What's Happening
This article by Braver Angels Arkansas state coordinator Glen White was published May 9, 2024, on Good Faith Media's website. Good Faith Media is a national media organization that features online content.
How To Make Morally Based Political Decisions - by Glen White
EXCERPT: In civilized society, our decisions don’t usually involve life or death. But it still feels dangerous to have opinions that differ from our peer group. As a result, we cling to the beliefs of our peer group, usually without conscious awareness of doing so.
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Much of the current political conversation seems crude, hostile and immoral. Yet our country's founders stressed that a virtuous, educated and moral citizenry is critical for the functioning of our Democratic Republic.
Thomas Jefferson said: “…no government can continue good but under the control of the people…to be encouraged in habits of virtue … to follow truth as the only safe guide...to render the people a sure basis for the structure of order & good government.” So, are we behaving virtuously, based on moral standards, in our political views and voting behavior?
Most of us are confident that we make reasoned decisions based on our moral values. Social sciences research suggests otherwise. Drs. Daniel Kahneman and Herbert Simon won Nobel Prizes for research on how our political, economic and other life decisions are often based on emotional or “tribal” factors.
When we hold conflicting views, one of which goes against our professed moral standards, while the other conflicts with our tribe’s stance, the strong urge is to go along with the group’s opinion. Peer pressure doesn’t end with the teenage years!
Our tribal urges seem to be related to our evolutionary history, where going against our group risked our being banned from the tribe and left alone to survive in a dangerous world. Thus, we evolved a brain that tends to agree with our group’s beliefs, even when those beliefs go against our individual calculations.
In civilized society, our decisions don’t usually involve life or death. But it still feels dangerous to have opinions that differ from our peer group. As a result, we cling to the beliefs of our peer group, usually without conscious awareness of doing so.
However, we are not doomed to be enslaved to our emotions or the beliefs of our peer group. It is a tough task and requires constant attention and practice but we can delay our impulses and let reason and adherence to our moral standards reduce the pull of anger, fear and peer pressure.
We must regularly exercise our higher cognitive brain functions to help moderate the strong, primitive urges of the survival mechanisms that make us vulnerable to emotional reasoning and tribal pressure. Humans have recognized this challenge and developed rational, legal and moral standards to guide us and to counteract our baser instincts.
However, this isn’t foolproof. Do you think you are too smart to be controlled by emotions and peer influence?
There is good evidence that high intelligence can also be used to develop rationalizations that defend our emotionally based decisions. A high IQ doesn’t ensure better decision-making.
How can we ensure we are operating based on moral standards rather than emotional or tribal factors? For one, start with intellectual humility, the willingness to acknowledge that we make mistakes and don't always get it right. If we are unwilling to entertain the possibility we may get some things wrong, we miss the chance to self-correct when we veer off the righteous path.
Another helpful practice is to, when possible, delay your responses and decisions, especially if emotion or peer influence is involved. We learned to count to ten as children when we are angry rather than give in to the instinctive urge to punch that annoying classmate in the face. This uses the higher-level reasoning parts of our brains to delay or inhibit our primal impulses, giving us time to make better decisions.
As grown-ups, take time to think carefully and rationally. Always seek out verifiable facts to help your decision-making. This usually means listening to credible, substantive arguments by those with whom you disagree.
Instead of treating disagreements as personal attacks, see them as opportunities to explore differing views as part of an effective problem-solving strategy. This can sometimes help us find common ground with others and to work together in areas where we agree.
The best way to accomplish this is to learn and use ways of interacting and communicating that promote honesty in a civil and respectful manner. The goal of each human interaction should be to seek common ground and strengthen the relationship, not to defeat your “enemy” by winning an arugment.
If someone is unwilling or unable to go this route, respectfully remove yourself from them and find someone else who may eventually be open to having a respectful relationship, even in the face of strong differences.
Focus on consistently identifying and following sound moral standards as an individual or as part of a group. Humans have long explored and developed moral standards in a group context within a religious community, working to improve behavior and abide by widely shared standards. The “Golden Rule” (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) is a moral standard that has is found in each major world religion.
