Session: Forces That Shape Our National Values
While forums don't end in agreement, they do help people find the
area between agreement and disagreement—the common ground for
public action.
[David Mathews - cont.]
National Issues Forums aren’t just conversations, and they aren't
people listening to a speaker. Instead, they are people talking to one
another—eye to eye and face to face.
People at forums don’t debate. They explore options, weigh
views, and carefully consider all the costs and consequences. They
don’t just swap facts. They work through conflicting approaches to an
issue. It’s deliberation and it’s hard work—but it’s not impossible.
Deliberation is both natural and ancient.
America’s first public forums go back to the 1630s. The Depart-
ment of Agriculture sponsored town meetings until World War II.
Now, however, public deliberation has been pushed to the side-
lines of politics by sound bites and partisan rancor.
The good news is that a growing number of Extension educators
are pushing back. They are putting deliberation back into their com-
munities, so that people can Ieam the time-honored skills of making
decisions together.
They know that our most serious problems cannot be solved until
we put the public back into the public's business...until we have more
public deliberation.
They say Roger Williams’ statue here [Providence, R.I.] keeps
one eye on the statehouse and one on the First Baptist Church. It’s
another example of the long-standing, popular misinterpretation of
Williams’ thesis about the proper roles of church and state.
Gary Farley
pastor;
director, Office of
Town and Country Missions,
Home Mission Board,
Southern Baptist Convention;
sociologist, Carson-Newman and
Oklahoma Baptist universities
In a history of America, Richard Niebuhr explained our nation can
best be understood as driven by a VISION of the kingdom of God:
■ The Puritans. At first, the kingdom of God meant sovereignty.
That sovereignty was our founders’ vision—Societally and
personally—in New England and the expansion west.
■ The Revivalists. Succeeding generations lacked the depth of
commitment. Form took its place as content diminished.
Even so, revivalists soon were teaching about the reign of Christ
in each person’s heart. Primarily, these spiritual regenerations showed
in the growth of orphanages, colleges, mission societies and hospitals.
The Role
of Religion
in Public Policy
Debate
■ The MiIIennialists & Social Gospelers. Beginning in the
1820s, prophetic leaders announced the kingdom of God here on earth.
They brought the millennialists—the Adventists, Latter Day Saints and
Jehovah Witness movements, among others. And, by the end of the