|
191baec
|
Our prevailing philosophy is "you do you"--be who you were made to be, make your own decisions, and live your best life. We just want you to actually do you--not Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity--based on the experiences that you're having every day and the values that you want to infuse into your life. And we want you to do you with your friends and neighbors and fellow parishioners and colleagues. Political pundits have become fond of discus..
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
258b7f3
|
Molds are for Jell-O, not for people.
|
|
people
molds
unique
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
5f703e9
|
When President Roosevelt talked about the necessity of work, he meant that the government would create jobs that paid well enough to give people new leases on life. When we talk about job requirements today, we mean, "go find something that exists in the private sector and that you're qualified to do today, even if it doesn't pay wages that enable you to deal with transportation, childcare, and all the other aspects of your life that must b..
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
a1fe6ca
|
We've decided to stop calling America "divided." Buying into this conflict-driven narrative is a choice, and it's a choice we're not going to make. We don't feel divided from each other or the people in our lives in any way. There are no perfect relationships, ideas, people, or organizations in our lives. They're all flawed, just as we are flawed. But we see past those flaws--because we are first looking for the good."
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
344d175
|
Whether you believe our country's problem is generational, geographical, or partisan, the most important thing to know about the polarization in American politics today is that we are choosing it. We are choosing division. We are choosing conflict. We are choosing to turn our civic sphere into a circus. We are choosing all of this, and we can choose otherwise.
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
87899b4
|
them. Frederick Buechner described grace this way: "The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you."
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
a6bc9e8
|
We need to bring our voices and perspectives to the table calmly, with respect for ourselves and one another, recognizing that we do not live alone. America has never been and will never be homogeneous. We are here to bump up against each other. We need to bring our faith and values not just to specific issues but to the process of engaging in civil discourse.
|
|
politics
faith
voices
|
Sarah Stewart Holland & Beth Silvers |
|
9933331
|
Ultimately politics is about people. People are never boring, and people belong together. We are meant to hash out how we want to live in community with one another.
|
|
politics
|
Sarah Stewart Holland & Beth Silvers |
|
833120d
|
Whenever we make one thing the central cause of a problem or the singular solution to that problem, the stakes are always too high to allow honest conversation or vulnerable reflection.
|
|
problem
solution
reflection
|
Sarah Stewart Holland & Beth Silvers |
|
2c48f59
|
we can come to "equally faithful, yet different, conclusions" in politics and in the voting booth.2 However, we seem incapable of doing that. The other side's motives must always be nefarious. It's not that people on the left have reached a different conclusion on abortion; it's that they want to kill babies. It's not that people on the right believe different things about the social safety net; it's that they hate poor people."
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
4233b19
|
Politicians shouldn't determine our positions and values. Our values should determine the policies and positions we support.
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland & Beth Silvers |
|
fbb001c
|
Grace helps us make difficult conversations less difficult by tapping into the larger shared mystery of human experience. That's all it is. We aren't required to lose ourselves or abandon reason in the process. We don't have to accept the unacceptable in order to maintain our grace. Grace simply means that all people are valuable. It does not mean that all opinions are valid. Grace does not mandate that we treat all sides of an issue as equ..
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
54d8dc7
|
It's hard to discuss motherhood because it is such an identity. However, when we get curious, we can shift from the focus on our own perspectives (and our own defensiveness) and think about the other person's. The decisions mothers make about birth, breastfeeding, and whether to work beyond child-raising are intensely personal and are made against a backdrop of cultural messages that seem designed to make all of us feel selfish and inadequa..
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
88b5cb6
|
We also can't have productive dialogue with others without getting curious about what stakes color the other person's perspective. Our stakes aren't always logical, coherent, or rational, and that's okay. The same holds true for other people. We don't need to discount a person's position because of what's influencing it; we just need to acknowledge what's influencing it.
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |
|
5f5d12f
|
it's important to note that we can push past hard disagreement to places of compromise and problem-solving only if we stand firmly in identities rooted in a humanity and worth that is far beyond the reach of politics.
|
|
|
Sarah Stewart Holland |