How to heal our country?

Love your enemies.

Moral courage is standing up

to the people with whom you agree,

on behalf of those with whom you disagree.

— Arthur Brooks

NEXT COMMUNITY CONVERSATION:

Recent Events

March 2, 2026

A Grateful View of Disagreement

Representing the Civility Project initiative at George Fox University, Ron Mock spoke at the Lake Oswego Rotary meeting March 2, promoting the idea that human disagreement is a providential resource, a gift we should embrace and take good care of.

As depicted in the slide above, Ron started by explaining why we should be thankful that humans are built to disagree: our propensity to disagree, and our capacity to share our disagreements and learn from them, has been the main engine of human progress since humans first learned to argue with each other. However, disagreement is both essential and risky. We understandably tend to focus on the uncomfortable aspects of disagreement, and the sometimes tragic results of mismanaged disputes. This can lead us to prefer concord and harmony.

But stifling disagreement is also costly. It slows progress, leads to stagnation, including entrenched privilege and poverty. Ron proposed a three-dimensional approach to our disagreements that will allow us to learn more easily from each other and proceed more rapidly to improving life and expanding justice.

Ron suggested the highest view of civility goes beyond kindness to one's opponents. That is the starting place: relating to people who are different, seeing them as fully human and connecting with their experiences. Building networks of relationships that span divides is crucial to healthy, high-functioning communities.

Once disagreements emerge, the second dimension of civility comes into play: stewardship of the disagreement. The central practice here is careful, deep, empathetic listening, trying to learn how to make the other side's argument at least as well as they can. A good steward of disagreement shows grace to opponents, keeps them in the conversation, and works to find both the human connection and the common ground which form the foundation on which creative agreements can be built.

A good, grateful steward of disagreement tends to the "political culture" between episodes of disagreement. Every decision-making group has a political culture, which describes and embodies the way that group behaves when a decision faces them. In the healthiest political cultures, people do not huddle in like-minded bubbles or demonize their opponents. They get outside their bubbles and get to know -- and work, and play with -- people who think differently.

The Rotary crowd, estimated to be at least 80 people, enthusiastically responded to the talk. Copies of the presentation slides were made available to club members, and can be accessed at this link.

Oregon House leaders discuss civility in the 2025 legislature

Oregon House of Representatives Majority Leader Ben Bowman and former Minority Leader Christine Drazan came to George Fox on October 7 for a public conversation hosted by the Civility Project, reflecting on how well the Oregon state legislature did at working across party lines in its two 2025 sessions.

Drazan , a 1993 George Fox graduate, won her first term in the Oregon house in the 2018 election, and was elected as minority leader the next year, before leaving the House to run in the 2022 election for governor. After losing narrowly to current Governor Tina Kotek in a three-way race Drazen was re-elected to the House of Representative last year and resumed serving as minority leader this year, resigning from that post just a few days before the George Fox event.

Bowman, a Democrat, was elected to the Oregon House in 2022, re-elected in 2024, and elected majority leader for the Democrats before the 2025 session. He and co-host Reagan Knoop came to George Fox in late 2023 to talk about their Oregon Bridge podcast, a model of inter-party cooperation demonstrating and promoting civility. Their talk here was recorded, and turned into two episodes of the Oregon Bridge.

In a session that ran over 1 1/2 hours, Representatives Bowman and Drazan discussed many aspects of their relationship as leaders of their parties in the Oregon House. They described their responsibilities as Majority and Minority Leaders in the House, and the challenges in balancing their partisan duties with the need to be able to work constructively across party lines.

They discussed how national political polarization affect state and local politics, and how current polarizing dynamics differ from earlier eras, with both Bowman and Drazan pointing to the 1970’s and the tenure of Oregon Governor Tom McCall when politicians worked across party lines to enact landmark legislation like the Oregon Bottle Bill and Oregon’s public ownership of the state’s Pacific Ocean beaches.

They discussed the benefits of having a competitive political balance in the state, and the political dynamics that have produced Democratic Party dominance in recent Oregon politics. Especially with recent developments across the country — with states ruthlessly drawing Congressional districts to maximize the number of Congressional seats the party in power in each state can win — both rued the resulting sharpening of political divisions at the state level. The conversation included consideration of how much our political alienation is driven by structural factors (like the current two-party primary sysem) and how much is a problem of the heart.

Drazan and Bowman described some highlights in their relationships across party lines, and some low ones, and plenty of lively discussion about what lessons to take from both. They both reported that their relationship was mostly healthy — their respect for each other, and the help each leader gave the other to, for example, rein in members of their own caucus who might be behaving in polarizing or unethical ways toward members of the other caucus.

This conversation happened in the near-aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination, so the topic of political violence came up, including the increasing sense of risk they face as politicians. Answering a question on how we can at the grass roots level respond to these dynamics, both speakers encouraged more participation in politics, including voting and running for local nonpartisan offices. They also encouraged listeners to hold politicians in their own party accountable for actions and messages that undermine our ability to work across party line.

To see for yourself how the event went, check out the video here!

Community Conversation considered best responses to political violence on September 23, took a look at National Guard deployments November 12

The first Newberg/Dundee Community Conversation of the 2025-26 season focused on the question “How should we respond to political violence?" The second Community Conversation considers National Guard deployments to US cities on November 12

Tewnty-eight people gathered in George Fox University's Canyon Commons on the evening of September 23 to share their reactions to a set of sample responses to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Participants shared their views about what was appropriate or inappropiate in these responses. Generally, before a person could speak they were asked to summarize what the previous speaker had said to that speaker's satisfaction.

