Civility 101: A Sermon

Weissbard, Dave. "Civility 101: A Sermon." The Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockford, IL (June 8, 2003)

There is a single word which encapsulates belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity and compassion in human relations, acceptance of one another; the free and responsible search for truth and meaning, the right of conscience, the use of the democratic process, and the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all. That word is “civility.”

Civility is written about and talked about a lot these days. There are many who decry its decline in America. Some acknowledge that Europeans have always accused Americans of being short on civility, but even they acknowledge that it seems to have slipped dramatically of late.

Civility, Stephen Carter, the conservative African American law professor from Yale, tells us in his book of that name, was popularized in the 16th century by Desiderius Erasmus, the Dutch philosopher, who wrote De civilitate morum puerilium (On civility in children.) The concept of civilité is related to civilized and civilization. It has to do with how people live together. Its root means “member of the household.” Carter observes:

"To be civilized is to understand that we live in society as in a household, and that within that household, if we are to be moral people, our relationships with other people (our fellow citizens, members of our civic household) are governed by standards of behavior that limit our freedom. Our duty to follow those standards does not depend on whether or not we happen to agree with or even like each other."

There are ways in which we are expected to relate to one another. It has to do with courtesy, but even more with a modicum of respect. The democratic process is dependent upon the free exchange of ideas. It assumes that there will be differences in perspective and that those differences must be considered to arrive at a course of action.