The New Global Civility

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“And
as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth
of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility
in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we
differ.

     “Help us to share, to serve and to
seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work
for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and
a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all
nations and all people will stand accountable before you.”*
—Rick Warren’s Inaugural Invocation,
1/20/09

“….the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of
tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller,
our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America
must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace….

   
“What is required of us now is a new era of
responsibility–a recognition, on the part of every
American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and
the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but
rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is
nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our
character, than giving our all to a difficult task.”
—President
Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address,

1/20/09

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Welcome to the new era of global
“civility,” the emergence of a civic “common
ground” happening at the global level.
It is no accident that Rick Warren was
invited to deliver the invocation at
President Obama’s Inaugural. “Civility” is a
term laden with special meaning to those who
have goals to change the governance
structures of society at the international
level. To the average American, “civility”
is one of those mantra-type buzz words that
invokes nice feelings of camaraderie,
implying polite disagreements. But in the
new order of things “civility” is destined
to become a way to shut off the more
polarizing aspects of culture and theology.
In this series Herescope will conduct an
in-depth look at this issue.

Rick Warren’s Global P.E.A.C.E. Civility


Since Rick Warren is at the forefront of the
new global civility movement, it is
important to investigate what this might
mean. His newly formed Saddleback
Civil Forums
leaped onto the global stage when he brought
in the nation’s presidential candidates for
a high-profile joint appearance, described
by Warren as “a
civil
and thoughtful format absent the partisan
‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light.”[1]
This particular Civil Forum was said to be Warren’s:

“…latest attempt to introduce
civility
into public
discourse, even if it irks some of
his fellow evangelicals. Warren faced biting
criticism in 2006 when Obama spoke at his
church for a global AIDS summit. Last year
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)
appeared at another AIDS conference at the
church.”
[2]

New civility of this nature is accompanied
by a shift in political alignment. One
article commented, “The 54-year-old pastor,
they say, is emblematic of a
new breed
of evangelicals who put
social
justice ahead of partisan politics….”[3]
But already Warren has

run afoul of this maneuver, managing to
alienate both the Left and the Right on the
gay marriage and abortion issues.
Nevertheless, the old polarizing political
debates are destined to subside when the new
era of global civility takes over.
Existentially one will be permitted to hold
their own beliefs, but beliefs are not to
become manifest in the public square unless
they fit the prefabricated criteria of
“tolerance,” “justice” and “responsibility.”
And it must all be done under the banner of
a mushy feel-good “love,” accompanied by the
prerequisite

community service –

“Jesus told us to love our neighbor,” Warren
said, “even if they don’t agree with you.”
[4]

Rick Warren describes the new civility as
entailing “responsibility” and
“credibility,” however these terms come to
be defined:

“these
Civil Forums further my three other life
goals: helping individuals accept responsibility,
helping the Church regain credibility
and encouraging our society to return to
civility….”
[5]

Another reason for this new civility is
exemplified by the catch-phrase “common
ground for the common good.” A press release
by A. Larry Ross described the joint
appearance by Obama and McCain at the
Saddleback Civil Forum as “Pastor Rick
Warren Stakes Out
Common
Ground for the Common Good in
Presumptive Presidential Nominees First Joint Appearance.”[6]

The Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health,
held in Washington, D.C. this past November,
honored President George W. Bush on World
AIDS Day with a newly minted “International
Medal of PEACE” award for his “Humanitarian
Initiatives.” This award was said to be
“given on behalf of Rick Warren’s newly
created Global PEACE Coalition,” which is
described as “a plan of epic ambition, to
turn at least half of the world’s tens of
millions of Christian churches into a giant
“network of networks” dedicated to relieving
the poverty and misery of the developing
world.”
[7]
A
“network of networks” is precisely what
the
3-legged stool
looks like at the global
level – an interlocking and interconnecting
collaborative hub. Obviously, if the church
is supposed to “get along” with everybody
and everything, it helps if all of the sharp
edges have been removed so that no one can
become offended by the Gospel. This
Washington-based Saddleback “civility” event
was described as including all
three legs of the 3-legged stool:

“Leading representatives from the
U.S.
Congress;
faith- and
community-based organizations;
non-governmental organizations; the
diplomatic community; multilateral groups;
foundations; local churches and
representatives from other
private
sector entities are being invited to
attend this invitation-only, ticketed event.
[8]

In fact, the new civility requires the
building of the
3-legged stool, a mammoth endeavor to
bridge networks of public, private and
corporate entities into a
single international system. The easiest
way to do this is through various crises in
healthcare. For example, according to
another A. Larry Ross press release, Rick
and Kay Warren

“moderated a panel of Rwandan
government
and church
leaders; business and medical experts;
and Saddleback HIV/AIDS Initiative
directors… to address the issue of
global
partnership ventures to help people
living with HIV/AIDS in a satellite session
titled, “Government,
Faith and Business: Building Effective
Multi-Sector Partnerships,” was held
…Tuesday, August 5, 2008… as part of the
XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico
City”

The press release stated that

“community health” would be the platform
and the “common
purpose” for building this
collaborative networking
3-legged hub.