Other key sources of guidance can be found in philosophical schools of thought and legal codes (“the rule of law,” which makes societal decisions based on codes of law rather than social influence, power, financial status, or group identity).
Also, recent scientific findings show the value of positive attitudes and behaviors in promoting a better quality of life and mental/physical health. These could also help us develop standards for behavior and in political decision-making.
Another group process for pursuing personal virtue is through working with others in a community group devoted to common goals. We are increasingly seeing attempts to heal our political climate and decision-making through the work of Braver Angels and other such organizations. These groups are organized around specific, positive standards, such as maintaining respect and civility when talking with others whose beliefs differ from ours.
Of course, in groups of any type, including religion, people are susceptible to groupthink and having the group adhere to a mistaken or even dangerous notion so caution is in order. The ability of a group to become convinced of a malevolent idea as moral is powerful.
Whether your tribe is your church, political party, friends or family, always be ready to question the group’s decisions if they go against your moral standards. It takes courage and conviction, but stand up for what you believe is right, even when you feel your tribe is taking an ill-advised course of action or promoting beliefs you find immoral.
Finally, remember what is at stake in pursuing virtuous, engaged citizenry: the health and survival of our democratic republic. If that is important to you, commit to consistently follow your moral values rather than social pressure from a tribe when they conflict.
When you fail to find a willing partner in reaching across divisions, do as Jesus suggested to the apostles when directing them to spread his teachings about love and reconciliation: shake the dust off your shoes and move on to the next person.
For more information on Braver Angels and the work we do to promote civil discourse: National website:www.braverangels.org; Arkansas website: www.arkansas.braverangels.org; E-mail: ar-coordinators@braverangels.org
J. Glen White, PhD, State Co-coordinator, Braver Angels Arkansas
Ray Hanley, Alliance Co-chair, Braver Angels Arkansas
This guest editorial was published January 24, 2022 in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: Restore Civility: Hope for Better Understanding. (click on arrow at right to open full article)
Restore Civility: Hope for Better Understanding
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; 24 Jan 2022
Guest writers Glen White (gwhite@braverangels.org) and David Childs (dchilds@braverangels.org) are state co-coordinators of Braver Angels in Arkansas.
How are your new year’s resolutions coming? How about adding this critical resolution: “In 2022 I will commit to help restore civility to political discussions in America.”
If you, like most of us, are disturbed by the rancor and hostility that is increasingly evident in our country, you know that we need the help of as many citizens as possible to turn America in a positive direction. The danger of extreme political polarization and societal incivility, not only here but around the world, is real.
Political scientists and other professionals have noted a persistent relationship between high polarization in a society and degradation of its democratic institutions. Continuing down this path jeopardizes democracy and freedom for all of us. More of us must resolve to help turn down the political temperature.
There is hope that we can turn things around in our pursuit of “a more perfect union.” Braver Angels, as the largest and most effective U.S. organization working to reduce polarization, provides education and skills training to promote more civil, respectful conversations across the political divide.
Braver Angels has been working in Arkansas since 2017 to spread the word about how people with different political beliefs can communicate effectively with each other, often resulting in finding some common ground. Once enough of us adopt this approach, voters will become more likely to elect persons to office who seek common ground as a basis for compromise on many of the serious problems we face today.
Our politicians face pressure to act in highly emotional, partisan ways, even when it might be at the expense of problem-solving for the greater good of all Americans. Voters must help support those in government who are willing to work across the aisle where common ground can be found, and we must start holding them accountable for solving problems, instead of prioritizing polarized partisan tribal battles.
We heard an encouraging story recently from a past participant at one of our local Braver Angels skills workshops that provided training in skills for engaging those of differing political views in effective, civil conversation. Those skills include listening to understand the other’s point of view, describing one’s own views clearly but respectfully, and committing to improving the communication exchange, not to changing the other’s beliefs.
