1
00:00:00,736 --> 00:00:02,270
I bring you greetings

2
00:00:02,294 --> 00:00:04,626
from the 52nd-freest nation on earth.

3
00:00:06,084 --> 00:00:10,769
As an American, it irritates me
that my nation keeps sinking

4
00:00:10,793 --> 00:00:13,643
in the annual rankings
published by Freedom House.

5
00:00:13,667 --> 00:00:15,399
I'm the son of immigrants.

6
00:00:15,423 --> 00:00:18,762
My parents were born in China
during war and revolution,

7
00:00:18,786 --> 00:00:21,762
went to Taiwan and then came
to the United States,

8
00:00:21,786 --> 00:00:23,336
which means all my life,

9
00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:28,286
I've been acutely aware just how fragile
an inheritance freedom truly is.

10
00:00:29,364 --> 00:00:33,871
That's why I spend my time teaching,
preaching and practicing democracy.

11
00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:36,602
I have no illusions.

12
00:00:36,626 --> 00:00:37,888
All around the world now,

13
00:00:37,912 --> 00:00:40,538
people are doubting
whether democracy can deliver.

14
00:00:41,276 --> 00:00:43,714
Autocrats and demagogues seem emboldened,

15
00:00:43,738 --> 00:00:45,237
even cocky.

16
00:00:45,261 --> 00:00:47,189
The free world feels leaderless.

17
00:00:48,086 --> 00:00:50,435
And yet, I remain hopeful.

18
00:00:51,406 --> 00:00:53,369
I don't mean optimistic.

19
00:00:53,393 --> 00:00:55,491
Optimism is for spectators.

20
00:00:55,515 --> 00:00:57,952
Hope implies agency.

21
00:00:57,976 --> 00:01:00,277
It says I have a hand in the outcome.

22
00:01:00,301 --> 00:01:02,738
Democratic hope requires faith

23
00:01:02,762 --> 00:01:06,054
not in a strongman or a charismatic savior

24
00:01:06,078 --> 00:01:08,057
but in each other,

25
00:01:08,081 --> 00:01:12,652
and it forces us to ask:
How can we become worthy of such faith?

26
00:01:14,885 --> 00:01:18,003
I believe we are at a moment
of moral awakening,

27
00:01:18,027 --> 00:01:20,836
the kind that comes
when old certainties collapse.

28
00:01:21,496 --> 00:01:25,416
At the heart of that awakening
is what I call "civic religion."

29
00:01:26,310 --> 00:01:30,325
And today, I want to talk about
what civic religion is,

30
00:01:30,349 --> 00:01:31,952
how we practice it,

31
00:01:31,976 --> 00:01:34,436
and why it matters now more than ever.

32
00:01:34,460 --> 00:01:35,983
Let me start with the what.

33
00:01:36,932 --> 00:01:42,101
I define civic religion as a system
of shared beliefs and collective practices

34
00:01:42,125 --> 00:01:45,812
by which the members
of a self-governing community

35
00:01:45,836 --> 00:01:47,693
choose to live like citizens.

36
00:01:48,643 --> 00:01:52,263
Now, when I say "citizen" here,
I'm not referring to papers or passports.

37
00:01:52,287 --> 00:01:55,504
I'm talking about a deeper,
broader, ethical conception

38
00:01:55,528 --> 00:01:58,670
of being a contributor to community,
a member of the body.

39
00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:04,104
To speak of civic religion as religion
is not poetic license.

40
00:02:04,626 --> 00:02:05,777
That's because democracy

41
00:02:05,801 --> 00:02:08,990
is one of the most faith-fueled
human activities there is.

42
00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,968
Democracy works only when enough of us
believe democracy works.

43
00:02:14,611 --> 00:02:17,348
It is at once a gamble and a miracle.

44
00:02:18,437 --> 00:02:23,450
Its legitimacy comes not from
the outer frame of constitutional rules,

45
00:02:23,474 --> 00:02:26,108
but from the inner workings
of civic spirit.

