Tim Keller masterclass on stating views without being a jerk.
Koch’s main strategy in the interview was to paint the traditional Christian position as extreme and therefore as non-inclusive. So when Koch asked his first question about the “hardline views of the church on abortion and homosexuality,” it would have been appropriate for Mason to ask a counter-question. “With all due respect, David, your term ‘hardline’ sounds like you are calling our views extreme. But just under 2 billion people, ¼ of the world’s population, are Muslim, and they hold the same views — are you saying no Muslim could ever be the CEO of a public football club?”
Such a question uses secular persons’ own cultural narrative (that of diversity and the value of racial minorities) against them. If Koch had responded by saying, “Yes, I don’t think a Muslim could be a club CEO,” Mason could have responded that now he was being quite non-inclusive, and if the more than ¾ of the world population that doesn’t hold the secular view of sexuality is excluded, who now is being extreme? And if Koch had said, “Well those people haven’t been enlightened yet,” Mason might have replied, “How is that not just another example of western superiority and imperialism? Aren’t you doing the very marginalization and exclusion you are complaining about?”
Somewhere this counter-message needed to come through. It could have been put like this:
“The fact is, David, that everyone has a set of moral standards by which they include some and exclude others. No one is completely inclusive. And yes, Christians like everyone else lay down moral principles for people. We believe they fit in with how God created us and so they will help us thrive. And some people disagree with those rules and principles — but we do not kick them out and tell them they are abominable. We include them in loving community and walk with them as long as they wish us to. We believe that fits in with how Jesus lived and then died forgiving those who opposed him.”