Peacemaking was the theme of the 12th annual Iowa Religious Freedom Symposium held in Des Moines earlier this month. A wide range of belief, and even unbelief, was welcomed and respected. One of the speakers even focused on how secularism and atheism have an essential place in societal peacemaking.
In America today, we need peacemaking and spaces to learn about others, and we all could benefit from the messages put forth at this event.
I was especially moved by Shirley Mullen’s keynote address on the courage and cost of choosing to be a peacemaker. She served as president of Houghton University, a private Christian liberal arts college in New York State, and is the author of the 2024 book “Claiming the Courageous Middle.” I read it recently in preparation for the symposium, and I’m glad I did.
Mullen notes that Americans who stand in the middle of the edges of American political debate are often, and unfortunately, seen as weak and cowardly.
That resonates with me, since I’ve written before about ways we can encourage political civility. Part of the answer is standing in the middle — suspending your views for a time — so you can hear, with humility and genuineness, the different religious and political voices so you can understand others with dignity and accuracy. Then you make your own decision. But the act of hearing another person and of being listened to is existentially powerful. Hearing the voices of those who have politically different views takes strength and discipline. There is nothing spineless about it.
As I say in my recent book on how to heal a nation through Christlike political civility, I don’t think that, in America, we appreciate our Founding Fathers because they make us laugh. They were engaged in disciplined and somber reflection as they prepared their thoughts, debates and dialogues, and all were concentrated readers. They were in the middle space that Mullen outlines, exchanging ideas, deliberating, changing views ... and the Miracle in Philadelphia was born and the sacred U.S. Constitution was birthed.
Achieving cognitive elasticity is psychologically challenging work, but people with this middle ground tend to flourish in life and have some of the best marriages and community relationships.
As a licensed mental health counselor, I sometimes work with couples in crisis. Hearing your partner and being willing to change your mind is paramount for conflict resolution. Finding a win-win middle ground is key.
Previously, I have argued that their willingness to seek middle ground is part of what made George Washington and Abraham Lincoln the best American presidents. In Mullen’s book, she also underscores biblical leaders who were grounded in the middle. It’s possible to firmly stand on core religious values while being open enough to hear the voices of others with various political and religious views, and sometimes even make changes and adjustments to your worldview.
I am reminded of the public debate about race between Jane Addams and Ida B. Wells in 1901. It was about an intense and volatile subject — the lynching of Black men. Although they disagreed with one another, Wells and Addams remained lifelong friends. Wells even referred to Addams as “the greatest woman in the United States” in her autobiography.
These two women could have attacked each other like so many Democratic and Republican government leaders of today, but they did not. Instead, after the public debate, they worked together and had tremendous respect and admiration for one another despite their acute variance of opinion.
Wells was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which was formed in 1909. Addams was born in 1860 into a highly affluent family and went on to open Hull House, a Settlement House in a poor district in Chicago. She was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and was the founder of the Women’s International League of Peace.
Both women demonstrated an ability to listen to opposing viewpoints. Both chose to find a courageous middle in addressing their different views.
How might America be different if more people tried to understand others with different views?
Rodney B. Dieser is the author of seven books and more than 100 academic articles. He is a professor in health, recreation and community services at the University of Northern Iowa and also works as a licensed mental health counselor at Wartburg College, a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Waverly, Iowa. His latest book, Cease to Contend, was published in April.