46
00:02:27,633 --> 00:02:30,006
Civic religion, like any religion,

47
00:02:30,030 --> 00:02:34,153
contains a sacred creed,
sacred deeds and sacred rituals.

48
00:02:35,055 --> 00:02:39,804
My creed includes words like
"equal protection of the laws"

49
00:02:39,828 --> 00:02:41,689
and "we the people."

50
00:02:41,713 --> 00:02:46,246
My roll call of hallowed deeds
includes abolition, women's suffrage,

51
00:02:46,270 --> 00:02:47,870
the civil rights movement,

52
00:02:47,894 --> 00:02:50,208
the Allied landing at Normandy,

53
00:02:50,232 --> 00:02:51,585
the fall of the Berlin Wall.

54
00:02:52,655 --> 00:02:56,043
And I have a new civic ritual
that I'll tell you about in a moment.

55
00:02:57,337 --> 00:02:59,201
Wherever on earth you're from,

56
00:02:59,225 --> 00:03:03,709
you can find or make
your own set of creed, deed and ritual.

57
00:03:04,423 --> 00:03:08,673
The practice of civic religion
is not about worship of the state

58
00:03:08,697 --> 00:03:11,079
or obedience to a ruling party.

59
00:03:11,103 --> 00:03:12,933
It is about commitment to one another

60
00:03:12,957 --> 00:03:14,300
and our common ideals.

61
00:03:14,943 --> 00:03:19,633
And the sacredness of civic religion
is not about divinity or the supernatural.

62
00:03:20,572 --> 00:03:23,318
It is about a group of unlike people

63
00:03:23,342 --> 00:03:26,440
speaking into being our alikeness,

64
00:03:26,464 --> 00:03:27,842
our groupness.

65
00:03:29,293 --> 00:03:31,329
Perhaps now you're getting
a little worried

66
00:03:31,353 --> 00:03:33,479
that I'm trying to sell you on a cult.

67
00:03:33,503 --> 00:03:35,048
Relax, I'm not.

68
00:03:35,381 --> 00:03:37,148
I don't need to sell you.

69
00:03:37,172 --> 00:03:40,864
As a human, you are always
in the market for a cult,

70
00:03:40,888 --> 00:03:43,711
for some variety of religious experience.

71
00:03:43,735 --> 00:03:47,072
We are wired to seek
cosmological explanations,

72
00:03:47,096 --> 00:03:50,738
to sacralize beliefs
that unite us in transcendent purpose.

73
00:03:51,556 --> 00:03:54,563
Humans make religion
because humans make groups.

74
00:03:55,262 --> 00:03:59,036
The only choice we have is whether
to activate that groupness for good.

75
00:04:00,204 --> 00:04:03,270
If you are a devout person, you know this.

76
00:04:03,294 --> 00:04:04,926
If you are not,

77
00:04:04,950 --> 00:04:06,792
if you no longer go to prayer services

78
00:04:06,816 --> 00:04:08,480
or never did,

79
00:04:08,504 --> 00:04:12,279
then perhaps you'll say
that yoga is your religion,

80
00:04:12,303 --> 00:04:14,839
or Premier League football,

81
00:04:14,863 --> 00:04:17,696
or knitting, or coding or TED Talks.

82
00:04:18,950 --> 00:04:23,439
But whether you believe in a God
or in the absence of gods,

83
00:04:23,463 --> 00:04:27,241
civic religion does not require you
to renounce your beliefs.

84
00:04:27,265 --> 00:04:30,184
It requires you only
to show up as a citizen.

85
00:04:31,578 --> 00:04:34,075
And that brings me to my second topic:

86
00:04:34,099 --> 00:04:37,023
how we can practice
civic religion productively.

87
00:04:38,293 --> 00:04:40,953
Let me tell you now
about that new civic ritual.

88
00:04:40,977 --> 00:04:42,898
It's called "Civic Saturday,"

89
00:04:42,922 --> 00:04:45,700
and it follows the arc
of a faith gathering.