The woman described with excitement how she was able to use her new skills during a recent holiday family get-together. Some of her favorite kin, who had long shared similar political views, had changed their opinions, and she found that distressing.
Yet, remembering the skills that she had learned, she resisted the urge to try to criticize them or change their minds and instead used her new skills for communication to better understand their viewpoint, while also effectively conveying her own. Initially, they did not trust her to genuinely listen to their viewpoints, but she calmly persisted with her new skills by showing a genuine interest and even asking follow-up questions.
They eventually exchanged enough information to understand each other better and to some degree even empathize with some common viewpoints. They agreed that a major problem was politicians and government officials who are more devoted to maintaining power for themselves and their party than in solving problems for the country. Attendees at Braver Angels workshops routinely express surprise at the amount of agreement they find with other participants of differing political persuasion, especially developing a better awareness of how the other person came to have their views. They realize that most of these people with differing views are human and not the evil or clueless caricatures they initially assumed.
We encourage citizens and elected officials to take this approach. Being willing to compromise on areas of common ground is the basis for how our democracy was designed to work, and we need to encourage more of it.
Arkansans who are distressed by the division and disrespect in our state and country can help to bring our country back from the brink. Resolve in 2022 and beyond to learn and use skills to engage with those of differing viewpoints and join Braver Angels in our work to improve the state of our union.
To learn about our work in Arkansas and upcoming events, visit our website at arkansas.braverangels.org or go to the national website at www.braverangels.org and join for $12 a year. That will get you on our state email list and you’ll gain access to our newsletter and email announcements of events. We also welcome the chance to present to groups, churches and organizations about our work, or to provide a full workshop.
Maybe you’ll even learn how to rescue that failing relationship with a family member or co-worker whose political stance you don’t think you can accept. That is a resolution worth making.
With Respect
Guest Editorial by Glen White & David Childs of Braver Angels Arkansas
Published in Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 26, 2023
What do Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandala, Mother Teresa, and Jesus have in common? Gandhi, known for his peaceful approach, gained independence for India with his message of non-violent resistance. Nelson Mandela fought against apartheid in South Africa, and despite being imprisoned for 27 years, he emerged with a message of forgiveness and unity. Mother Teresa showed immense love and respect for every person she encountered, regardless of their background or circumstances. Jesus espoused love and forgiveness as his central message, resulting in Christianity, one of the world’s great religions. They all succeeded despite strong adversity and resistance because their civil treatment of others earned admiration and support in their persistent pursuit of their goal, not because of loudly, aggressively trying to impose their goal on enemies. Remember, the tortoise beat the hare in the race because he was quietly persistent.
Such positive, peaceful approaches are increasingly rarely seen in our political conversations. As the United States becomes intensely polarized along political lines, it has become more difficult for people to have civil conversations about important issues. Instead, we see more name-calling, insults, and even threats of violence. We seem determined to win the argument or “own” the other side with a loud, confrontational, and aggressive response. This is not only harmful to our democracy, but also to our individual and societal well-being. The other main response is to withdraw and avoid talking politics at all. Yet civil conversation is essential for a healthy democracy. When people talk to each other respectfully, even when they disagree, they are more likely to find common ground and work together to solve problems.
Braver Angels (BA) is a non-partisan organization with members from all across the political spectrum who seek to bridge the partisan divide and promote civil conversation. We encounter some skepticism about our philosophy of promoting respectful, productive conversations, because of the mistaken belief that such an approach only works if you are moderate politically or that this approach allows the more aggressive person to “win” a discussion. Some think that to be respectful is to treat all viewpoints equally, declining to advocate for a particular political viewpoint, candidate, or policy. None of this is true - partisanship is not precluded in Braver Angel’s approach. While our leaders cannot in their official capacity take positions or advocate for or against specific parties, candidates, or policies, most BA members have strong political beliefs that they may share with others. Many are active in their private lives advocating for specific candidates or policies.
