In building the Beloved Community how do we ground our faith in anti-racist and antioppressive theologies that offer safe spaces for healing and transformation and opportunities to build bridges of mutuality, accountability and trust? What can we do so our urban churches better reflect the diversity of their surrounding neighborhoods and become a welcoming spiritual home for all people? How do we strive towards diverse congregations in ways that are authentic, radically inclusive, spiritually grounded and justice centered? How do we maintain integrity when affirming stories of struggle and marginality that are not our own? How do we offer worship experiences and pastoral care that is culturally relevant to a multiracial and multigenerational community? What have we learned since the historic 1997 Journey Towards Wholeness resolution “Toward an Anti-Racist Unitarian Universalist Association?” What can learn from other denominations successes and challenges around racial diversity, anti-oppression and multicultural ministry?
This interdisciplinary course will engage our stories of oppression and privilege to unpack and integrate all parts of our identity and understand how our social location impacts our ministries and future vocational roles. We will explore the intersectionality of oppression and privilege to discern how each part of who we are informs the whole. We will engage in dialogue across stories of race, gender, sexuality, spirituality, ability, culture, class, language, nationality,
and immigration identity. Students will be asked to offer their own creative responses to the most important anti-racist/anti-oppression issues facing the future of our faith. Guest lecturers, identity
based caucuses, class field trips, integrative reflective statements, group multimedia presentations and a final project/paper will supplement weekly discussions and chevruta/small group dialogue. (previous experience with SKSM’s Educating to Counter Oppression courses is encouraged but not required).
