[Vision2020] the shrill get shriller

[Melynda Huskey]

Ben and Eric, in different ways, point to a concern I have for the quality 
of our conversation:  we're getting mired in artificial divisions that 
hinder fruitful conversation.

As long as we are enmeshed in a two-and-only-two-party dispute, we can't 
move.  Pretty soon it's all testicles and God-haters, and the conversation 
is over--for a while.  Conflict theory teaches that two preconditions have 
to exist for conflict:  competing needs and interdependence.  This fight is 
still simmering because we aren't living together very well and we can't not 
live together.  Neither of those conditions is going to change by itself.

That's not to suggest that ideas are without consequences, or that we could 
somehow reach a warm fuzzy agreement if we'd just listen to each other.  
Every time a Christ Church ad appears which accuses me/us of being stupid 
heretics, it pushes my buttons, I freely admit.  And conflicts can only be 
resolved if everybody is present in good faith, willing to listen, to be 
flexible, to learn from each other.  We may not have that good faith with 
one another--we certainly don't have much trust.

For me, this is the bottom line.  We're going to go on living together; is 
this the way we want to do it?

Melynda Huskey

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