Shared from Passionist JPIC Australia
The recent US elections confronted me with the reality of political and religious fanaticism as I’ve never been confronted before. Even family members and friends seemed to blindly believe the slogans and online propaganda, to the point of getting upset and defensive when I tried to challenge their beliefs. I found it hard to comprehend that people could reject facts, reason, common sense to defend Trump or the conservative and narrow Catholic view of who Catholics should all vote for and support. As a result, now the dust has settled a little, I thought I’d try to explore in this blog article something of the psychology behind fanaticism.

​Paul Wadell is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI, and a member of the Passionist JPIC Committee

​Has civic discourse become impossible?  Are we so fragmented and polarized that common ground and consensus are "relics of a distant past?  Writer and teacher, Paul Wadell, walks us through a hopeful challenge in this essay, with a lens on "civic friendship."

​Over the last few years—and particularly since the 2016 elections—many have noted that the country has never been so fragmented and polarized. If once we at least talked about finding common ground on urgent issues and reaching consensus on the challenges facing our communities, cities, states, and country, now it’s tempting to conclude there is no reason to even try. Politics as we once knew it—and perhaps still hope it can be—seems increasingly beyond us, more a relic of a distant past than a present aspiration. And even if we want to move beyond this depressing impasse, it is hard to muster hope when many of the people who are elected to represent us seem more concerned with thwarting the opposition and courting special interest groups than seeking the common good. 

Obviously, something must change because if it doesn’t the social fabric of our country will only continue to deteriorate. Something must change because there is nothing hopeful, nothing promising, and certainly nothing magnanimous about a political discourse that is characterized more by suspicion, mistrust, selfishness, and animosity than by good will, respect, generosity of spirit, and even charity. Something must change and, strangely enough, a way out of the mess in which we find ourselves may be through friendship.