Evangelical Conservatives Embrace 'Civility'

First it was Rick Warren hosting his Saddleback Civil Forum last summer with Barack Obama and John McCain. Then, in January, evangelical PR magnate Mark DeMoss, whose clients have included Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham, quietly launched The Civility Project.

Now, Focus on the Family, whose founder accused Obama last year of promoting a "fruitcake interpretation" of the Constitution and has called the fight to ban gay marriage "our D-Day, or Gettysburg or Stalingrad," is going civil.

This from a recent edition of CitizenLink, Focus's daily E-mail for politically active supporters:

Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, has repeatedly suggested that his staff invite those who disagree with them to share a cup of coffee—his own civility project.

"I use that coffee expression as a real-world way of saying, 'Let's have a conversation, face-to-face, get to know each other and what informs our worldviews,' " he said. "And when we hit a subject on which we don't share the same values, let's talk about those issues with boldness and passion, yes, but with mutual respect, too."

Daly said it's important for Christians to remember that we are called not only to stand up for our convictions, but to love our neighbor, as well.

"Those are not mutually exclusive exhortations," he said. "Every human being deserves dignity and respect. The Civility Project, from the perspective of those of us who are Christians, calls us to remember that we are followers of Christ first, members of a political party or ideology second."

Earlier this month, Ralph Reed said his new grass-roots group would have to be "less strident" than the Christian Coalition was. The civilizing trend is catching on in a big way. I wonder if any traditional culture wars groups will come out against it.

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