WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. In the United States’ political climate, polarization and moral clarity should trump good manners and civility, said religious scholar and political commentator Reza Aslan at a talk on Purdue University’s campus Wednesday night.
“Civility calls for minorities to shut the hell up,” said Aslan.
Aslan, in a panel hosted by Purdue’s Division of Diversity and Inclusion at the Loeb Playhouse, said that there are some issues that only have two sides that represent two drastically different ways of thinking. He used the U.S.’s detainment of migrant children at the border as an example.
Aslan’s fellow panelist, the Reverend Naomi Tutu, mirrored his thoughts on the negative effects civility can have on public discourse, suggesting that it is often weaponized against oppressed and marginalized people in the U.S.
Tutu then dropped her voice down to a hushed tone for a dramatic effect, suggesting that evil can be conducted very quietly.
The panel event, entitled, “Religion, Polarization, and the Public Space,” was centered on the discussion the role religion and freedom of expression have in public discourse. It is a part of a broader initiative by the Division of Diversity and Inclusion to engage members of the Purdue community in discussion on its central themes of democracy, civility and freedom of expression.
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