Ecumenical Voices for Democracy Launches Religion and Politics Series

From Tom Solomon:
Ecumenical Voices for Democracy held their first forum yesterday May 22nd at TVI on ‘The Use and Abuse of Religion and Politics’. Before an audience of 163, the moderated panel (composed of 2 members of the clergy, a lawyer/ACLU member and a UNM professor) conducted a spirited, sometimes humorous, but thoughtful conversation around two of the topics you should not discuss in polite company! The panelists had profound comments to make on religion, morality, conscience, politics and the law and moderator Reese Fullerton maintained a sense of mutual respect and equanimity throughout.

My favorite quote was from Rev. Brian Taylor, on how we lessen the current levels of hostility:

“ I think there is a cultural divide… But I don’t think it is between conservative and liberal, it is between those who, out of fear, are settling for black and white answers, and those who are willing to admit that ultimately life is a mystery and that there are a lot of grey areas even within our own religious traditions…. even within the Bible. This is not moral relativism. It is humility about our ability to understand life, or even, as I say, our own religious tradition. So how do we lessen hostility? By developing curiosity about how ‘the other’ comes to the conclusions that they do, especially when they come from a religious perspective.”

The event went as well as we could have hoped … the audience was clearly engaged, and over two thirds stayed for the reception afterward to continue the discussion. A rousing success! So don’t forget to come to the next Religion and Politics forum July 31st. The topic: Religion, Civil Rights and Individual Liberty. Editor's Note: The local website and blog, Defend New Mexico, has an excellent piece on the Forum with an abundance of quotes from the panel discussion. Well worth a look.