Burke Lecture

Yesterday I was glad to meet investigative journalist Nicholas Kristof so I could thank him for his work. I have appreciated him for decades and especially his voice yesterday for the Burke lecture at UC San Diego. Sharing stories from his autobiography Chasing Hope, he spanned his life from a working class Oregon town beset by economic despair and meth abuse on to advocate human rights of the most vulnerable, for which Desmond Tutu named him an honorary African.

Drawing on his collaboration with his partner Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky, Kristof reminded us that only in countries that advance human rights broadly do women and girls survive at rates comparable to men and boys. Elsewhere, women and girls are specifically and violently discriminated against by denial of healthcare, education and other basic civil rights, and brutally exploited and scapegoated with torture or execution merely to shame their families. He shared the true story of Mukhtar Mai, who he met in a remote Pakistani village. To punish an alleged offense by her brother, she was sentenced to be gang raped by the village council. Instead of exiling herself in shame as intended, she brought state charges against them, and with the damage award she opened a school and personally taught the daughters of her convicted attackers.

Kristof reminded us that the singular success of the U.S. was not military victory but achieving 90% literacy by means of mass public education. Highlighting the essential value of public education to advance the search for truth and meaning and to support the crucial public discourse that keeps society accountable to standards of compassion, truth and justice. 

The growing corruption of our highest political offices requires the intimidation, corruption or destruction of institutions that advance the public good. Sustained corruption requires self-justification by constant lies, threats and violence. It cannot stand the disinfecting sunlight of truth, facts, critical thinking and the public interest. Kristof addressed the deepening divisions and political violence in the U.S. stating that the only form of discrimination now socially accepted in the U.S. is that against an opposing political camp, to the point that it even splits families and childhood friends. When asked by an attender, “How do we heal the relationships broken by estrangement over political ideology?” Kristof suggested listening first with humility to those who see things differently and modeling a collaborative approach to seeking a shared understanding of reality. He suggests making our way together not by arguing philosophical abstractions or stereotyped caricatures but by exploring factual stories of real people and exceptions to the rule as pathways to more effective problem solving. 

Opening conversations with curiosity instead of certainty, wonder instead of fear, and humility instead of arrogance, we can together question the manipulations and outright lies against whole groups of people. Public discourse that inspires us to become better human beings is why we need our public institutions protected from control by selfish interests in power or money. Ideological balance in education is not achieved by threat or coercion but by the open exchange of ideas, where better ideas grow because they are tested in reality and worse ideas fade because they fail that test.

This is why the church needs to remain actively engaged in public life, and especially campus ministry at public institutions like San Diego State U. and UC San Diego. Seeing several members of our local congregations and many new friends last night reminded me of the importance of these intersections of faith and public life. Thank you for sharing this mission of God’s Agape on campus!

In faith and gratitude, Pastor Darin