Does Neutrality Equal Silence?

Last updated on: January 22, 2014 at 7:17 am by Andrew Marin

Does Neutrality Equal Silence? 2014-01-22T07:17:49-06:00 Andrew Marin

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This post is written by Andrew Marin, President and Founder of The Marin Foundation

I woke up this morning in beautiful Scotland to an email with a link where someone wrote the following:

I agree with Dante, that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.” -Martin Luther King, Jr

I’m looking at you, Andrew Marin

To no one’s surprise, the person who wrote that heartfelt statement about me is quite an outspoken partisan activist. In essence, the impetus for their thought process is that I have not advocated for the policies in which they deem the only acceptable policy in the only acceptable means to obtain it. I’m not going to give this one more ounce of energy that it deserves, but I do feel it needs to be briefly addressed because I’m tired of the every-so-often misrepresented critique of the work of a bridge builder.

Because one does not take a hardline stance advocating for partisan policy, that either end of the worldview spectrum so desperately yearns for the bridge builder to take their side, does not make the bridge builder neutral. Or more importantly, it does not make the bridge builder silent.

In his book Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf explores the key structural elements of how to measure and quantify “successful reconciliation.” This is the beginning of that exploration (italics his):

“For Jeremiah (9:4-6) and Paul (2 Cor 4:2) the point of speaking the truth, as proposed to deceiving, is not to win the contest in whose “mind” can better correspond to the actual “facts,” but to name adequately what transpires between people. Recent epistemological discussion suggests that no more than that seems possible because all experience relies on prior interpretation and all interpretations are offered in particular languages and guided by particular interests.

Merely telling the truth will not suffice, however. One must do truth…

In the terminology of Michel Foucault, because knowledge of truth is never “pure”—at least it is not pure when it comes to the kinds of knowing that are more significant than knowing the phone number of your grandfather—but always already immersed in the multiple relations of power that shape the self.”

And let me make this very clear: When The Marin Foundation “does truth,” our truth is quadruply-layered in response to the author of the email’s link in how they define “times of moral crisis”:

The Marin Foundation’s four-fold work of doing truth:

*Facilitating peaceful dialogue with both sides of the culture war present, in person, at the same time, such that one has to face their enemy, producing a shared sense of humanity;

*Helping both sides of the culture war understand their differences with their other, such that it produces a shared, more humanlike quality, to those considered one’s enemy;

*Living into an overarching worldview of loving those that one perceives as their enemies; and finally,

*Strongly advocating for the legitimacy of one’s dignity, and the humanity for their life’s story, because it is valid, legitimate, and it has led them to their current point. Indeed, one’s life story will always be as such–just as real and raw as each of their brothers and sisters’ understanding of theirs.

That is how we “do truth.”

Dictating cultural normalcy must never be about worldview dominance, but about oppressor and the oppressed working together to create a holistic system, an actual holistic system, that is based on the sustainability of bipartisan ethics, rather than the train wreck mess of engagement (if one can actually call “it” engagement?) that we have today.

Much love.

www.themarinfoundation.org

Bridging Opposing Worldviews

Living in the Tension

Love Is an Orientation

Previous Post

November 25, 2013

An Area Evangelicals Might Learn From the LGBT Community

Next Post

November 29, 2013 What is "Good" Activism?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book Reviews Bridging Opposing Worldviews Culture Don't Drink and Drive Faith Guest Posts I'm Sorry Campaign Interviews Language Laura Statesir LGBT Living in the Tension Living in the Tension Gatherings Love Is an Orientation Love Is an Orientation Blog Love Is an Orientation Book Love Is an Orientation DVD Melinda Guerra Memory My One Sentence Bible Newsletter Our Last Option Parents & Families Politics Quick Quotes Quotes ReEngaging Civility Sexuality Speaking The Marin Foundation Theology Uncategorized Us Versus Us Videos Warren Perry Youth and Campus Ministry

Select a Month June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz