I was at a Baptist convention a couple of weeks ago. The focus of the convention was unity within the Baptist denomination and a concerted effort toward improving social justice. There were lots of seminars on interesting issues such as combating poverty and confronting the criminal justice system. Each day, they had a general gathering in the morning and in the evening. The gatherings resembled church services, but they had 3 “sermons” rather than the usual one sermon and the speakers were more famous people than theologically trained people. It wasn’t until the last day of a two and a half day conference that I began to notice a slight political leaning of the whole thing toward the democratic side. Al Gore gave a luncheon speech for which I was not inclined to buy a ticket, but I was inclined to hear the keynote speaker at the last service who was Bill Clinton. I personally never voted for the man, but I was interested in what he had to say at a Baptist convention. Naturally, I didn’t agree with everything he said, but he had some words of wisdom that I think can come only after years of presidential experience and reflection.

Mr. Clinton began his speech by telling us that he was asked to speak upon what things he has done which were directly a result of his faith. He declined to do so saying that Jimmy Carter, who was himself present for most of the conference, exceeded him so far in that category that anything he could mention would not be worth mentioning. I respected him for saying that and not trying to spin something up to make himself look good. I tend to trust the man more now because after 8 years at the top of the political world, you can probably afford some plain, unadulterated honesty in your speech.

As the speech went on he talked about some social justice thing and some democratic things and how strongly he believes in them. He said that democrats believe in these things and are passionate about these things and believe that they are right. And then he said something I didn’t expect. He said that the people on the other side of the aisle are passionate and convicted and believe that they are right too. He went on to talk about having patience and grace when arguing about things across party lines. He said that we need to respect each other when we disagree because “in the end we could all be wrong.”

I thought Bill Clinton’s words were very mature. I thought that if everyone took the attitude that he was advocating we would get a lot more done in politics. Proverbs 18:2 says, “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.” Most of the political arguments that I have witnessed (and taken part in) have been made up of fools. No one was interested in understanding. But if we approach the conversations with patience and a genuine interest in understanding and viable solutions, then maybe some actual solutions will come about, at least on the big topics that everyone ought to agree upon.

I respect Clinton for what he said at the conference. As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t agree with everything he said, and the line about everyone being wrong didn’t sit well with me. It leaned too much toward relativism. I hope that the relativistic tone did not come from a tired man throwing his hands up after years of arguing to say, “No one is right. We should just give up looking for truth.” But I don’t think that was Mr. Clinton’s attitude. I would like to think that he has come to understand that the people who find the right solutions are the ones who examine their own and other people’s suggestions with an objective mind and then settle upon the solution that seems best. Maybe the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund is an example of this unifying, respectful attitude where opposing minds can agree that something is right and then act together.