This 'civil communication' approach is effective, more so than aggressive communication that alienates others. In a recent study, participants in Braver Angels programs reported feeling more understanding of people with different political views and more hopeful about the future of our country. Strong evidence also exists for the effectiveness of using sound relationship-developing techniques in many areas. Therapists use and teach such skills to help couples or families improve their relationships. Hostage negotiation experts use similar skills because they are more effective in securing a peaceful outcome than aggressive demands. Evidence also shows that interrogation of terror suspects is more effective through relationship building techniques than with torture or force.
So, do you have strong partisan beliefs and want to make a difference? Do you fear that the fate of our country depends on who prevails in the next election? Then understand that helping your country survive and thrive doesn’t require you to be louder or more hostile than your opponent. Resist this emotionally based response of aggression or demonization of the other and instead, respectfully engage with others. Finding common ground through good-faith exchanges is more important than “winning” the political argument. This approach can lead to a more informed and engaged electorate, and ultimately to better policy decisions. It may not help with extremists on either side, but most of us within the middle two thirds of political views will respond to this measured approach.
Braver Angels works toward civic renewal in America through skills workshops and facilitated conversations across the political divide, with a goal of helping participants understand each other's perspectives and finding common ground. We believe that Americans must work together to get things done, despite disagreements on specific approaches. We can each be passionate in our advocacy, but following the BA philosophy means to practice good communication and conflict resolution skills, listen with genuine curiosity, and remain civil in asserting our views. To make progress in our democratic republic, it is essential that we treat each other with respect.
To learn more about Braver Angels or to help in their mission, visit the Arkansas alliance website at arkansas.braverangels.org, or contact Glen White at gwhite@braverangels.org or David Childs at dchilds@braverangels.org.
Braver Angels Hopes to Instill Fruitful Dialogue 12/21/2021
By LEWIS DELAVAN
Staff writer
Re-printed from the Hot Springs Village Voice
A Villager believes that respectful conversation on serious issues will produce better results.
David Childs became involved in Braver Angels about 9 months ago after learning about it from a friend. After researching the organization, which promotes civil conversation between people with divergent views, Childs attended the Arkansas Chapter’s next Zoom meeting.
“I liked the people involved; felt confident that they were sincere and serious about the Braver Angels’ mission; so I decided to get a bit more involved,” Childs said in response to an email.
The national organization’s name comes from the first inaugural address of the nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, at a time when political discourse was anything but civil.
“The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature,” Lincoln urged a nation poised on civil war.
Launched in 2016, “Better Angels” changed its name to “Braver Angels” in 2020, "to reflect the courage needed to bridge the divide."
It aims to bring together conservative-leaning and liberal-leaning Americans in a working alliance, through programs and workshops.
Childs, who enjoyed a career in local government in north Texas, says working together produces results. “Civil conversation promotes more conversation, more substantive, detailed and serious conversation. We have become a society that spits emotional anger and bumper sticker distortions at each other, causing many people, especially those who have something of real substance and value to share, to just shut down and no longer participate in dialogue," he said.
“Braver Angels is about restoring an atmosphere where serious, substantive discussion of issues can occur in a respectful environment. Such an environment is sorely needed if we are once again going to become a society that can civilly share our collective wisdom to solve our nation’s challenges,” Childs said.
He tells how he become involved on the state level.
“At the Arkansas Chapter’s next Zoom meeting, they started talking about how to conduct marketing and additional member recruitment,” he said. “I made several suggestions that they liked, so they outvoted me and made me membership director. "
Jeannie Burris leads the Arkansas Table Talk.
"The Arkansas Central Region covers Hot Springs and The Village; currently it is the only Chapter in Arkansas. If I do my job as membership chair, there will be more chapters soon," Childs says.
Braver Angels is a 501c3 non-profit group. Membership dues are $12 per year. Learn more about Braver Angels and become a member at www.braverangels.org or by texting BA to 66866, or, on Facebook @braverangelsarkansas.
By paying $12 a year to join Braver Angels via the national website ( www.braverangels.org), you qualify to be a voting member of our local alliance, Braver Angels of Central Arkansas.
