Discourse discord

There are some universal rules that you must abide by when working in an office with other humans. For example, you cannot bring freshly-baked cookies and set them in the kitchen, if some of your coworkers are on a strict diet. Apparently you should also refrain from singing at your desk or going to the restroom without closing the door. Finally and perhaps more prominently known is that you should not talk about religion or politics. It would seem this rule also applies to gatherings with your in-laws and most other social scenarios.

From what I can gather, this rule seems to exist because the topics of politics and religion evoke so much passion in us that we lose the ability to communicate rationally with one another. By avoiding these topics we can allow ourselves to have more civil discussions about other issues, like the most recent reality show, hair care products or the weather. (Sidebar: If we took half the time we spend talking about the weather with one another and substituted in discussion on how we could help a neighbor in need, we would obliterate poverty in this country in less than six months, give or take a couple weeks.)

Here is my problem with avoiding the topics of religion and politics. Our views on those two topics say more about who we are and what we value than almost any other issue. Spend 10 minutes talking about politics with a stranger, and you will have a clearer picture of who they are than if you spend 10 years having small talk with the guy in the office down the hall. Spend 10 minutes talking about religion with someone, and that picture will be even clearer. Aren’t those exactly the types of discussions we should be having?

I have been reading two books this month that could not be more different, and yet they both happen to, at some point, make the exact same observation. “Bonhoeffer” is a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor from Germany who ended up being part of the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. As a young man in his 20s, he came to study in America before World War II. He was disappointed to find Americans seemed to talk a lot ... but not really say anything. Another book, “The Looming Tower” deals with the beginnings of Al Qaeda and the lead up to 9/11. The first chapter of the book focuses on an Egyptian, Sayyid Qutb, who comes to America in the 1940s. Like Bonhoeffer, he is taken aback by the superficial discourse amongst the Americans with whom he associates. Bonhoeffer and Qutb are two very different people, but their observation, in this case, seems to have been the same.