90
00:04:45,724 --> 00:04:47,065
We sing together,

91
00:04:47,089 --> 00:04:51,056
we turn to the strangers next to us
to discuss a common question,

92
00:04:52,199 --> 00:04:54,342
we hear poetry and scripture,

93
00:04:54,366 --> 00:04:57,176
there's a sermon that ties those texts

94
00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,850
to the ethical choices
and controversies of our time,

95
00:05:00,889 --> 00:05:03,381
but the song and scripture and the sermon

96
00:05:03,405 --> 00:05:06,058
are not from church
or synagogue or mosque.

97
00:05:06,082 --> 00:05:07,454
They are civic,

98
00:05:07,478 --> 00:05:09,632
drawn from our shared civic ideals

99
00:05:09,656 --> 00:05:14,145
and a shared history of claiming
and contesting those ideals.

100
00:05:15,016 --> 00:05:20,533
Afterwards, we form up in circles
to organize rallies, register voters,

101
00:05:20,557 --> 00:05:22,619
join new clubs, make new friends.

102
00:05:24,243 --> 00:05:27,077
My colleagues and I
started organizing Civic Saturdays

103
00:05:27,101 --> 00:05:29,401
in Seattle in 2016.

104
00:05:29,425 --> 00:05:32,291
Since then, they have spread
across the continent.

105
00:05:32,315 --> 00:05:35,557
Sometimes hundreds attend,
sometimes dozens.

106
00:05:35,581 --> 00:05:38,260
They happen in libraries
and community centers

107
00:05:38,284 --> 00:05:39,634
and coworking spaces,

108
00:05:39,658 --> 00:05:42,203
under festive tents
and inside great halls.

109
00:05:43,114 --> 00:05:46,542
There's nothing high-tech
about this social technology.

110
00:05:47,115 --> 00:05:51,446
It speaks to a basic human yearning
for face-to-face fellowship.

111
00:05:52,374 --> 00:05:55,927
It draws young and old, left and right,

112
00:05:55,951 --> 00:05:58,753
poor and rich, churched and unchurched,

113
00:05:58,777 --> 00:06:00,101
of all races.

114
00:06:01,130 --> 00:06:06,078
When you come to a Civic Saturday
and are invited to discuss a question

115
00:06:06,102 --> 00:06:08,305
like "Who are you responsible for?"

116
00:06:08,329 --> 00:06:14,395
or "What are you willing to risk
or to give up for your community?"

117
00:06:15,363 --> 00:06:17,403
When that happens, something moves.

118
00:06:17,427 --> 00:06:19,274
You are moved.

119
00:06:19,298 --> 00:06:21,096
You start telling your story.

120
00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:23,806
We start actually seeing one another.

121
00:06:23,830 --> 00:06:28,111
You realize that homelessness,
gun violence, gentrification,

122
00:06:28,135 --> 00:06:31,593
terrible traffic, mistrust
of newcomers, fake news --

123
00:06:31,617 --> 00:06:34,024
these things
aren't someone else's problem,

124
00:06:34,048 --> 00:06:37,571
they are the aggregation
of your own habits and omissions.

125
00:06:38,319 --> 00:06:40,603
Society becomes how you behave.

126
00:06:43,484 --> 00:06:48,086
We are never asked to reflect
on the content of our citizenship.

127
00:06:49,244 --> 00:06:54,944
Most of us are never invited
to do more or to be more,

128
00:06:54,968 --> 00:06:59,094
and most of us have no idea
how much we crave that invitation.

129
00:07:01,014 --> 00:07:03,310
We've since created a civic seminary

130
00:07:03,334 --> 00:07:07,103
to start training people from all over
to lead Civic Saturday gatherings

131
00:07:07,127 --> 00:07:08,881
on their own, in their own towns.