Following a similar format, folks will gather again on Wednesday evening November 12 to take up the issue of National Guard deployments in US cities. The session will be held in the GFU Canyon Commons beginning at 7:00 PM, and will be done by 8:30.

Community Conversations began in 2022, sponsored by the Newberg/Dundee United as Neighbors, to create a safe place for people from different political points of view to talk about issues that might contribute to polarizing the community. Generally meeting about once a month during the school year, people sit around tables with some folks they might not know, of various political persuasions. They work to listen respectfully to each other’s thoughts on the topic, and to communicate their own in a spirit of sharing a civility. The goal is not to persuade each other, but to better understand where everyone is coming from, to look for areas of agreement, and to correct misunderstandings of each point of view.

RECENT CP ACTIVITY

November 15: “Stewardship of Disagreement and our Fractured Political Culture"

Civility Project Director Ron Mock led a workshop on "Stewardship of Disagreement and our Fractured Political Culture" at the First Annual Northwest Conference Political Conference. The day-long event, held at PU’s Forest Grove campus on Saturday, November 15, was co-sponsored by the George Fox Politics Club along with similar groups at Willamette University and Pacific University.

October 30: “Finding Common Ground Across Political Lines"

Civility Project Director Ron Mock spoke to the Newberg Kiwanis Club on seven things they could do to help steer the local community away from toxic polarization and political violence.

October 19: “Cultivating Civil Civic Discourse"

Ron met with a group at St. Thomas Church in Salem, Oregon, to offer ideas and participate in a discussion of how the group might build bridges across political divides in the Salem community.

Links for building community

in 2025

(Each title is a link to the mentioned article or podcast.)

1. Seven things you can do

Looking for ways to help nourish connections across political, ideological, or religious divisions in your community? Here are seven suggestions.

2. The Giving Town: Improving Political Culture in our Community – with Ron Mock

This is an episode of The Giving Town podcast recorded in the weeks leading up to election day, aimed primarily at an audience in the Newberg area. Giving Town host Daniel Roberts uses the podcast to highlight efforts to improve life in the Newberg/Dundee area. He asked Ron to join him for a pre-election conversation about the George Fox Civility Project and its work in the heat of election campaigns.

3. Dealing with political stress when you disagree

A correspondent for National Public Radio's Here and Now came to George Fox to interview Professor of Writing Melanie Mock and her husband, Civility Project Director Ron Mock, about handling the stress of the 2024 election when husband and wife are not of the same political persuasion. Bonus content: a "word" from Ron and Melanie's 9-month-old grandson Colton, who was also at the interview.

4. I Don’t Want to Live in a Monoculture, and Neither Do You -- David French

David French rues our current tendency to sort ourselves into like-minded communities, isolating ourselves from those who disagree with us. He explains some of the ways this trend has impoverished our lives and our politics.

5. We Live Here Now -- Lauren Ober and Hannah Rosin

Two writers for The Atlantic put together a fascinating account of their experiences when January 6 fatality Ashley Babbit's mother moves in next door in the Washington, D.C. are neighborhood. This is a six-part podcast about what happens when you manage to build a personal connection with someone who disagrees with your politics with the intensity of a bereaved mother. But it's also a mostly hopeful window on what might be possible for our entire polarized nation,

6. Is There an American Covenant?

Yuval Levin joins a conversation about the American Constitution and its design to turn our disagreements into negotiated practical outcomes that best serve our interests. Prompted by the publication of Levin's book, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again, the conversation will explore how Levin believes civility can thrive in our system if we are faithful to our constitution and its amendments.

Levin spoke about his book for the Trinity Forum on November 1, 2024. Here's a link.

7. The Intellectual Humility Test

See how well you score for the kind of intellectual humility that helps you, and groups you work with, do better at taking advantage of disagreements as a vehicle for improving your group's performance.

8. More in Common's Dignity Index

More in Common USA is a group working to build a healthier political culture in America. They've just published an article describing results of studies of partisan perceptions of their political opponents (kernel: we wildly overestimate how hostile the average person on the other side is toward us) and how politicians, media personalities, and social media influencers communicate about politics. (Gem: once the the researchers began studying toxicity in public discourse, they realized how much of their own communication about politics was also toxic! We may not even see how much we contribute the problem.) Click here to see that article, and check out more about More in Common once you reach their website.

9. Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS)

Over three decades ago, Lon Fendall, the first director of the George Fox Center for Peace Learning, connected with young seminary graduate David Niyonzima, who had fled to Kenya after narrowly escaping being a victim of ethnic genocide in his native Burundi. Lon invited David to visit George Fox University, where David eventually became a graduate student in counseling,

David returned to Burundi to dedicate his life to healing the deep wounds in that traumatized nation. He founded the Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS) there.

David recently give a talk at North Valley Friends Church about his work. We have called Jonathan Kuttab's efforts in Israel and Palestine the world's toughest civility project, but David's would also be up near the top of the list. Check out the link above to learn more. Would David Niyonzima be a good candidate for a Civility Project event next year?

10. Braver Angels

It's been awhile since we featured Braver Angels, the leading national civility-building group. Tirelessly reaching out to both reds and blues, BA keeps innovating new ways to encourage people to get out of their bubbles and listen to people from the other side.

Also recommended: the Braver Angels podcast featuring Monica Guzman (author of I Never Thought Of It That Way). Check it out here, and subscribe to it if you like it.

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO PROMOTE ROBUST CIVILITY?