WOF 516: How to Have a Civil Debate in a Polarized World

The Word on Fire Show - Catholic Faith and Culture

Brandon Vogt

God, Vogt, Catholicism, Catholic, Faith, Christianity, Barron, Religion & Spirituality, Christian, Church

4.9 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 November 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Charlie Kirk's assassination revealed a disturbing new cultural and political reality for those who share any of Kirk's views: it is possible, in our day and age, to be shot for speaking your mind. How can we recover from this dark event, whose effects have reverberated across the globe? How can we reclaim the possibility of disagreement with each other without resorting to violence? What conditions must be in place to make civil debate both possible and productive again, especially as our society appears to be growing more polarized?

A listener asks for advice on a healthy way to end an argument when it's clear you're at an impasse.

00:00 | Introduction
02:19 | Praying at Planned Parenthood
03:17 | Bishop Barron and Charlie Kirk
08:58 | Athens, Jerusalem, and the West
14:49 | Two necessary conditions for meaningful dialogue
22:08 | Belief in God—the fundamental condition
24:50 | God and the priority of logos over will
26:34 | Do we really need God for human rights?
28:44 | The Catholic case for freedom of speech
29:54 | Public celebration of evil
33:05 | Violence as a response to speech
34:18 | How can we debate those who reject necessary conditions for dialogue?
35:27 | How forgiveness is possible when justice is wanted
36:42 | Evangelical lessons from Charlie Kirk
37:40 | Listener question: How do you walk away from an impasse?
39:57 | Join the Word on Fire Institute

Links:

Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Word on Fire show.
0:01.3	I'm Matthew Petrusik, Senior Director of the Word on Fire Institute and the host of the
0:04.6	Word on Fire show.
0:05.6	Thank you for joining us.
0:07.6	On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, a champion of free speech and civil debate, was publicly
0:14.6	assassinated on a college campus while engaging in conversation with a crowd of students.
0:20.6	Kirk was widely recognized for being willing to talk with anyone, no matter what their point of view.
0:25.6	Despite frequently being the target of vicious personal attacks, he always kept a cheerful,
0:31.2	good nature focus on ideas, turning them, testing them, stacking them against each other,
0:37.2	and then making a case for what he
0:39.6	took to be the strongest point of view. He welcomed anyone to challenge his conclusions and would,
0:45.3	to his great credit, change his mind if a better argument emerged. But now he's dead. Murdered,
0:52.1	as Bishop Barron has put it, with a microphone in his hand.
0:55.9	This evil act not only stole Kirk from his wife and children and the millions who loved and respected him,
1:02.3	it also revealed a disturbing new cultural and political reality for those who share any of Kirk's views.
1:09.5	It is possible in our day and age to be shot for speaking your mind.
1:14.8	How can we recover from this dark event whose effects have reverberated across the globe?
1:21.0	How can we reclaim the possibility of disagreement with each other without resorting to violence?
1:26.6	What conditions must be in place to make
1:28.7	civil debate both possible and productive again, especially as our society appears to be growing
1:35.6	more and more polarized? Here to help illuminate a path forward is Bishop Robert Barron.
1:41.3	Music is Bishop Robert Barron.
	...

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