{"id":82773,"date":"2020-02-10T11:21:06","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T18:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=82773"},"modified":"2020-02-11T00:24:01","modified_gmt":"2020-02-11T07:24:01","slug":"on-the-crisis-of-contempt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html","title":{"rendered":"On “the crisis of contempt”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Skidmore's<\/a>
Dr. Arthur Brooks speaking at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland. (Public domain photograph by Gage Skidmore)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president of the conservative\/libertarian American Enterprise Institute and who is now a professor in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, was the keynote speaker at the recent National Prayer Breakfast. \u00a0He is a particular hero of mine. \u00a0I\u2019ve met him, briefly, and I\u2019ve written enthusiastically about his work (e.g., here<\/a> and\u00a0here<\/a>). \u00a0He\u2019s also, for whatever it\u2019s worth, an outspoken friend of Brigham Young University and, although himself a devout Catholic, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the National Prayer Breakfast, now in its 69th year and\u00a0traditionally nonpartisan, Professor Brooks implored us all, explicitly including himself, to transcend our current culture of contempt and called upon the Christians there and beyond to be genuine disciples of Christ, real Christians, loving our enemies. \u00a0The text of Dr. Brooks\u2019s remarkable speech is available through the website of the Washington Post<\/em>, if you\u2019re able to access that. \u00a0Or, alternatively, you can watch it on C-SPAN. \u00a0I strongly, strongly, strongly<\/em> recommend it; it runs only slightly longer than ten minutes.:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?c4853002\/user-clip-arthur-brooks-national-prayer-breakfast<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the close of his remarks, he expressed hope that that date, 6 February 2020 \u2014 which happened to be the day following the impeached Mr. Trump\u2019s acquittal by the Senate \u2014 would be the date on which our national healing could begin.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cArthur, I don\u2019t know if I agree with you,\u201d said President Donald J. Trump as he opened his own remarks. \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know if Arthur is going to like what I\u2019m going to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs everybody knows,\u201d he continued a few lines later, \u201cmy family, our great country, and your President, have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people.\u00a0 They have done everything possible to destroy us, and by so doing, very badly hurt our nation.\u00a0 They know what they are doing is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A few seconds later, although he didn\u2019t actually name them, he specifically attacked Senator Mitt Romney and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who was seated on the dais): \u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.\u00a0 Nor do I like people who say, \u201cI pray for you,\u201d when they know that that\u2019s not so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Curious, I watched Arthur Brooks during those comments. \u00a0He was seated about three or people down, to the president\u2019s left. \u00a0At first, like everyone else on the dais, he was sitting back, watching Mr. Trump as the president spoke. \u00a0He was facing to his right, toward the lectern. \u00a0Then, when Mr. Trump began to denounce \u201cvery dishonest and corrupt people,\u201d he turned and, without expression, looked straight forward. \u00a0He reached for his water and took a drink.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Mr. Trump declared\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.\u00a0 Nor do I like people who say, \u201cI pray for you,\u201d when they know that that\u2019s not so,\u201d Professor Brooks was staring intently down at the table before him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In closing, I invite you to read this very thoughtful piece by the wonderful evangelical conservative commentator David French:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWill Somebody Please Hate My Enemies for Me? \u00a0Donald Trump is making it even harder for Christians to defend him, and yet they still do.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry: \u00a0 Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president of the conservative\/libertarian American Enterprise Institute and who is now a professor in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, was the keynote speaker at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[8349,5021,8352,2655,5033,7914,4808,7650,2728,6822,8208,326,8361,8355,8358,4802,719],"class_list":["post-82773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arthur","tag-arthur-brooks","tag-brooks","tag-civility","tag-contempt","tag-david","tag-david-french","tag-donald","tag-donald-trump","tag-french","tag-mitt","tag-mitt-romney","tag-nancy","tag-national-prayer-breakfast","tag-pelosi","tag-romney","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nOn "the crisis of contempt"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"      I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry:   Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On "the crisis of contempt"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"      I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry:   Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-10T18:21:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-11T07:24:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/02\/Arthur_Brooks_32337281203-1-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html\",\"name\":\"On \\\"the crisis of contempt\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-10T18:21:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-11T07:24:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"      I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry:   Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On “the crisis of contempt”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On \"the crisis of contempt\"","description":"      I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry:   Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On \"the crisis of contempt\"","og_description":"      I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry:   Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2020-02-10T18:21:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-11T07:24:01+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2020\/02\/Arthur_Brooks_32337281203-1-1024x683.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html","name":"On \"the crisis of contempt\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-02-10T18:21:06+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-11T07:24:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"      I continue in the spirit of another very recent blog entry:   Arthur Brooks, who served for a number of years as the president","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/02\/on-the-crisis-of-contempt.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On “the crisis of contempt”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82773\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}