To be involved or to volunteer, one must be a member, but the public is welcome to join Braver Angels programs and workshops, and there is no cost for attending any event, in person or online. "We also welcome clubs, organizations, churches, etc. who are interested in hearing from us, securing a presentation from one of our leaders, or who simply support our mission," the Arkansas chapter says.
Contact Glen White at gwhite@braverangels.org, for more information. Or to learn more about Braver Angels or to request a speaker for an organization, contact David Childs at fitforsrrvice@verizon.net.
Less than four years after his 1861 inaugural address, Lincoln implored citizens to come together, to ensure that those who had fought to preserve the grand experiment of a democratic constitutional republic had not died in vain.
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," Lincoln concluded in his Gettysburg Address.
Co-director of field communications for Braver Angels National is Dr. April Chatham Carpenter, chair of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Department of Applied Communications.
“Although I usually prefer working at the grassroots level, sometimes opportunities come along that allow you to serve and learn from leaders at a different level,” Chatham Carpenter said in a November UALR release. “That’s what happened here. I want to learn from the folks at Braver Angels National and do what I can to help further the mission of depolarizing America.”
“I believe that the work of Braver Angels helps bridge the political divide we face in our relationships and communities and is so important,” she said in the release. “The mission of Braver Angels is consistent with my department’s mission to foster the co-creation of better social worlds through positive communication.”
'Arkansas Table Talk' to Kick Off in January 2022
Braver Angels of Central Arkansas is excited to announce its newest program, "Arkansas Table Talk," which will take place quarterly in 2022. "Arkansas Table Talk" will be an informal discussion of various local issues. The program is open to anyone, and attendees do not have to be present at all four sessions.
The first topic of discussion, homelessness, will take place Monday, Jan. 31 via Zoom. The session will be one hour long, from 6:30-7:30 pm. Braver Angels leaders will also be available for 30 minutes after (until 8 pm) to answer questions and/or continue the discussion with participants who can stay longer.
Those interested in participating in the January 31 discussion should email Jeannie Burrus at jburrusPcals.org or Glen White at gwhitebraverangels.org to receive the Zoom link. We also kindly ask that participants read the following articles on the topic of homelessness from three perspectives - left, center and right - prior to the event.
From the left: https://www,allsides.cominews/2021-05-14-0636/people-want-quick-fix-homelessiess-there-isn-t-one
From the right: https://www.theepochtimes.com/la-city-council-to-spend-2m-to-post-signs-for-anti-campingenforcement 4082682.html
From the center: https://www.allsides.cominews/2021-10-22-1119/they-dicInt-pay-rent-and-_stoie-fridge-pandemicspawns-nightmare-tenants
A BLM leader, a Trump supporter, and an ICU doctor talk vaccines
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Braver Angels CMO Ciaran O’Connor convenes Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York; David Iwinski, a Trump supporter who helps lead Braver Angels Debates; and Dr. Tess Russell, an anesthesiologist and intensive care specialist at Columbia New York Presbyterian Hospital, for a raw and wide-ranging discussion on trust, science, and the COVID vaccine.
Should we mandate vaccines? Watch our last debate
Which takes priority: public health or personal freedom? Some believe mandatory vaccinations protect the country and keep children and teachers safe in school. Others believe no institution can mandate that an individual put something in their body if they personally believe it is risky or unnecessary.
Minnesota State Fair Serves As Bipartisan Common Ground
ABC Good Morning America
September 15, 2021
Minnesota State Fair serves as bipartisan common ground | GMA (goodmorningamerica.com)
Promo:
A South Dakota Republican and a Minnesota Democrat are working together to show that meaningful bipartisan dialogue can be accomplished.
Colleague of the Week
Colleague of the Week: Glen White
Dr. Glen White has an unusual problem – unusual for Braver Angels, anyway. He’s finding it hard to recruit fellow Blues for the alliance he helps to lead.
