Still Processing tomorrow, Aug 1, 7pm, Brew Merchant!
What kind of country and world do we want to live in? How can we get there?
With the withdrawal of Joe Biden from the presidential race, and the ascendency of Kamala Harris, we have found ourselves firmly situated in a “choice” election, instead of a “referendum” election. This election is about what kind of country we want to be, as opposed to a referendum on the Biden presidency.
These are two dramatically different candidates with dramatically different visions for our country. They also represent significantly different coalitions of voters.
Biden’s willingness to step aside has gifted us the opportunity to enact democracy in a definitive and consequential way. I am grateful for that opportunity.
Tomorrow evening, Marlin and I will analyze this political, religious, and cultural moment in American history. I’ve had some insights over the past few weeks that have been clarifying, liberating even, though also unsettling. I’ll quickly share one insight with you here. I am a proud liberal/progressive.* I am not conflicted about this. My education, professional work, personal experiences, relationships, and the values that I have adopted because of all of these factors (and more), have firmly placed me in the liberal/progressive movement.
All of this happened in spite of the pressures exerted upon me by my religious tradition. To put it another way, I did not become liberal because of my commitment to Christianity. Rather, I became a feminist (to name one progressive stance that I am committed to) in spite of my Christian identity, to a significant degree. This is an uncomfortable truth, but I have found some solace in naming it.
We’ll unpack this tomorrow evening, and offer some new ways to think about how to live a life of faithfulness, joy, and purpose. We hope to see you there!
P.S. Just for fun, here is chart that demonstrates that religion (all religions, not just Christianity) makes people more conservative. This chart shows the percentage of those who identify as liberal in correlation with how often they attend religious services. As you can see, more religious attendance equals less affiliation with liberalism, with every single group.
*Below is a good representation of what I mean by liberal/progressive. It’s technically about what qualifies as “liberal religion,” but the overlap with liberal values is clear. It’s from a study that I will discuss tomorrow evening.
