Meadville Forum on the election and UUism

[applewuud]

I was browsing at the website of the UU seminary in Chicago (meadville.org) and found they are having a "Winter Institute" on February 8-10. The topic is interesting, but I don't know the people presenting the institute (Mr. Keithan is the Director of the UUA's lobbying office in Washington):

[FONT=verdana,geneva]A Framework for Change: Analyzing recent national election results
Dr. Melissa Harris-Lacewell [/FONT]​

[FONT=verdana,geneva]Healing the World through Effective Action
Rob Keithan
[/FONT]
It will be an interesting time to talk about this, with the primaries recently...but has anyone on this forum ever attended a Meadville Forum? I hadn't heard of it.


Having said that, the idea of "building the beloved community" through political action is a bit problematic for me. Our political climate is so polarized, so focused on process and gamesmanship instead of working together to find common ground, that it would be hard to keep a spiritual focus while, for example, trying to fend off racist or misogynist attacks from the "other side" on your candidate.


Some people get turned off when church (or fellowship, or meetinghouse, as you prefer) becomes a forum for politics, as opposed to a force that's beyond politics. Yet, UUs have a long history of expressing our beliefs in real-world action, instead of focusing on a mystical reality. Might be interesting to attend.
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[lilithu]

Hey applewood, namaste.

Did you end up attending the Winter Institute?

Having said that, the idea of "building the beloved community" through political action is a bit problematic for me. Our political climate is so polarized, so focused on process and gamesmanship instead of working together to find common ground, that it would be hard to keep a spiritual focus while, for example, trying to fend off racist or misogynist attacks from the "other side" on your candidate.

"Building the beloved community" through political action would not mean supporting a particular candidate. In fact, that would be a sure-fire way to lose your tax-exempt status as a religious organization. "Building the beloved community" through political action means supporting certain causes, like comprehensive sexuality education and access to birth control (instead of abstinence only). And it means opposing other causes, like the immoral war in Iraq. And we do find common ground. The UUA works with some evangelical Christians in support of economic justice, and we agree to disagree about BGLT issues and reproductive choice. We work with Catholics on immigration and agree to disagree about... BGLT issues and reproductive choice. We work quite closely with the Quakers and the UCC.

You're right. It's hard to keep a spiritual focus when so much is at stake. It's easy to get mad and start to demonize the "other side." But that's why I think it's so important for religious folk to be doing this, because we will be more likely to keep a spiritual focus. Honestly, I can see a difference between the religious activist folks and the non-religious activist folks. There is a difference.

You might enjoy this:
Inspired Faith, Effective Action: UUs Participate in Anti-War Demonstration