A conversation with Dr. Robert J. Schreiter, CPPS

Professor of Systematic Theology

and Vatican Council II Chair of Theology

The political polarization in our country is now the widespread subject of conversation and of debate. There is probably something inherently polarizing in political action in a democracy, as political parties and figures vie for that allegiance of voters. It is for that reason undeniably competitive. Yet many feel that this necessary competition has been taking on more shrill and destructive tones. Shouting louder than anyone else, putting down and ridiculing one’s opponents, and showing oneself to be utterly different (and better) than the others also seems to be threatening the social fabric.

Democracy promises freedom, and that is why the United States has embraced it from the very beginning. But polarizing action can come to threaten the very social cooperation that is necessary for there to be that forum at all. How can we confront the potentially destructive effects of polarization in our politics, which takes a necessary competition of visions of what our country should be that threaten to wreck the very society it is intended to strengthen and safeguard?