Civility: Talking With Those Who Disagree With You

What It Covers

Historians examine how civility evolved from ancient citizenship virtues through Reformation conflicts to modern tolerance debates, revealing its dual nature as both social glue and exclusionary tool across five centuries.

Key Questions Answered

• •Reformation rupture: Martin Luther deliberately rejected civility codes championed by Erasmus, using scatological insults and bodily imagery to attack opponents, establishing a pattern where religious reformers prioritized salvation over social decorum throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• •Hobbes' peace formula: Thomas Hobbes argued that civil war stemmed not from religious disagreement itself but from contemptuous expression of disagreement. His solution required citizens to conform outwardly to sovereign-mandated orthodoxy while maintaining private belief freedom—virtuous hypocrisy for peace.
• •Roger Williams' paradox: The Puritan founder of Rhode Island, banished for incivility, discovered greater civility among Native Americans than fellow Christians. He pioneered arguments that even those practicing devil worship deserved toleration if maintaining civil conduct—separating spirituality from civic behavior.
• •Civilization's dark side: Civility discourse became a colonization tool, labeling Irish Catholics and Indigenous Americans as barbarous savages requiring civilization. This justified domination while the slave trade employed civil conversation frameworks to argue for amelioration rather than abolition of slavery.