It’s not just because the Central Arkansas Alliance is, well, in Arkansas. Nor is it that there are no Blues to be found in this deeply Red state. They are certainly present in Little Rock, particularly around the metropolitan area’s colleges and universities and in its liberal-leaning organizations.
Glen, the state’s Blue coordinator, thinks the relative reluctance of Arkansas Blues to become active in Braver Angels owes something to a deep-rooted concern that engaging with “the other side” – even within the safe spaces afforded by the organization – will be taken as a sign of weakness or will somehow encourage more policies that they see as potentially harmful.
Translated: his challenge is identical to all those Braver Angels who strive to attract more Reds – and who are well aware that many Reds express comparable levels of distrust about meeting with the other side, much less discussing flashpoint topics with them.
Glen’s experience exposes a deeper and somewhat unsettling truth: Braver Angels has a lot more work to do to persuade those further left as well as further right that there is such a thing as a truly neutral, non-judgmental space where they can speak freely. “Maybe people on the edges see this as an existential struggle. Braver Angels tends to attract the two-thirds of people in the middle,” he says.
But he has the following comment for those in the outer third – particularly those out-of-reach Blues: “If you worry about supporting an organization that says it brings people together for civil discourse in the search for common ground, I ask you to consider the potential power of relationships in moving our society and culture forward.”
Right now, Glen needs a Blue co-leader for the Central Arkansas Alliance because he still occupies that role as well as working at a state level. The alliance job was his de facto role when he started with Braver Angels in 2017, after he helped convene a group of like-minded Arkansans. Several of those individuals trained to be moderators and began training others; soon the group was holding skills workshops and presenting on Braver Angels to libraries and local organizations. The members then coalesced into a formal alliance.
During 2020, the Central Arkansas Alliance thrived. “We really grew at the time of the pandemic,” says Glen. We made plans, we made presentations. The word got out, we got into the newspapers.” But that growth has proved difficult to sustain – as it has in other alliances around the country. Of the nearly 300 Arkansans listed on Braver Angels’ database, Glen estimates that those actively interested don’t number more than 80 or so – and the roster of active local leaders is smaller again. “We haven’t gotten to critical mass,” observes Glen. “There are no other alliances in the state.”
So it’s not an understatement to say Glen has an uphill climb ahead of him – especially as a state coordinator. A retired psychologist, he had started out in 2017 with a buoyant view of how he could help bring scientific methods to understanding what made political beliefs so entrenched and political change so hard, and to learning what approaches can work. These days, he is more measured in his approach, focusing on the value of incremental wins over time.
One of Glen’s real wins has been finding and recruiting Dr. April Chatham-Carpenter as his Red state co-coordinator. Although her full-time role as a professor of applied communications at University of Arkansas at Little Rock means she doesn’t have abundant time, she has, in Glen’s words, proved to be a godsend.
Together, Glen and April have been organizing Skills for Bridging the Divide, Family and Politics, and Common Ground workshops, along with structured 1:1 Red/Blue conversations and a Depolarizing Within session. He and his colleagues have a solid website to support the newsletters they send out regularly. And they are borrowing the fairly informal, unstructured “Coffee & Conversations” program that has proved to be so successful for the Central Texas Alliance and adapting it as what they’re calling “Arkansas Table Talk.”
The Table Talk format has real promise for re-energizing Braver Angels activity in the state, in Glen’s opinion. He and his colleagues are consciously designing the sessions to be as simple, short, and resource-lean as possible – quarterly and not monthly to begin with, just one hour long, and with none of the breakout sessions that require dedicated support and staffing at many other Braver Angels events. “At least for now, we’ll do it all as one big group,” says Glen. “We want to start out in an easy way, so we don’t have a lot of [resource] requirements.”
The first Table Talk, scheduled for January 2022, will focus on homelessness – a topic of nationwide concern and of real relevance in metro areas such as Little Rock. Again, the idea is to emphasize an issue that many local Arkansans care about and may be affected by, at least indirectly, rather than spotlighting an emotionally supercharged political theme such as voting rights or gun control. “We’ll start with something that’s not a heavy lift,” explains Glen.
