I thought this was a well-written essay by Michael Roth, the president of Weslyan University, in which he argues that education and faith should lead to a similar end: a realization of how little we understand and thus an openness to other points of view/belief systems.
Liberal learning is, after all, supposed to make us aware of how little we know. That’s what Socratic insight is all about: we need to learn because we understand so little. Education should lead to intellectual humility as we become more aware of our own ignorance. Conservatives also prize education, after all, but they do so because it should deliver the lesson of intellectual humility. Education should prevent us from thinking we can solve our deepest problems with science, technology or political structures.
There is a parallel here with faith. Some believers, infused with confidence in their own righteousness, display a spiritual arrogance that is offensive to those who don’t share their beliefs. But many people of faith discover a deep humility through their spiritual life—a humility that leads to openness to others rather than a proud sectarianism.
So maybe condescension depends less on questions of ideology, learning and faith than it does on differences in character. Some people just find it easier to sneer at others rather than to try to understand people with different points of view. The satisfactions of condescension are a temptation for people who feel they already know so much, just as the pleasures of elitism are seductive for people who are certain that God is on their side.
Policial conservative and author of The Faith of George W. Bush, Stephen Mansfield, has written a new book entitled 
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