One word describing how you’re feeling regarding the election.
One word describing how you’re feeling about the post-election climate in the US.
Please name one positive thing you appreciate about any one (or more) person(s) who voted differently than you that contributed to their impulse to vote accordingly.
What positive trait or chosen policy can you name about the other candidate(s) for whom you didn’t vote? One step further - What good things do you think voters resonated with in that candidate?
Where are you hesitant or afraid to talk about politics? Your worshiping community? Your workplace? At dialogue? What about Thanksgiving? Extended family sounding like fun times this year? Why hesitant? Or if you’re not hesitant, simply name where it might be more tense or stressful compared to other places...and why? Simply due to opinion dissonance, and/or other reasons?
Let’s name some of our demographic divides. Our votes are easy to mistake for our identity. What are the demographic divides that serve as wedges (however real or manipulated they may be) among us? This can be a national reflection or a reflection regarding your own neighborhood or worshiping community, etc.?
According to your faith, what is your approach to government? Do you vote to match your convictions and why? Or do you vote according to an idea of a common good and why? Or do you separate yourself from politics for religious reasons and why? Or some other approach...and why? Feel free to cite Scriptures, history, community, personal experience.
What has influenced your vote the most for president: a faith-related reason, a practical experience, a theory about proper economy, foreign policy, or something else altogether?
Time to validate others’ hurts. Temptations all around to think the other is crazy, over or under reacting. Suspending that line of thinking: Each of your hurts and your loved ones hurts are real. We are not fixing it tonight; we are bearing witness to it. What hurts can you see among the “other” voters that you can name as legitimately difficult? Let’s explore that.
How can we be with each other in that hurt as friends? As advocates?
Suspend rumor. Suspend caricature. Puzzle piece feel missing? Usually indicates a non-linear dissonance, i.e. different paradigms trying to speak to each other. Building toward understanding: What fears do you have, and by the way, how are those fears a) related to your faith?
...and b) what does your faith have to say about grappling with such fears?
Who or what does your faith say is your enemy in this type of situation?
Who is part of your “team” according to your faith?
What can we do to watch out for each other, to keep our government accountable to the pieces we do agree on? Or perhaps this: What does your Scripture or faith community inform not just elections, but ongoing relationship with government?
In the last dialogue, we spoke about helplessness and agency in politics+faith. This seems to have an effect on both dedication to educate ourselves about candidates AND devotion to participating in local politics. What about your faith, alongside your concerns with the socio-political climate, influences your participation in local politics, or lack thereof?
What can we do to advocate for each other when we’re not in the same room? Commitments you can step up to make to be a bridge builder in your own social circles?
What is needed in order for us to become a team forming a “more perfect union”? What next steps can we take to get there?