“This satellite session differed from all
others during the six-day, biennial
conference in that it focused on a
revolutionary concept of
transforming
health care delivery through the full
engagement of the local
church
linked to existing
health care
systems to work together for the
common
purpose of
community health.”

“Both a
one-legged and a
two-legged
stool will fall over, but a
three-legged
stool will stand,” Pastor Warren
explained. “There is a
public
sector role of
government
and NGOs; there is the
private or
profit sector role of businesses; and
there is the faith sector role of churches and
houses of worship.”
[9]

Giving an indication of how his
“Second Reformation” concept ties in to
the

new era of global civility,
Rick Warren,
speaking at a Sunday Forum at the Washington
National Cathedral a year ago on the topic
of “A New Century: A New Reformation,”
linked “religious
pluralism” to the idea of “trying to
increase civility in the world”–
something he refers to as “promote
reconciliation through service” as part of
his Global P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
[10]

Rick Warren also signed the “Loving God and
Neighbor Together: A Christian Response
to ‘A Common
Word Between Us and You’” document,
which is a study in the emerging global
civility of pluralism and ecumenism.[11]
This document sets the stage for what are
rapidly becoming
civic religions, i.e. historic faiths
denuded of their foundational theological
trappings and propped up in the public
square as laudable examples of intentional
ambiguity and saccharine tolerance. “A
Common Word” has been described by the
Tony Blair Faith Foundation as a

“letter issued by 138 Muslim clerics,
scholars and intellectuals, addressed to all
Christian leaders across the globe, in
October 2007. It was prompted by a deep
concern over the state of Christian-Muslim
relations and a firm conviction that
Christians and Muslims are bound together by
a common
belief in the
Unity
of God and a shared commitment to the dual
commands to love both God and neighbour. It
invited dialogue on that basis.”
[12]
 

Tony Blair’s Global Civic Religion


In fact, Tony Blair is leading the way with
creating a more tolerant global civic
religion. Describing a Yale Divinity School
Center for Faith and Culture conference on
the topic of finding common ground between
the faiths, the
Tony Blair Faith Foundation, explained
several key tenets of the new common ground:
1) Your faith can no longer be private, and
2) It must serve the common good.

“Religion is
not simply a private affair, a common
misconception in the West in particular, but
a force
with profound implications for the
public arena….
Prince Ghazi stressed that this was not an
attempt to create an artificial union
between the two faiths but an endeavour to
find an essential common ground, the better
to ensure
that religions are part of the solution
and not an
impediment.”
[13]

According to one news account, the
participants at this Yale Conference
“unanimously approved a
cooperative
statement that signaled a new
beginning of collaboration
between Christians and
Muslims where stronger assertions of faith
would be not just be allowed
but required.”
[14]

Note that this emerging religion of civility
requires
collaboration and cooperation. The
3-legged stool isn’t optional, it is
mandatory. Tony Blair described his
ongoing exploration of the “multiple aspects
of faith and globalisation” at Yale
University, where his Faith Foundation is
now situated. In an e-mail dated December
17, 2008, he explained how

“religious
faith and
economic
and social
globalisation are
partners – globalisation needs
values
to succeed. In pushing people together,
globalisation has made multicultural and
multi-religious societies, and it is
necessary now for
human
capital and
spiritual
capital to link. This, combined with
an increased need for
multi-faith
dialogue and
action,
will in time be seen as a
defining
question, and perhaps the leading
question of the 21st century.”
[15]

Clearly, this new civic faith is being used
as a tool to facilitate the expansion of
globalization, i.e.
global governance. It is therefore
significant that Rick Warren sits on the
Advisory Board of the Tony Blair Faith
Foundation.[16]
The offensive concept of

“human
capital“ – that man has an
economic worth to Society – is linked to
“spiritual capital” in this quotation by
Blair above; and
one must ask how “spiritual capital” will be assessed.
TIME
Magazine reported that Tony Blair
thinks

“faith
can be used to induce
ignorance,
fear and a withdrawal of communities
into mutually
antagonistic
spheres at just the time that
globalization is breaking down
barriers between peoples and nations. “Faith
is part of our future,” Blair says,
“and faith
and the values it brings with it are an
essential part of
making
globalization work.” For Blair,
the goal is
to rescue faith from the twin
challenges of
irrelevance—the
idea that religion is no more than an
interesting aspect of history—and
extremism.”
[17]

The opposite of this kind of civility
according to these definitions, then, is
ignorance, fear, or extremism. To accomplish
these aims, Blair is also piggybacking his
ideals onto the global community healthcare
agenda,
utilizing the 3-legged stool. His “group
has received
donations
and pledges in the tens of
millions of dollars from
individuals,
charitable groups, companies and
governments.”
[18] His
goals sound very similar to those of Rick
Warren.

