontifex.
In ancient Roman Catholic history, there was a Pope named Calixto who was the one to establish the doctrine of forgiveness for all repented sins -- specifically repented adulterers and fornicators, interestingly enough. For this, a prominent writer of the time named Tertuliano gave him the title "Pontifex Maximus" - The Greatest Bridge-builder. It was meant ironically at the time, but it stuck and I think it fits well with the true spirit of Christian forgiveness.
Inspired in part by that story and by the effect of people I deeply admire, I've created a community over on Dreamwidth* which I hope will serve as the sort of space I describe above. It's called
pontifex.
I'm asking for people to join in the spirit of the community, and I'm asking for a small group of politically diverse folks to serve as moderators.
*It's on Dreamwidth because the name pontifex was taken on LJ. LJ accounts will serve for posting through the OpenID mechanism.
It's the wake of another contentious culture war issue.
On one side of me, I have friends that actively work to use the force and effect of law to deny equal treatment to the families of my other friends.
On the other side, I have the other friends who respond with anger, vitriol, and outrage.
The first side belives itself to be operating under the best direction of their moral convictions.
So do the second.
In this space and in others, I've committed to defend the rights of each person on both sides. I suspect that the way that each side treats the other is seen as incredibly hurtful, and neither side truly feels how badly it is hurting the other. In fact, I just had an experience a couple of days ago where my (admittedly clumsy) attempt to explain to someone that they're being hurtful got me shut out of the discussion.
The conviction of one side's beliefs pushes them to uphold what they feel is a moral stand.
The conviction of another side's identity pushes them to fight for equality without compromising that identity.
The conviction of my beliefs demands that I affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and justice, equality and compassion in human relations.
To further that end, I have an idea.
I still think that it is possible to talk about things from a place of compassionate and respectful discussion. I just don't think it can be done in my LJ, or yours, or yours, or in Twitter. That puts an element of "this is my space, you talk about things here at my pleasure" that isn't terribly conducive to a give-and-take interaction.
That would require a neutral space. A sacred place. A place where upon entering, one must make the conscious decision to leave behind the rancor and vitriol of the existing debate and speak to adversaries in a way one would like to be spoken to. The intent is to convince and persuade, rather than to rage or attempt to ratchet up the legal restrictions.
The leaders of the state religion of Ancient Rome had a title which translates roughly as "The bridge builders". The term for a bridge builder in Latin is pontifex.
In ancient Roman Catholic history, there was a Pope named Calixto who was the one to establish the doctrine of forgiveness for all repented sins -- specifically repented adulterers and fornicators, interestingly enough. For this, a prominent writer of the time named Tertuliano gave him the title "Pontifex Maximus" - The Greatest Bridge-builder. It was meant ironically at the time, but it stuck and I think it fits well with the true spirit of Christian forgiveness.
Inspired in part by that story and by the effect of people I deeply admire, I've created a community over on Dreamwidth* which I hope will serve as the sort of space I describe above. It's called
pontifex.
I'm asking for people to join in the spirit of the community, and I'm asking for a small group of politically diverse folks to serve as moderators.
*It's on Dreamwidth because the name pontifex was taken on LJ. LJ accounts will serve for posting through the OpenID mechanism.