Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: October 17, 2019 I don’t know about you, but the sorry state of what passes for debate these days — hair-trigger anger and social media carpet-bombing — beats me into believing that thoughtful discussion about life’s toughest stuff is dead and gone. Too often, I wind up feeling timid, tentative or just plain tired-head around hot-button issues. That’s why I went back to college last week to look into what I had heard were powerful efforts by one professor and her students to revive civil discourse. I didn’t find a magic potion for what ails society, but I did come back with better ideas on how to reengage. The timing couldn’t have been better, given the hotbed of political emotions [...]

Dallas Morning News Originally Posted: Septemeber 11, 2019 Jill DeTemple is associate professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University and a faculty associate at Essential Partners. She wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News. It's not too late to start listening. Giving ear and respect to other perspectives builds trust and a sense of community we have lost and desperately hope to regain. There's an opportunity to do this in classrooms, living rooms and assembly rooms. It starts with setting the stage and ground rules to promote honest and safe dialogue. It continues with free-flowing exchanges after we take a chance and learn why others believe what they believe. "I used to joke that I was a passive anarchist waiting for civilization to [...]