Justin Phillips – How to Heal Our Divides

Justifiable reasons to enslave some and not others

Theories of organizing peoples have existed since the beginning of recorded human history, but the systematic implementation of these theories has wreaked havoc upon the earth in ways that localized squabbles never could. A few examples, by no means comprehensive, include: Aristotle’s climate theory justified Greek slaveholding practices, where “extreme hot or cold climates produced …

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To rationalize what you already want to do

Justin Phillips / By

My academic mentor, ethicist Glen Stassen, once told a story that sums up why people, even moral people, do terrible things. Glen said that he and Dot, his wife, were having a minor disagreement over some mundane thing. Glen stated his desired resolution, likely through an exhaustive ethical explanation. Dot, after considering his argument, laid …

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Sit, listen, and share

Justin Phillips / By

One such example of choosing who I would dialogue with came from joining a student group devoted to racial reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. That group helped me consider this tension – between my privileges and my interaction with the world – within a trusted community. Each week we gathered to hear one another’s stories. …

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Whites tend to live as if we are unmarked racially

Justin Phillips / By

I hated coming to the realization of what people of color potentially faced every day: I was a body; I experienced the world as a body now. In turn, others experienced me, first, as a body – a failing body – not as a soul, an intellect, or a conscience. My illness thrust me into …

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