The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It [Hardcover]

Os Guinness (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 22, 2008

In a world torn apart by religious extremism on the one side and a strident secularism on the other, no question is more urgent than how we live with our deepest differences—especially our religious and ideological differences. The Case for Civility is a proposal for restoring civility in America as a way to foster civility around the world. Influential Christian writer and speaker Os Guinness makes a passionate plea to put an end to the polarization of American politics and culture that—rather than creating a public space for real debate—threatens to reverse the very principles our founders set into motion and that have long preserved liberty, diversity, and unity in this country.

Guinness takes on the contemporary threat of the excesses of the Religious Right and the secular Left, arguing that we must find a middle ground between privileging one religion over another and attempting to make all public expression of faith illegal. If we do not do this, Guinness contends, Western civilization as we know it will die. Always provocative and deeply insightful, Guinness puts forth a vision of a new, practical "civil and cosmopolitan public square" that speaks not only to America's immediate concerns but to the long-term interests of the republic and the world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Popular evangelical writer Guinness (The Call) worries that the culture wars are destroying the United States. If Americans don't find a way of living with our deepest differences, the republic will decline. He forcefully defends religious liberty, noting that it was crucial for the founding generation and should be just as crucial today. To that end, he calls Christians to rethink their enthusiasm for government-sponsored faith-based initiatives, and to remember that evangelicals were the victims of earlier church-state establishments. The religious right—whose discourse of victimization, says Guinness, is silly and anti-Christian—comes under fire. Nor is Guinness a fan of the nascent religious left—he prefers a depoliticized faith. For all Guinness's rhetorical vim, his proposals ultimately feel anodyne: his boilerplate conclusion is that in order to restore civility we need leadership and a remarkable articulation of vision. Furthermore, although Guinness notes that he is a European, the book is oddly marked by the old rhetoric of American cultural imperialism. Echoing JFK, Guinness wants his essay to be taken as one model for fostering civility around the world and helping make the world safe for diversity. Many readers may prefer Charles Marsh's lively, provocative manifesto Wayward Christian Soldiers. (Feb.)
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From the Back Cover

“How do we live with our deepest differences, especially when those differences are religious and ideological?” The place to begin to search for answers is the United States. Not because the problem is worse here than elsewhere--on the contrary--but because America has the best resources, and therefore the greatest responsibility to point the way in answering the deepest questions. The Case For Civility is a proposal for restoring civility in America, as one model for fostering civility around the world and helping to make a world safe for diversity.

Guinness makes a passionate plea to put an end to the culture wars that--rather than creating a public space for real debate--threaten to reverse the very principles our founders set into motion that have long preserved liberty, diversity, and unity in this country. Guinness argues that we must:
•Say “No!” to the sacred public square-we cannot privilege one religion over another; the Christian Right has it wrong
•Say “No!” to the naked public square-public expressions of faith must remain legal; intolerance in the name of tolerance by the secular left is equally wrongheaded

The world is watching how Americans behave and, in the eyes of the world, we are failing to live up to our own ideals. Rich with historical anecdotes that unlock the genius of the American experiment, Guinness also takes on the contemporary threat of both the religious right and the secular left to construct a new way forward in the midst of the buildup to the Fall 2008 presidential elections.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061353434
• ISBN-13: 978-0061353437
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #670,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

OS GUINNESS (DPhil, Oxford University) was born in China, raised and educated in England, and moved to the United States in 1984. He directs the Trinity Forum and is a former fellow at the East-West Institute in New York. His books include The American Hour, No God But God, and The Dust of Death.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Vision for America Beyond the Culture Wars March 1, 2008

By Douglas Groothuis VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Os Guinness, The Case For Civility. HarperOne, 2008. As an Englishman born in China, and as an astute sociologist and social critic, Guinness offers a wise and compelling vision for civilizing the public square and moving beyond the machinations of endless culture wars.

While writing as a Christian, Guinness charts a course for "a civil public square" in which citizens of any religion or of none are allowed and encouraged to let their voices be known and to respect those of others. He argues against both "the sacred social square" (where pluralism is defrocked and one religion dominates at the expense of others) and "the naked public square" (in which religious citizens are not allowed to participate socially and politically on the basis of their deepest convictions).

Guinness grounds his reflections on a profound understanding of The First Amendment and its entailments. Contrary to many, he argues that civility is a higher virtue than mere tolerance. Moreover, civility requires knowledge and discipline; it is not the fruit of relativism, which despairs of objective moral knowledge and the pursuit of objective truth.

