<\/p>\n
People often ask me why I don’t blog more often in the President Obama’s actions underscore my reticence to enter If nothing else, the events leading up to today’s Beer The progressive emphasis on thoughtful analysis is more than For <\/p>\n The letter’s author goes on to say that the tongue is Here, at Progressive Revival, Paul Raushenbush and I are In the midst of the fray, I humbly invite spiritual <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People often ask me why I don’t blog more often in the crucible of the news cycle when an issue is “hot.”\u00a0 My friends and editors are always trying to get me to speed up–as I tend to be slow with my words.\u00a0 Last week, for example, I was quiet as the war of words…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,36,14,51,375,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christians","category-defining-progressive","category-mainline-protestants","category-media","category-race-2","category-religion-in-the-public-square"],"yoast_head":"\n
\ncrucible of the news cycle when an issue is “hot.”\u00a0 <\/span>My friends and editors are always trying to get me to speed
\nup–as I tend to be slow with my words.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Last week, for example, I was quiet as the war of words escalated
\nbetween partisans in the Professor Gates\/Cambridge police affair.\u00a0 <\/span>President Obama did, of course, jump in
\nthe fray with his poorly chosen assessment that the Cambridge police behaved
\n“stupidly,” only to apologize a couple of days later and invite the wronged
\nparties to the White House for beer<\/p>\n
\nthe blog-fray in heated battle.\u00a0 <\/span>By
\ninclination and academic training, I’m a historian.\u00a0 <\/span>Historians believe that the more time we have to understand
\na situation, the better.\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/span>When seeing the picture of Professor Gates hauled away in handcuffs from
\nhis own house, I was shocked.\u00a0 <\/span>But
\nI also suspected that something had happened of which I was unaware.\u00a0 <\/span>As a commentator, I had a sense of my
\nown limitations.\u00a0 <\/span>Better, I
\nthought, to let the picture speak for itself.\u00a0 <\/span>And better to hold back before starting to call someone
\nnames like “racist” or “bigot” or “idiot” or “rogue cop” or whatever. \u00a0<\/span>The escalation is even more shocking
\nthan the original event–culminating yesterday with Glenn Beck calling President
\nObama a racist!<\/p>\n
\nSummit at the White House have underscored the importance of slow words.\u00a0 <\/span>Although progressive Christians are
\nknown for activism, liberal and progressive Protestantism also is marked by a
\ncommitment to intellectual analysis.\u00a0
\n<\/span>As a group, we are often painfully slow at decision-making–sometimes to
\nthe point of institutional paralysis.\u00a0
\n<\/span>But we are so slow because we believe that the world is a complex place
\nthat defies black-and-white (no pun intended) characterizations.\u00a0 <\/span>In particular, morality and ethics are
\noften shades of grey, a shadowy realm of mixed human motives and
\nless-than-perfect choices.\u00a0 <\/span>In my
\nreligious tradition, moving slowly is a spiritual practice–one that accounts
\nfor careful and thoughtful engagement with important ideas and events. <\/p>\n
\na matter of taste or the privilege of educated elites.\u00a0 <\/span>It is drawn from–what is arguably the
\nmost important of all liberal Christian sacred texts–the New Testament Letter
\nof James.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>This week’s
\nshouting match is well-described in this ancient paragraph:<\/p>\n
\nall of us make many mistakes . . . The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts
\nof great exploits.\u00a0 <\/span>How great a
\nforest is set ablaze by a small fire!\u00a0
\n<\/span>And the tongue is a fire.\u00a0
\n<\/span>The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains
\nthe whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by
\nhell . . . No one can tame the tongue–a restless evil, full of deadly poison<\/i>
\n(James 3: 2-8).<\/p>\n
\ncorrected only by “works done with gentleness born of wisdom,” by those who
\n“make peace.”\u00a0 <\/span>Quick and uninformed
\njudgment must be restrained by a quest for wisdom.<\/p>\n
\ntrying to create a blog space that reflects the deepest virtues and values of
\nmainline Protestant traditions–a way of being in the world that believes to
\nhold back the tongue–even for a moment–creates the space for understanding,
\nopens new possibilities, and allows us to glimpse God’s reign.\u00a0 <\/span>Consideration, discernment, and
\nthoughtfulness should never be an excuse to avoid action; rather, they should
\nframe the way we act.\u00a0 <\/span>We’re not in
\na contest for speed; we’re on a journey toward wisdom.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n
\nprogressives into a “slow word” movement.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Like the “slow food” movement that argues food must be savored to be
\nhealthy, so care-filled words also need to be digested in order to be wise, to
\nact justly, and to make peace.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Slow words are a spiritual practice, one much needed in a world of junk
\npolitics and faux news events.\u00a0
\n<\/span>Slowing down, guarding our words, might reintroduce a measure of reality
\ninto our lives. In order to change the world, we must first learn to bridle the
\ntongue.<\/p>\n