Pandemic permitting, Table Talk can happen in person as well as virtually. And that will help spark, build, and sustain the personal relationships that are so integral to the success of any volunteer-run organization.
Ever onward, Glen
Are There Different Ways of Being a "Good Patriot"?
This article from the Deseret News in Utah explores what it means to be a patriot.
In the News
Bill Richardson, the Red co-chair of Greenfield Braver Angels Alliance, and John Bos, a Blue founder of the Greenfield group, say why they are working hard to reach across today’s political divide.
Can We Fix Social Media?
Ciaran O’Connor talks with Duke professor Christopher Bail about redesigning social media platforms and how we can combat online polarization.
🎧 Listen to Breaking the Social Media Prism | Christopher Bail with Ciaran O'Connor - Braver Angels
An Unusual Partnership
Watch a We the People's Forum about race, policing, trust, and community safety with Janelle Burke, a Black mom, and Dan Templeman, an Asian police chief.
🎥 Watch Can Black Americans & The Police Trust Each Other? A We the People's Forum
Who Is Human?
BA volunteer Bruce MacKenzie talks about the impact of Braver Angels through the lens of religion.
Division after Trump
A conversation moderated by John Wood Jr. with Bill Kristol, Daniel Cox, William A. Galton, Nicole Penn, and Luke Nathan Phillips.
Watch American Purpose's "Continuing Liberty" Conference: A House Divided? Polarization Post-Trump
What Does Common Ground Look Like?
See how your fellow Braver Angels are responding in this rich conversation on Facebook.
What does common ground between liberals and conservatives look like to you?
Bringing Us Together
Can this marriage be saved? In this USA Today op-ed, Braver Angels cofounder Bill Doherty lays out how conservatives and liberals can learn to trust each other again. Even in Congress.
Politics and a picnic. The recently formed Pioneer Valley Alliance told the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Massachusetts why they’re inviting their community to share a meal and explore their differences.
‘It takes real work.’ California regional coordinator Paul Norris shared the Braver Angels commitment in this Daily Journal article about local groups bridging the divide.
Everyday Heroes. The Reunited States, a film about crossing the political divide, profiled Braver Angels National Ambassador John Wood, Jr. and cofounder Bill Doherty.
What Does Common Ground Look Like?
See how your fellow Braver Angels are responding in this rich conversation on Facebook.
What does common ground between liberals and conservatives look like to you?
Red-Blue Conversations
Red-Blue Conversations
The Alex Speiser Show (podcast)
Two interviews with Braver Angels leader Donna Murphy
Conversation 1: “The Braver Angels Experience”
Conversation 2: “Climate Change & COVD 19”
What if you could talk to someone on the other side of the political aisle and not have it turn into a fight?
How to talk about the COVID vaccine with friends and family
How to talk about the COVID vaccine with friends and family
Interview with Braver Angels co-founder William Doherty
KARE 11 TV Minneapolis-St. Paul
September 17, 2021
Promo:
As frustrating as it can be, an expert said a simple starting point is to go into the conversation with respect.
Braver Angels Helps Couples See Past Politics to Strengthen Their Relationships
Amber Brooks
August 30, 2021
https://www.datingadvice.com/for-men/braver-angels-helps-couples-see-past-politics
Promo:
If couples can disagree cordially, they can consider opposing viewpoints and challenge their assumptions. Experts at Braver Angels say that could be a powerful thing for the dating and relationship space.
Pressing forward with college debates in a time of COVID and cancellation
Matthew Wilson
The College Fix
August 30, 2021
Excerpt:
“Braver Angels debates are a real antidote to the way in which universities are failing students right now,” said April Lawson. “Students need a place to learn, to think, and to test out ideas, and to say things that they later are like, ‘Well, that was dumb!’, and to try things that are daring, and to really, sort of, become themselves."
Interview with Braver Angels Ambassador Rick Hotchner
Liberty Roundtable Radio / Sam Bushman & Friends
August 3, 2021
Hotchner interview starts at 27:59