132
00:07:09,865 --> 00:07:12,227
In the community of Athens, Tennessee,

133
00:07:12,251 --> 00:07:14,832
a feisty leader named Whitney Kimball Coe

134
00:07:14,856 --> 00:07:17,309
leads hers in an art and framing shop

135
00:07:17,333 --> 00:07:19,794
with a youth choir
and lots of little flags.

136
00:07:20,205 --> 00:07:22,415
A young activist named Berto Aguayo

137
00:07:22,439 --> 00:07:24,884
led his Civic Saturday on a street corner

138
00:07:24,908 --> 00:07:27,871
in the Back of the Yards
neighborhood of Chicago.

139
00:07:27,895 --> 00:07:30,162
Berto was once involved with gangs.

140
00:07:30,186 --> 00:07:32,678
Now, he's keeping the peace

141
00:07:32,702 --> 00:07:34,559
and organizing political campaigns.

142
00:07:35,705 --> 00:07:38,501
In Honolulu, Rafael Bergstrom,

143
00:07:38,525 --> 00:07:43,164
a former pro baseball player
turned photographer and conservationist,

144
00:07:43,188 --> 00:07:45,997
leads his under the banner
"Civics IS Sexy."

145
00:07:46,793 --> 00:07:47,944
It is.

146
00:07:47,968 --> 00:07:50,591
(Laughter)

147
00:07:50,615 --> 00:07:53,006
Sometimes I'm asked,
even by our seminarians:

148
00:07:53,030 --> 00:07:55,954
"Isn't it dangerous
to use religious language?

149
00:07:55,978 --> 00:08:00,358
Won't that just make our politics
even more dogmatic and self-righteous?"

150
00:08:00,382 --> 00:08:04,278
But this view assumes that all religion
is fanatical fundamentalism.

151
00:08:04,990 --> 00:08:06,140
It is not.

152
00:08:06,767 --> 00:08:10,601
Religion is also moral discernment,

153
00:08:10,625 --> 00:08:12,557
an embrace of doubt,

154
00:08:12,581 --> 00:08:16,094
a commitment to detach from self
and serve others,

155
00:08:16,118 --> 00:08:18,283
a challenge to repair the world.

156
00:08:19,057 --> 00:08:23,358
In this sense, politics could stand
to be a little more like religion,

157
00:08:23,382 --> 00:08:24,557
not less.

158
00:08:25,747 --> 00:08:28,296
Thus, my final topic today:

159
00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,359
why civic religion matters now.

160
00:08:31,544 --> 00:08:33,469
I want to offer two reasons.

161
00:08:33,493 --> 00:08:37,010
One is to counter the culture
of hyperindividualism.

162
00:08:38,193 --> 00:08:41,376
Every message we get
from every screen and surface

163
00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:43,238
of the modern marketplace

164
00:08:43,262 --> 00:08:45,043
is that each of us is on our own,

165
00:08:45,067 --> 00:08:46,621
a free agent,

166
00:08:46,645 --> 00:08:48,885
free to manage our own brands,

167
00:08:48,909 --> 00:08:50,234
free to live under bridges,

168
00:08:50,941 --> 00:08:52,937
free to have side hustles,

169
00:08:52,961 --> 00:08:54,996
free to die alone without insurance.

170
00:08:56,027 --> 00:09:00,005
Market liberalism tells us
we are masters beholden to none,

171
00:09:00,029 --> 00:09:03,139
but then it enslaves us

172
00:09:03,163 --> 00:09:06,687
in the awful isolation
of consumerism and status anxiety.

173
00:09:07,005 --> 00:09:08,187
(Audience) Yeah!

174
00:09:08,211 --> 00:09:11,221
Millions of us are on to the con now.

175
00:09:11,245 --> 00:09:14,224
We are realizing now

176
00:09:14,248 --> 00:09:17,753
that a free-for-all is not the same
as freedom for all.

