Do not run from contempt; run toward it at full speed with your love.
Those were the words Professor Arthur C. Brooks delivered to a room of Deseret News staff and supporters, ahead of receiving the Deseret News Civic Charity Award on Wednesday.
The Deseret News reached its 175th birthday in June, and celebrated the milestone on Wednesday night with a gala in Salt Lake City.
Special guests at the gala included President Dallin H. Oaks, the First Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sister Kristen Oaks, Utah’s first lady Abby Cox, President and CEO of Deseret Management Jeff Simpson and many other distinguished religious, civic, and political leaders.
Brooks on politics, faith, hope and Utah
Brooks is a Harvard professor, a bestselling author and a self-described fan of Utah. Addressing his audience Wednesday night, Brooks said his work and ideas on happiness and love are synchronous with Utah.
On Sept. 10, Brooks happened to touch down in Salt Lake City just after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot. He quoted Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Russell M. Nelson who said in 2002, “Hatred among brothers and neighbors has now reduced sacred cities to sites of sorrow.”
President Nelson’s quote was delivered over two decades ago, and now hatred (especially political hatred) seems so much more rampant, Brooks said, calling the words “prophetic.”
How does America recover from this?
Brooks said he believes American politics is fueled by something more than anger and more than disgust. It has become infused by a combination of the two: contempt.
Contempt “is the conviction of the utter worthlessness of another human being. And that’s what American politics has become today,” Brooks said.
Much like a dysfunctional marriage, political parties are riddled with those who feel contempt for those on the other side of the political divide, and perceive their foes as worthless. The contempt is “almost like a physical attack,” Brooks said. “It’s a terrible thing. And that’s exactly how we treat each other in politics in America today.”
The solution to this contempt, Brooks believes, is learning to love our enemies again.
Being more “civil” and more “tolerant” is not the answer. “That’s not the right standard for us,” he said. “That’s not the ancient standard on which you built your church and we built ours.” Brooks is a devout Catholic.
Then Brooks quoted Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew chapter five, verse 44. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” he said.
“Are you strong enough for that? Are we strong enough for that?” he asked. “That’s the medicine we need. That’s the only thing that’s going to bring our country back together again.”
“We need people dedicated across the gospel of Jesus Christ who are going to do that and do it in public and do it with the means of communication, just like the Deseret News,” Brooks said.
Brooks gives a three-part homework assignment
To give people a game plan on how to love their enemies, Brooks laid out three steps.
First, “Stop being used and stop being monetized,” Brooks said. “When we hate for political reasons, somebody’s profiting, and it’s not us.”
Second, go out and find contention, and then “go running toward it with your body,” he said. Brooks then quoted Helaman from the Book of Mormon. “And as many as were convinced did lay down their weapons of war and also their hatred. And that’s how peace was made,” Brooks said.
Finally, Brooks urged his listeners to show gratitude for being American and evaluate how they are showing that gratitude.
Reflecting on the Deseret News’ reporting on Charlie Kirk
Before Brooks’ remarks, Deseret News Executive Editor Doug Wilks and Publisher Burke Olsen spoke at the event.
Wilks took a moment to explain how the newspaper was uniquely able to report on Charlie Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University, on Sept. 10.
Two reporters were on the ground at the event, and seconds after the shot struck Kirk, they wrapped their arms around each other and prayed.
Wilks explained that later that evening on Sept. 10, he asked them how they had the presence of mind to pray for Kirk and his family. Emma Pitts responded, “I didn’t want him to die in that car.”
“There is no better explanation than that comment to tell you about the example and the effort of our staff to do it correctly, to do it right,” Wilks said.
“What we do at the Deseret News is a reflection of who we are, and we try to do that every single day,” he said.
Wilks also thanked Abby Cox for her and Gov. Spencer Cox’s leadership after the shooting.