We hear the words and go through the motions, but are we really communicating?

We may just be looking at dots on a screen, the Rev. David Ruhe of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Des Moines said during a panel discussion Wednesday afternoon in the Memorial Union.

“Yet, we convince ourselves that we’re involved in communication. Well, we are and we aren’t,” he said. “To some degrees, the art of communication is a lost art.”

Ruhe and two other Des Moines church leaders had no problem communicating with about 35 people who gathered for the presentation, “Religion & Politics: An Iowa Perspective.” The discussion was part of this week’s series of “Civil Discourse in a Democracy” lectures.

Bruce Wittern, a pastor at Easton Place United Methodist Church, said civil discourse is all about a process: working together to find common ground, not just venting about the issues.

“The separation of church and state is like a Swiss cheese wall; it has holes in it. You can’t possibly live in this country and have a rigid wall in between, although some groups of people probably want one,” he said.

Church leaders in Des Moines crawled through these “holes” two years ago.

In January of last year, Christian leaders, who considered themselves to be “polar opposites,” came together and issued a statement against the Des Moines school board’s proposal to incorporate homosexuality into its curriculum.

Ruhe said the statement requested school officials “start over” with their idea to revamp the curriculum.

“The proposal was bad. We just asked that they set the document aside and do it again. Do it in an open and participatory way …” he said.

It took the group, including church leaders who weren’t a part of Wednesday’s panel, more than 16 hours to come up with a statement they all agreed on to send to the board.

The experience of writing a statement all church leaders agreed with was in itself a way to “seek commonality and explore our differences,” Ruhe said.

“If large churches can’t be involved and talk about things in the community, then they are ant hills. What are they there for?” said the Rev. William Cotton of Grace United Methodist Church.

“Because of this issue, my church got over being afraid of each other and we can talk about anything now.”

Ruhe said when discussing issues such as curriculum, people should start by affirming what they have in common and “use that as a departure.”

“In public discourse, a lot of people want to vent,” he said.

Out of the statement discussion came The Interfaith Alliance of Des Moines.

The group is an organization “to help you express your faith through the political process.”