Clearing House: More Resources for Fostering Respectful Conversation

No sooner was my web site launched than three friends sent me links to publications that are supportive of my “respectful conversation” mission. Their responses inspired me to add a Clearing House page to my web site.

On this new page, I will be posting annotated citations and links for written and electronic publications that readers alert me to that are particularly supportive of the purposes of my Respectful Conversation Mission, as a rich complement to the resources I already provide in my Bibliography page and the results of my own work.

Therefore, if you come across any publication that you believe will fit the purpose of this Clearing House feature, I invite you to send me an email with an appropriate link.

Five such citations have already been posted on this new page. They include three postings of essays by Richard Hughes in the Huffington Post. Professor Hughes, Director of the Sider Institute at Messiah College, notes the thick connection between increasing “incivility” in public discourse and the deterioration of the quest for a “common good” in America, and points to the resources that Religions can provide for fostering greater civility if their adherents put into practice the “virtue of love.”

Also posted is an essay on “Civil Discourse” written by Jennifer Wiseman, who is currently president of the Council for the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) and serves as chief of the ExoPlanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory  at the NASA Space Flight Center. Wiseman expresses concern about the poor state of national discourse on science and religious belief and makes a bold proposal on how to love someone who espouses views you believe to be wrong or even harmful.

Finally, I have posted a link to a radio interview of a Tea Party candidate for the U. S. Senate from Virginia, conducted by Pete Dominique. In sharp contrast to those radio or TV interviewers who reflect a clear ideological bias, Dominique’s interview brings areas of agreement and disagreement to the surface in a respectful manner that is conducive to ongoing conversation.

I will be delighted if many other readers alert me to publications that are appropriate for my new Clearing House page.