A New Alternative Political Conversation for Election 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 2, 2012

WENHAM, MA—In an election year of overheated, partisan rhetoric and political mudslinging, an invitation to listen and participate in an initiative known as Alternative Political Conversation (APC) comes at a critical time. The results of this conversation will help Christians and other citizens to clarify their own views on selected public policy issues in preparation for their voting decisions in November 2012.

The Alternate Political Conversation (APC) launched February 1 and will continue through the November 2012 elections with a new public policy issue for conversation announced every three weeks. The APC project is spearheaded by Harold Heie, senior fellow of the Center for Christian Studies at Gordon College and Steve Monsma, senior research fellow at the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College.

“The APC initiative promises to provide an important forum to model civility and mutual respect in a political climate that is too often marked by rancor and ill-will,” says Tal Howard, director of the Center for Christian Studies.

The APC will post regular commentaries by six Christian thinkers throughout 2012 leading up to the presidential election. Their goal is to “model an alternative political conversation (from thinkers) who situate themselves at various points along the political spectrum.” Their hope is that the conversations may help clarify for Christians and all citizens their own views “on public policies as they prepare for their voting decisions in November 2012.”

“We hope this Alternative Political Conversation will model a better way, providing a Christian approach, for persons who disagree about political issues to talk respectfully to one another,” says Heie. “Engaging someone with whom you disagree in respectful conversation about your differences is a deep expression of what it means to love that person.”

The APC initiative is co-sponsored by the Center for Christian Studies at Gordon College, the Henry Institute for Christianity and Politics at Calvin College and the Center for Public Justice in Washington, D.C. For information, visit www.respectfulconversation.net.

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