Presenting the Sensible Center

John Meacham, managing editor of Newsweek Magazine, gave some sound advice in his keynote address at the installation of John Lilley as President of Baylor University. Here's an excerpt from Ken Camp's report of the speech:

Voices of moderation must make themselves heard, or they will be drowned out by the clamor of extremists, Meacham warned. "Extremes make the journey more perilous, and ours is, sadly, an age of extremism," he said, adding that moderates have a sacred duty to present the "sensible center" in public discourse.

Humility and a sense of history offer Americans a way to find peace in the midst of culture wars, Meacham said, stressing religion can be a force for unity rather than division in the world.

"Reverence for one's own tradition is not incompatible with respect for the traditions of anyone else," he said.

The "American gospel" -- the good news about the United States -- is that "religion shapes the nation without strangling it, and life is best lived when Athens and Jerusalem are not at war, but in alliance," he said, adding religion and ethical secularism have been steadfast allies in many human advances.

America?s founders created a landmark of statecraft by creating a system that checked the rise of extremism and protected personal religious liberty, Meacham said. "Dedicated Christians should be among the fiercest defenders of liberty of mind and heart."

Faithful Christians who present their views in the public square should make their arguments on the basis of reason and not revelation alone, he asserted. People of faith should humbly recognize their interpretation of God?s revelation is not infallible and they see "through a glass darkly," as the Apostle Paul said.

"We live in twilight and in hope more than in clarity and certainty. This is why the gift of reason is so essential," Meacham said. "Light can neither enter into nor emanate from a closed mind."

I hope Baylor or Newsweek will publish Meacham's speech in its' entirety. It sounds like a speech worthy of wide circulation.

Here's a link where you can download streaming video of the inauguration.