Loving your political enemy at the National Prayer Breakfast

Arthur C. Brooks, former president of the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, may not be trained as a preacher. But his keynote address at last month’s National Prayer Breakfast had all the trimmings of a sermon. Brooks used Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to speak to the crisis of contempt he believes is fostering deep political polarization and, in his words, is “ripping America apart.” Quoting 19th-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who said “contempt is the conviction of the utter worthlessness of another human being,” Brooks added, “When you’re treated with contempt, you never forget it.”

In addressing the plague of contempt in American politics, Brooks pointed repeatedly to Jesus. “How do we break the habit of contempt? Some people say we need more civility . . . more tolerance. I say nonsense, because civility and tolerance are a low standard. Jesus didn’t say tolerate your enemies. He said love your enemies. Answer hatred with love.” Brooks then gave a homework assignment to the more than 3,500 people gathered inside the Washington Hilton. “Ask God to give you the strength to do this hard thing: to go against your human nature, to follow Jesus’ teaching. Ask God to take political contempt from your heart. . . . Ask somebody to hold you accountable [for loving your enemies].”

If that wasn’t an altar call in its own right, Brooks asked for a show of hands: “How many of you love somebody with whom you disagree politically?” Most of the audience raised a hand. President Trump, seated two chairs from the podium, did not. In a quick eye survey of the ballroom, Brooks said, to a crowd chuckle, “I’m going to round that off to 100 percent.” Video footage of the event (only available through whitehouse.gov) conveniently shifts from a constant wide-angle pan of the stage to a zoomed-in focus of the podium speaker himself, 30 seconds before the audience hears the question.