Dear Beloved Westhope Community,
I invite you to attend some or all of this free online conference, co-hosted by the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice and Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ), on the subject of "Building Moral Leadership to Confront Christian Nationalism". It starts Sunday January 12 at 4pm PT, and runs for three consecutive afternoons. It is free. You will need to register here.
As some of you know, I spent a couple of months this Fall traveling with a group called Vote Common Good that gave workshops about this subject. Christian Nationalism is integrally tied to the 2024 election results, and will be for future elections as well. I feel called to activism around confronting Christian Nationalism as an American supporting democracy, as a person of faith working on anti-racism, and as a follower of Jesus. This politically driven movement undermines and attacks all of this, and is unwise to ignore. As people of faith, we are called to hear the living word and do the living word and love the world…this is an opportunity to do just that.
We will have the opportunity to follow up on this conference in Justice Cafe this Wednesday, January 15 at 3pm, online. Justice Cafe meets online the first and third Wednesdays of the month 3 to 4pm.
There will also be an opportunity to learn about this important subject at Westhope, as we will be engaging with Confronting Christian Nationalism this year as a congregation.
Here is a preview of the agenda. I hope you are able to attend some or part of the conference with me.
Sincerely,
Beth Wylie
Westhope Webmaster, Serving Elder, and Co-Chair of Westhope’s Justice Cafe
Sunday January 12: What is white Christian nationalism and how is it impacting our communities?
Introduction and framing
Cultural offering
Keynote: What is white Christian nationalism? Rev. Naomi Washington-Leapheart, Political Research Associates
Cultural offering
Panel response: How is white Christian nationalism impacting our communities? Rabbi Abby Stein, Rev. Alba Onofrio, and Rev. Caleb Campbell
Q & A discussion
Next steps & closing remarks
Monday January 13: Fighting for a multiracial democracy
Introduction and recap of Session 1
Cultural offering
Keynote: Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice
Q&A
Cultural offering
Keynote: Erin Heaney, Showing Up for Racial Justice
Q & A
Guided discussion between Liz Theoharis and Erin Heaney, facilitated by Elianne Farhat
Next steps & closing remarks
Tuesday January 14: Where do we go from here? The makings of a movement
Introduction and recap of Sessions 1 and 2
Cultural offering
Panel discussion: What does organizing need to look like in this political moment? Aaron Scott, Beth Howard, Mohamad Gula, and Sunita Viswanath
Q & A
Next steps & closing remarks