177
00:09:17,777 --> 00:09:23,647
(Applause)

178
00:09:23,671 --> 00:09:26,408
What truly makes us free
is being bound to others

179
00:09:26,432 --> 00:09:28,516
in mutual aid and obligation,

180
00:09:28,540 --> 00:09:32,917
having to work things out the best we can
in our neighborhoods and towns,

181
00:09:32,941 --> 00:09:35,036
as if our fates were entwined --

182
00:09:35,060 --> 00:09:36,446
because they are --

183
00:09:36,470 --> 00:09:39,043
as if we could not secede
from one another,

184
00:09:39,067 --> 00:09:40,988
because, in the end, we cannot.

185
00:09:41,793 --> 00:09:45,150
Binding ourselves this way
actually liberates us.

186
00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,033
It reveals that we are equal in dignity.

187
00:09:49,057 --> 00:09:51,983
It reminds us that rights
come with responsibilities.

188
00:09:53,201 --> 00:09:54,717
It reminds us, in fact,

189
00:09:54,741 --> 00:09:58,836
that rights properly understood
are responsibilities.

190
00:10:00,130 --> 00:10:03,242
The second reason
why civic religion matters now

191
00:10:03,266 --> 00:10:07,504
is that it offers the healthiest
possible story of us and them.

192
00:10:08,536 --> 00:10:14,861
We talk about identity politics today
as if it were something new,

193
00:10:14,885 --> 00:10:17,014
but it's not.

194
00:10:17,038 --> 00:10:19,143
All politics is identity politics,

195
00:10:19,167 --> 00:10:22,625
a never-ending struggle
to define who truly belongs.

196
00:10:23,379 --> 00:10:28,776
Instead of noxious myths of blood and soil
that mark some as forever outsiders,

197
00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:32,545
civic religion offers everyone
a path to belonging

198
00:10:32,569 --> 00:10:37,274
based only a universal creed
of contribution, participation,

199
00:10:37,298 --> 00:10:38,448
inclusion.

200
00:10:39,079 --> 00:10:43,994
In civic religion, the "us"
is those who wish to serve,

201
00:10:44,018 --> 00:10:48,000
volunteer, vote, listen, learn,
empathize, argue better,

202
00:10:48,024 --> 00:10:50,764
circulate power rather than hoard it.

203
00:10:50,788 --> 00:10:52,938
The "them" is those who don't.

204
00:10:54,250 --> 00:10:57,400
It is possible to judge the them harshly,

205
00:10:57,424 --> 00:10:59,376
but it isn't necessary,

206
00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,949
for at any time, one of them
can become one of us,

207
00:11:03,973 --> 00:11:06,631
simply by choosing to live like a citizen.

208
00:11:07,836 --> 00:11:09,377
So let's welcome them in.

209
00:11:10,027 --> 00:11:13,643
Whitney and Berto and Rafael
are gifted welcomers.

210
00:11:14,598 --> 00:11:17,692
Each has a distinctive, locally rooted way

211
00:11:17,716 --> 00:11:20,930
to make faith in democracy
relatable to others.

212
00:11:21,494 --> 00:11:25,045
Their slang might be Appalachian
or South Side or Hawaiian.

213
00:11:25,069 --> 00:11:26,950
Their message is the same:

214
00:11:26,974 --> 00:11:31,061
civic love, civic spirit,
civic responsibility.

215
00:11:32,822 --> 00:11:35,395
Now you might think
that all this civic religion stuff

216
00:11:35,419 --> 00:11:38,728
is just for overzealous
second-generation Americans like me.

217
00:11:40,045 --> 00:11:42,832
But actually, it is for anyone, anywhere,

218
00:11:42,856 --> 00:11:45,114
who wants to kindle the bonds of trust,

219
00:11:45,138 --> 00:11:47,714
affection and joint action

220
00:11:47,738 --> 00:11:49,722
needed to govern ourselves in freedom.

221
00:11:50,851 --> 00:11:53,392
Now maybe Civic Saturdays aren't for you.

222
00:11:53,416 --> 00:11:54,841
That's OK.