Blair now wants to tap into the
global links
that have been built between development
activists and people of faith. “Faith,”
he says, “can
be a civilizing force in globalization,”
which will doubtless be the theme of the
course on the topic that he will be teaching
at Yale this fall. His foundation will seek
to partner
with organizations to
advance the
U.N.’s eight Millennium Development Goals
adopted in 2000. Blair’s first target is
malaria,
which kills around 850,000 children each
year; many of these deaths could be easily
avoided by prophylactic bedding. “If you got
churches and mosques and those of the Jewish
faith working together to provide the bed
nets that are necessary to eliminate
malaria,” says Blair, “what a fantastic
thing that would be. That would show
faith in
action, it would show the importance
of cooperation between faiths, and it
would show what faith can do for progress.”
[19]

The new global civility includes supporting
the
United Nations, being enthusiastic for
the “cooperation between faiths,” and being
willing to partner with just about anyone
and anything in order to solve problems like
the global healthcare crises. It isn’t just
a matter of agreeing with the principles,
however. Each and every global citizen will
soon be
called upon to “show faith in action.”

Stay tuned for Part 2. . . .

The Truth:

“

For they
stumbled at that stumblingstone.”
 Romans
9:32b

Endnotes:
1.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/07-21-2008/0004852126&EDATE=
“Presumed Presidential Nominees McCain and
Obama to Make First Joint Campaign
Appearance on August 16 at Saddleback
Church.”
2.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-warren13-2008aug13,0,5700586,
“Visits by McCain, Obama to Orange County
church underscore Pastor Rick Warren’s
prominence,” by Duke Helfand,
Los Angeles
Times, August 13, 2008.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5.
http://www.rickwarrennews.com/docs/081124_civil_forum.pdf
“SADDLEBACK CIVIL FORUM ON GLOBAL HEALTH
TO HONOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH ON WORLD
AIDS DAY: President to Receive First
‘International Medal of PEACE’ for
Humanitarian Initiatives,” A Larry Ross
press release, 11/24/08.
6. A. Larry Ross press release, 8/16/08,
http://www.rickwarrennews.com/docs/080816_civil_forum_wrap.pdf
7.
TIME
Magazine,
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1809833,00.html
“Rick Warren Goes Global,” by David Van
Biema, May. 27, 2008.
8.
http://www.rickwarrennews.com/docs/081124_civil_forum.pdf
“SADDLEBACK CIVIL FORUM ON GLOBAL HEALTH
TO HONOR PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH ON WORLD
AIDS DAY: President to Receive First
‘International Medal of PEACE’ for
Humanitarian Initiatives,” A Larry Ross
press release, 11/24/08.
9. Cited in article
http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08080030.htm
August 6, 2008, Pastor Rick & Kay Warren
Bring Together Leaders To Discuss
Unification Of Expertise To Stop HIV/AIDS:
Saddleback Church Hosts International AIDS
Conference Satellite Session on the
Partnership of Government, Business & the
Church, by Dan Wooding.
10.
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/centennial/SF080127.shtml

11. See
Herescope post
http://herescope.blogspot.com/2007/11/rethinking-peace-loving-god-and.html
“Rethinking P.E.A.C.E. – Loving God and
Neighbor Together,” 11/26/07.

12. “A Further
Step Forward for Muslim-Christian
Relations,” 8/8/08,
http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/2008/08/a-further-step-forward-for-mus.html
13. Ibid.
14. “Christian-Muslim Statement Among First
Fruits of ‘Common Word’ Gathering,” 8/3/08,
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080803/christian-muslim-statement-among-first-fruits-of-common-word-gathering.htm
15.
http://dotm1.net/cr.aspx?hval=%2fB4gYBhIdAO9qORMvNrNpHbRo4M%3d%40%3a%40787414%40%3a%40468392003
16.
http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/about-us/who-we-are/advisory-council.html
17. “Tony Blair’s Leap of Faith,” by Michael
Elliott/Bethlehem,
TIME
Magazine, 5/28/09,
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810020,00.html
18.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/30/america/REL-Blair-Religion.php

19. “Tony
Blair’s Leap of Faith,” by Michael
Elliott/Bethlehem,
TIME
Magazine, 5/28/09, link added.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810020,00.html