Modern Age - Summer 2016 - 143

OUR FALSE GOD DIVERSITY

still have currency. New god terms have emerged since then:
"sustainability," for example, and "inclusion." And, of course,
"diversity."
Weaver rightly complained that god terms are conversation
stoppers and notoriously vague, but they're inevitable because
we can't explain everything at once. We need summations of our
ideals, verbal touchstones, slogans for our ill-defined but heartfelt convictions. Although I can't invoke "diversity" with Tom's
and Karen's straight-faced earnestness, I can sympathize with
what they want to promote and protect with this god term. The
best way to respond to their enthusiasm about the diversity of
their neighborhood, then, is to try to understand the ideals, the
hopes, the fears, and the suspicions that they pack into that word.
Tom has an advanced degree; Karen went to an elite East Coast
college. Products of the meritocracy, articulate and self-possessed,
they're winners in the game of life as it's now played, with highpowered Washington jobs that give them influence and status
and more than a decent income. Still, the American democratic
spirit, which they share, makes them worry about the temptation
to imagine that they're superior and deserve to live on a higher
plane than everyone else. This egalitarian conviction has roots in
the double heritage of our nation. Christianity teaches that we're
all equal in the eyes of God, who is "no respecter of persons," and
the Enlightenment insists that all men are endowed with natural
rights that are more fundamental than their status in society.
We acknowledge hierarchies. No social system can do without
them. On the job, the boss is the boss. In the classroom, the teacher
is in charge. But our Christian and Enlightenment heritage trains
us to see these distinctions as necessary in some circumstances
but not ultimate. When they have left the parade ground, the
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Modern Age - Summer 2016

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Contents
Modern Age - Summer 2016 - Cover1
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Modern Age - Summer 2016 - Contents
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