He would prefer to return to a culture of shared social norms: against racism, but also against the cruel, the tasteless, and the boorish. But he’s not counting on it. The broad erosion of the old moral order is probably permanent, in his view. The pushback in the 1980s against the liberal excesses of the ’60s and ’70s did not undo the sexual revolution. The task for Christians of adapting to “negative world” remains urgent.
In Carmel, however, it was possible to glimpse a slice of “neutral world,” where all are welcome but “there’s no shame in being a conservative Christian.” After lunch, Mr. Renn drove me around his new hometown and pointed out the city’s religious diversity: The Coptic Orthodox church, the synagogue shared by two congregations, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple, the Muslim coffee shop. He mentioned the city’s meager but growing minority population, too. Carmel has “diversity that works,” he said.
Mr. Renn moved to Carmel with his second wife, Katy — they met in church, through a friend — primarily because of the school district’s special-education offerings for his 7-year-old son, who has autism. But the city has proved inspirational in other ways as well.
“People ask, what are my politics?” Mr. Renn said as we walked along a rail trail that winds through downtown. The city has installed more than 150 roundabouts and has almost completely eliminated traffic lights, making Carmel, as Mr. Renn has written, “one of the few growing American cities where traffic is better than it was 20 years ago.” He gestured to the playgrounds, charging stations and a bocce court that stud the trail, and the pedestrians who were enjoying the trail even on a chilly day. “These are my politics,” he said.
Carmel is thriving, in Mr. Renn’s view, because its Republican leaders have focused on things like public safety, low taxes, and excellent infrastructure and amenities, while avoiding the distractions of what he called “extreme ideologies,” like D.E.I. hiring practices or banning gasoline-powered lawn equipment.
It’s a place where things run the way they ought to everywhere — and why shouldn’t they? “When you look at America,” Mr. Renn said, “the potential we have is unlimited.”
Audio produced by Patricia Sulbarán.
Content Source: www.nytimes.com