I’ve been in an email discussion with a fellow pastor regarding the lack of debate civility in our Synod and society today. Our little discussion started out dealing with the lack of civility in the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod regarding our inability to discuss and debate theology without one side or the other having a fit. Our discussion swerved into politics during the past couple of weeks as the “debates” of prospective Presidential contenders became newsworthy.My contention is that the modern day debate ideal has been transformed into an emotional morass where “who has the best one-liner” seems to win. This transcends politics and religion.

Healthy debates are good. It provides a platform to discuss issues from the basis of fact, with a healthy dose of rhetoric and opinion thrown in. But today, modern day debates fail so miserably, especially in religious debates. But what is not good is emotional debates on serious issues, particularly religious issues where the Word of God should be paramount, not the feelings of others. Today’s heavy dose of emotionalism and quick-wittedness has replaced a serious discussion of theological issues. Nowadays you don’t really need to be a great orator or have a deep-rooted foundation in an issue.

All you need is to touch a person’s emotions and have a good one-liner.

Within the Missouri Synod, we’ve lost our fervor to debate. Why can’t we pastors get together and seriously debate theological issues without one side storming off in anger? We’ve lost a lot of collegiality between pastors which has created an atmosphere where our discussions on theology are virtually nil.

Wouldn’t it be more constructive to have Lutheran pastors from conservative confessional churches debate theological issues with those from more liberal churches (like those LC-MS churches where the pastors support the liberal group, Jesus First)? Instead, we spend all our time working over one another to get a political advantage at our coming convention.

Sometimes, you can’t help but be saddened at the state of affairs in our Synod.