Once again thinking about values today. My colleague at WUSTL, John Inazu, wrote a book called Confident Pluralism. He has been working with Tim Keller to promote it, looking for ways to seek the common good together in a fractured society.
The premise of confident pluralism is that we can make room for our differences even as we maintain our own beliefs and practices.
Which informs my notion of a A Secular-Confessional Society. Here are three values he puts forward:
The personal argument focuses on civic practices rooted in three aspirations: tolerance, humility, and patience.
Tolerance acknowledges that people should generally be free to pursue their own beliefs and practices. This is not the same as approval; it is much closer to endurance. We can usually respect people even if we don’t respect their ideas.
Humility recognizes that we will sometimes be unable to prove to others why we believe we are right and they are wrong.
Patience asks us to listen, understand, and empathize with those who see the world differently.
He approaches this as a lawyer. I wonder what this could mean for us as scientists.