Pastor Foltz is Pastor Emeritus of Saint James Lutheran Church in Gettysburg, PA and author of the the Frontline Study content.
Another impactful change in just the last 5 years is the ability to hide one’s identity. That is evident in the present use of masks in public life. We got used to seeing people with their faces covered during COVID. Even though government regulations requiring these became controversial, we still expect people with communicable illnesses […]
Last week, I argued that one reason it is difficult for Christians to respond when events around us cry out for prophecy is that the wall between church and state has been severely damaged. Let me analyze a rather crude example to illustrate another cause. For some reason, probably because I read right-wing publications, I […]
In the past, I wrote a series on religion and politics in which I spoke of the wall between church and state being porous in ways that benefit both sides. Not being established, the church can support the government when warranted and prophetic when necessary. I ended up warning that the new Christian Nationalist movement […]
A week ago, I intended to answer the question “How do we overcome our conflicts and recover our decency?” in my study. I found myself casting aside one draft after another, feeling my answers might be correct, but they surely came across as trite. None captured the emotional despair of my friends who were really […]
The pope’s latest encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas” is subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” That is what the rules of civility do. They provide guidelines for safeguarding the human person. To be civilized is to protect the weak from being abused by the strong. To be truly human is to […]
During this series, readers reported on the loss of civility in driving, sports, and especially, social media. Last week I focused on public and private conversation. All observed that a change had taken place. There is less decency today than there used to be. We have to ask what happened. My personal experience attributes it […]
The closest thing to the “Rules of Civility” in the Bible is the Book of Proverbs. The “Rules” are supposedly the guidelines for success that George Washington used. Proverbs are purportedly those recorded by King Solomon from his experience. The two documents share many of the same guidelines, such as taking the lower seat, letting […]
The first and the last of George Washington’s “Rules for Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation” pretty much capture the spirit of the other 108. Number 1 is “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.” Number 110, “Labor to keep alive in […]
I became fascinated with rules of civility when reading Amor Towles’ book of the same name. One of the main characters tries to make it in Manhattan by using George Washington‘s “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” Apparently, our first president wrote this down when he was a teenager, perhaps simply […]
Let me end this series using immigration to illustrate what I’ve found. I chose the topic after a number of you said you would appreciate a theologically informed evaluation of the Trump administration. It seemed that repentance, viewed as rethinking, might do that. What started out as an examination of current events always developed into […]
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