Grand Rapids — “We need healing when we use violence,” says Kevin Vallier at the Acton Institute’s “University,” an annual international gathering of nonprofit, faith-based, and civil leaders. The Acton Institute is named after the 19th-century Englishman Lord Acton, known best for the quote “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Here, the attendees are also motivated by his admonition that “liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.”
Vallier is talking about the so-called culture wars and politics more generally. He’s reflecting on the obvious: our polarized times. One side thinks that if the other side wins, it will be the end of life in the United States as it should be.
It’s been a year since the Supreme Court, in the Dobbs decision, ended Roe v. Wade. Clearly pro-life, Vallier says that he’s grateful for the ruling. But he also warns Republicans against overreaching. He makes a potentially controversial point in pro-life circles: As an act of peace, let states decide how to regulate abortion. For someone who believes that abortion is a human-rights travesty, this is a compromise. But the alternative, he argues, is that Democrats will go to an extreme to defend the “right” to kill babies in the womb.
An experienced Washington politico friend frequently reminded me of his conviction that Dobbs was too much, too soon. That’s essentially what Chief Justice John Roberts said in his concurring opinion in Dobbs. I am grateful for Dobbs because Roe was truly terrible in terms of law and science and history and the pressure that Roe applied on women to “choose” abortion. But I also see my friend’s point. We were not ready for Dobbs. None of us. After 50 years, America has grown used to abortion. It has changed us.
“I think violence always damages us, even if we use it justifiably,” Vallier says.
I think that is not just true for soldiers who bear the wounds of the violence they have been forced to use, I think it’s true of politicians. What is the use of violence in politics going to do to us? Even if we win? Especially if we win. What will we become? Who will we be? Who will be more like Christ in the end?
Acton’s summer gathering has drawn more than 900 people from across the globe — Africa and Brazil both had notable showings. The attendees come to hear lectures on fundamentals and reflections on the world as it is and how it could be. Some core lectures consider the human person, civil society, and political ordering. The leaders in the audience are practitioners of first principles; they are on the front lines. They are going on a retreat to remember why they started on their paths in the first place, to reflect on how they can do better and encourage one another.
As I listen to Vallier talk about how violence always damages us, I think about more than the obvious political violence we’ve seen. Black Lives Matter riots throughout 2020 and Donald Trump’s apparent inciting of violence at the Capitol on January 6 are probably the most familiar. But I also think of the violence of abortion and the suffering it causes — including to our politics.
Not everyone sees it that way. But they are wrong! But you’re wrong! Whatever side you are on, you feel you have to take a side in what is often talked about as a war. Vallier challenges us: What if we tried agreeing to disagree? Does it really have to be a war?
Shortly after listening to Vallier’s talk, I tuned in to MSNBC host Joy Reid, who was interviewing Kamala Harris about the Dobbs anniversary. I could feel my blood pressure rise, and I went to Twitter for a good rant. But I stopped myself. Abortion will never be ended over Twitter. And the Twitter conflict will only contribute to making people the worst versions of themselves.
Vallier is the author of Trust in a Polarized Age and the upcoming All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism. He clearly feels called to the thankless task of reminding people that there is more to life than politics. When you say such things, someone always counters that there is a war in America for freedom. If you’re of a conservative persuasion, you might talk about the trans movement. If you are on the left, you might argue that the Right is trying to take away women’s rights. “Every ideological tradition distorts things about others,” Vallier emphasizes, noting that we all have biases and that most of us don’t fully understand — or grasp at all — the mindset of people with whom we disagree about fundamental things.
Speaking directly to Christians, Vallier preaches about the priority of Jesus for Christians. Faith must come before politics and inform our political participation. And there’s a certain freedom that comes from the fact that
the Gospel does not fit any ideological traditions. . . . Christ defies our ideologies. . . . He disrupts them. We can stand on Christ our solid rock to depolarize. That is a critical power that sincere Christians have.
Vallier is speaking to an audience that is probably conservative. But I couldn’t help but think about the rosary in my purse and the chance that the president of the United States may have one in his pocket right now. I hope we both pray it. Can it draw us together? Maybe Joe Biden is the wrong example. Or is he? Years ago, Charles J. Chaput, when he was the Catholic archbishop in Philadelphia, made the point that Democrats should never have become the proponents of abortion because there were so many Catholics in the party. Obviously, Biden and others do not accept Church teaching on abortion. Others want to see Biden denied Communion over the issue of abortion. The latter is above my pay grade. But Christians who disagree on abortion could lead in helping women, while agreeing to disagree on whether abortion needs to end in America.
Don’t get me wrong, I want abortion to end in America — and yesterday. Or 50 years ago. But I also realize that the country isn’t there yet. I want lives to babe saved, but many people are languishing — including children in the foster-care system. Can we meet in less charged places — such as the heart of little ones in need of a home? It could be healing. It certainly wouldn’t be the road to more violence.
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.