Good disagreement: Christian principle or vacuous buzzword?
by Harry Farley, Christian Today:
“Good disagreement” is a catchphrase doing the rounds at moment.
The Archbishop of Canterbury made it the central focus in his attempt to steer the Church of England through its ongoing debate on gay marriage. The Church’s process of “shared conversations”, an effort to reconcile opposing views on sexuality, “has at its heart a search for good disagreement”, said Welby.
The buzzword has stuck. Andrew Goddard and Andrew Atherstone compiled a book called Good Disagreement in mid-2015. A number of senior Anglicans contributed to the book, which explored the history and structures behind disagreement and reconciliation, another buzzword for Welby’s tenure as Archbishop.
Now the motif has extended to politics. Christians in Politics (CiP), a cross-party charity that aims to excite Christians about political engagement, recently launched a “disagree with tea” video. Andy Flannagan, director of both CiP and Christians on the Left, said “better tone” was needed in politics but that only came from better relationships.
“When you put relationships with political enemies first, you will continue to disagree but better language and better discourse will follow. What happens is a sharpening of each other’s opinions in a better way,” he told Christian Today.
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