Location: Nursing Center Collins Auditorium, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI
Time: 6–7 p.m.
Format: 30-minute presentation followed by 30-minute moderated discussion

Civility isn’t just being polite, it consists of the social norms—including compassion, tolerance, and respect for the dignity of all human beings—that together undergird citizenship and make a healthy society possible.  

Today, 250 years after our nation’s founding, we are facing a crisis of civility. Many have lost confidence in our core institutions, there is growing disregard for the rule of law, and social trust is at an all-time low. Politics, which ought to be an arena for working through our differences, has instead become the chief source of division, in the nation, in communities, and even in families.

Historically, the norms of civility were promulgated through the teachings and practices of religious communities. But in our country that process is complicated by two factors: first, we are becoming increasingly secular and, second, we live in a pluralistic society in which those who claim a religious identity have ties to many different, and sometimes incompatible, traditions.

So, we must ask: How can we restore civility to our lives, and what is the role of religion in that restoration?

Dates

Sept. 14: The Very Reverend Samuel A. Martin, Vicar for Clergy in the Diocese of                           La Crosse

Sept. 28: Rev. Felix Javier Malpeca, Bishop of the La Crosse Area Synod of ELCA

Oct. 12: Linda DeGarmo, former City Clerk of Chaseburg and Cancer Action Network board member and Glenn Hoff, former Farmer Outreach and Event Coordinator for Organic Valley

Oct. 26: Dr. Jeff Thompson, former CEO of Gundersen Health System