223
00:11:54,865 --> 00:11:58,805
Find your own ways to foster
civic habits of the heart.

224
00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,591
Many forms of beloved
civic community are thriving now,

225
00:12:03,615 --> 00:12:05,417
in this age of awakening.

226
00:12:05,441 --> 00:12:07,939
Groups like Community Organizing Japan,

227
00:12:07,963 --> 00:12:11,289
which uses creative performative
rituals of storytelling

228
00:12:11,313 --> 00:12:13,372
to promote equality for women.

229
00:12:14,075 --> 00:12:16,750
In Iceland, civil confirmations,

230
00:12:16,774 --> 00:12:18,771
where young people are led by an elder

231
00:12:18,795 --> 00:12:22,124
to learn the history
and civic traditions of their society,

232
00:12:22,148 --> 00:12:25,024
culminating in a rite-of-passage ceremony

233
00:12:25,048 --> 00:12:26,611
akin to church confirmation.

234
00:12:27,984 --> 00:12:30,414
Ben Franklin Circles in the United States,

235
00:12:30,438 --> 00:12:32,404
where friends meet monthly

236
00:12:32,428 --> 00:12:35,993
to discuss and reflect upon the virtues
that Franklin codified

237
00:12:36,017 --> 00:12:37,927
in his autobiography,

238
00:12:37,951 --> 00:12:41,549
like justice and gratitude
and forgiveness.

239
00:12:43,394 --> 00:12:45,879
I know civic religion is not enough

240
00:12:45,903 --> 00:12:48,529
to remedy the radical
inequities of our age.

241
00:12:49,022 --> 00:12:50,827
We need power for that.

242
00:12:51,323 --> 00:12:55,108
But power without character
is a cure worse than the disease.

243
00:12:56,393 --> 00:12:59,616
I know civic religion alone
can't fix corrupt institutions,

244
00:13:01,243 --> 00:13:05,543
but institutional reforms
without new norms will not last.

245
00:13:06,375 --> 00:13:08,495
Culture is upstream of law.

246
00:13:08,519 --> 00:13:10,977
Spirit is upstream of policy.

247
00:13:11,001 --> 00:13:13,947
The soul is upstream of the state.

248
00:13:13,971 --> 00:13:18,567
We cannot unpollute our politics
if we clean only downstream.

249
00:13:18,591 --> 00:13:20,091
We must get to the source.

250
00:13:20,846 --> 00:13:22,607
The source is our values,

251
00:13:23,752 --> 00:13:28,085
and on the topic of values,
my advice is simple: have some.

252
00:13:28,556 --> 00:13:30,975
(Laughter)

253
00:13:30,999 --> 00:13:35,504
(Applause)

254
00:13:35,528 --> 00:13:37,956
Make sure those values are prosocial.

255
00:13:37,980 --> 00:13:39,646
Put them into practice,

256
00:13:39,670 --> 00:13:41,878
and do so in the company of others,

257
00:13:41,902 --> 00:13:45,720
with a structure of creed,
deed and joyful ritual

258
00:13:45,744 --> 00:13:47,656
that'll keep all of you coming back.

259
00:13:49,067 --> 00:13:52,887
Those of us who believe in democracy
and believe it is still possible,

260
00:13:52,911 --> 00:13:55,238
we have the burden of proving it.

261
00:13:55,262 --> 00:13:58,399
But remember, it is no burden at all

262
00:13:58,423 --> 00:14:01,769
to be in a community
where you are seen as fully human,

263
00:14:01,793 --> 00:14:04,217
where you have a say
in the things that affect you,

264
00:14:04,241 --> 00:14:06,898
where you don't need
to be connected to be respected.

265
00:14:07,884 --> 00:14:09,392
That is called a blessing,

266
00:14:10,171 --> 00:14:12,503
and it is available to all who believe.

267
00:14:13,434 --> 00:14:14,585
Thank you.

268
00:14:14,609 --> 00:14:20,642
(Applause)