In An Age of Political Contempt: Dare We Love Our Enemy?

Contempt (noun) 1. The act of despising  2. lack of respect or reverence for something [or someone]                 

--Merriam-Webster.com

As prayer breakfasts go, well, it wasn’t very prayerful.   

I speak of last week’s National Prayer Breakfast, an annual gathering of more than 3,000 guests in the nation’s capital, first started in 1951, and ostensibly hosted by the President of the United States. Participants include members of the United States Congress and the Cabinet, the diplomatic corps in Washington, D.C., and invited guests from all over the world, along with religious leaders. The expectation at the breakfast is that those in attendance will be non-partisan, mutually supportive, ecumenical and yes, civil to each other.

Oh, if that had been only so.    

First the overcooked part of the event, the burnt toast you might say. Apparently so caught up in being giddy about his day-before acquittal on two articles of impeachment by the United States Senate, the current occupant of the Oval Office—well, he kind of missed the whole “prayerful” thing. You know, love one another. Love your neighbor. The usual God stuff. 

Anyhooo—in the midst of all that prayerfulness and orange juice, the commander in chief skewered and insulted two attendees for their practices of faith. One was critiqued for voting his God informed conscience on impeachment, the other lambasted for daring to say she prays for the President.  Which makes me wonder—maybe it’s time to put up huge signs in the breakfast ballroom—like, “PLEASE BE NICE!” or “LET’S ALL SING KUM BAH YA!” or “FREE HUGS!!” To remind all those religious bigwigs and politicians that the breakfast is supposed to be a contempt free zone, a once a year event with the crazy hope of bringing folks together in the name of God. 

Yup, there’s that pesky God again. Always getting in the way of human contempt.   

Thankfully, Arthur Brooks, a social scientist and faculty member at Harvard University, gave the keynote speech that morning: “America’s Crisis of Contempt”. Talk about great timing! Brooks’ thesis is simple: in his words, “…polarization is tearing our society apart.” He continues: “In the words of the 19^th century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, contempt is ‘the unsullied conviction of the worthlessness of another.’ In politics today we treat each other as worthless, which is why our fights are so bitter and cooperation feels nearly impossible.”

Be it a Presidential contemptuous tweet or a nationally televised speech shredding moment, we don’t have to look too far to realize how spot on Brooks’ analysis is about the current state of how the folks we elect talk to each other, see each other, and treat each other. How we as citizens, too, can do the same things to our neighbors, if they dare to be in a different place than us on the political or social spectrum.

Brooks suggests a simple solution from his religious tradition—actually it’s not so simple, nor easy to practice. It’s radical. Here’s the advice: love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. And always answer contempt with love. Not more contempt. Not hate. Not violence. Not dismissiveness or anger.

Just love. Always love. Who’d a thunk it!?

I wonder if Brooks’ speech was met with thunderous self-congratulatory applause or some polite claps and nervous coughs.  I wonder if when Brooks lamented our current atmosphere of contempt, the pols and the pious thought not of themselves, but of their enemies. I wonder if anybody really listened to Brooks, or if they just dug into the runny scrambled eggs and swilled lukewarm coffee and stared at their phones, gleefully waiting for the next toxic tweet.

Politics in America has become a blood sport.  Winner take all. No compromise. No moderating tenor to the debates or legislating. It is all out war. Thank God for the rare voice like Brooks’ that actually speaks with the courage of his convictions and names God’s love as their guide, without irony or apology. I hear there was actually one other voice like that last week in D.C. Maybe that guy should host next year’s breakfast.

Or better yet, dis-invite from the prayer breakfast all the holier than thou types—the preening preachers and pontificating politicians--and instead welcome in the hungry and the homeless who live on the streets of that city. Then treat them to a big breakfast, a huge spread and leave contempt off the menu.

Something tells me that is a breakfast God might actually attend.

Anyhoo….

   

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