Readers of Guinness's previous and much larger work, The American Hour (1992), will find echoes in The Case for Civility, but the latter is far more than a digest of the former; it is, rather, a timely and clarion call to principled pluralism tied to the essence of the American experiment.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Argument February 26, 2008

By Tim Challies TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

"It would be a safe but sad bet that someone, somewhere in the world, is killing someone else at this very moment in the name of religion or ideology." Thus begins "The Case for Civility" by Os Guinness. Every day the media brings us stories of death and mayhem and often religion and ideology are to blame. The bookshelves at your local bookstore are groaning under the weight of books by atheists--Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins--who blame religion for many of the world's ills. But the record of nations that turned from religion have fared even worse. Guinness says, rightly I'm sure, that no question today is more urgent than this one: how do we live with our deepest differences--and especially our religious and ideological differences. This book is a proposal for restoring civility.

But it is deeper than that. It is a proposal for restoring civility first in America is a model for the rest of the world to follow. It is a call for the United States to take the lead in restoring civility. "The place at which we must begin to search for answers is the United States. Not because the problem is worse here than elsewhere--on the contrary--but because America has the best cultural resources, and therefore the greatest responsibility to point the way forward in answering the deepest questions." America is uniquely equipped to take the lead and Guinness urges her on.

Much of the answer to whether or not we'll learn to live with our deepest differences depends on rejecting two erroneous responses to the culture wars. First, we must say no to a "sacred public square"--a situation where one religion has a position of privilege or prominence that is denied to others. As he refutes the sacred public square, Guinness laments the state of the Religious Right and the damage it has done to faith in America. We must also say no to a "naked public square"--the situation where public life is left devoid of any religion. This is what is advocated by the new atheists. Both of these responses to the culture war are in contradiction to the Constitution.

The alternative to both is a "civil public square." "The vision of a civil public square is one in which everyone--peoples of all faiths, whether religious or naturalistic--are equally free to enter and engage public life on the basis of their faiths, as a matter of `free exercise' and as dictated by their own reason and conscience; but always within the double framework, first of the Constitution, and second, of a freely and mutually agreed covenant, or common vision for the common good, of what each person understands to be just and free for everyone else, and therefore of the duties involved in living with the deep differences of others." If we are to have a civil society, we must first have a civil public square.

Anticipating an objection that is sure to arise, Guinness makes sure the readers knows that he is not advocating some kind of false tolerance, the likes of which is too often advocated in our society. The tolerance he advocates is true tolerance--one that understands and affirms that there must be differences. It does not seek to eradicate differences, but instead seeks respect despite differences. It is important to understand that "the right to believe anything" does not mean "anything anyone believes is right." Though we need to respect a person's right to believe anything, there are times that we have a right and a duty to disagree with them.

Guinness concludes the book with a short list of challenges--places to begin in the quest to restore civility. These are things society must do, but things that must be spearheaded by individuals just like you. As an afterword Guinness includes the text of the Williamsburg Charter which he helped draft.

A particularly interesting thing about this book is that it is written by a man who, by virtue of his British birth, is excluded from being a leading part of the solution. He can write and propose, but not act. What he proposes, he proposes to American citizens. Meanwhile, I read and reviewed this book from a Canadian perspective. And I agree with much of what Guinness states here. America, it seems to me, is the nation best equipped to champion and to model the restoration of civility. Though not revered as she once was, America continues to be a nation that is looked to with respect and which has a global presence. She is a nation who has the constitutional foundation to model a truly civil public square. But the question remains: will she show the way forward?

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Disagreement - why we need to be able to and remain civil June 2, 2008

By Jonathan Morrow

Format:Hardcover

Os Guinness has done us all a great service in writing The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It. Always an articulate and sane voice, Guinness attempts to bring reason to the conversations / arguments that rage in America and beyond today. He notes, "Unquestionably, religion can be divisive, violent and evil. But also, unquestionably, secularism can be oppressive, murderous, and evil, too." He addresses issues like: What role does faith play in the public square? What role should it not play? Is secularism the answer? Moving beyond simplistic versions of the "new tolerance" where every view point is seen as "equally valid," Guinness helps us think about disagreements and how to disagree; yet in a way that affords dignity and respect--A truly important and timely work.

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