The other day I was listening to an interview by Michael Steele with David French. David is a conservative evangelical who is critical of the rise of divisive, dominant and dominating Christian Nationalism in the USA today. David is a columnist for the New York Times and the author of many books including ‘Divided We Fall’ (2020). I was fascinated by his approach to conducting constructive conversations in an increasingly polarized society.

David says: “I encounter somebody there’s sort of two ways. I approach a conversation if somebody is saying “you know I heard the 2020 election was stolen by Italian military satellites, is that true?” Now that question that’s an invitation to an actual conversation and I’ll dive into that all day long. But if somebody is saying “the 2020 election was stolen by those Italians!” That is a declaration. They don’t want to have a conversation; they want a confrontation. And I don’t want to play that game. I will sort of say “Hey can we not talk about that right now because the (basketball) finals are about to start. Who you got?” By moving them off politics (and) sort of reintroducing yourself to them as a fully realized human being (with common interests) then when politics comes back into play there’s just more nuance and there’s just more regard (for the person) and appreciation for the (person’s) opposing point of view.”

Now sometimes confrontation is not avoidable. Indeed it may be necessary. But if we want to promote dialogue in a polarised society, I think David’s approach is worth experimenting with.

Dave Andrews

David French’s Stark Warning for Evangelicals | Michael Steele Podcast May 25, 202538:38 to 40:01