Our Guilty Silence

Mitch Carnell, editor of Christian Civility in an Uncivil World, offers some sound advice on Ethics Daily for how to respond to the uncivil rhetoric that permeates our public discourse:

Our democracy depends on lively, informed, healthy political debate. No American wants a society where nothing is challenged and everything goes. Debate is the life's blood of our way of life. If you have a better idea, put it on the table and let's see if it can stand up to rigorous scrutiny.

It is not the other group or the other person who is responsible for gutter language in our national debate, or for the shameless and often baseless attacks on individuals. It is any of us who engage in such tactics or fail to challenge them when and where we encounter them.

Well said.