More on Occupy Faith National Gathering

This conference featured many individuals that are on the forefront of progressive theological thought. It was a true blessing to be present.

One of the most hotly discussed issues was violence at Occupy sites. The discussions covered both police violence and violence from protesters. As faith leaders many felt the discussion was important to have. Most striking about this process was the amount of deep thought and analysis that had gone into this subject. An interesting question that came up for example was. “If a lock is placed on the door of an illegally foreclosed home, is it violence to break that lock and move the family back in? These debates about the definition of violence went on for a long time.

My Thoughts on this issue

While the theoretical examples were well presented, our continual focus on a definition for violence made clear that there is a threat of over Intellectualization of the Occupy movement. In the mists of this debate what was lost was our obligation as people of faith to clearly state that ‘Violence against or the provocation of violence toward any human being is a violation of the principle that we are all part of the Divine’.  While I was glad that a discussion of violence happened, in the end I came away feeling we had abdicated our responsibility to make a unified statement to the Occupy movement on this issue.

One of the exciting things that came out of this conference is a plan for a “National month of Story telling.” For the month of May congregations around the country will be collecting video stories of those disenfranchised by our current economic system. There was agreement that, with all the messages in the media around election time, it is important that these stories get out and our populace becomes aware of just how much suffering there is in this country.

My Thoughts on this project

It is my hope that the Pagan community will participate in this process. This will not be a political effort, just a telling of stories. I think that Pagans of all political stripes, can support those who have lost their homes, jobs, and families in telling their stories as part of our national conversation about economic justice.

Over all the experience of attending this event was very positive.  Personally I had an intense awakening about my own privilege in the community. It became clear that just acknowledging my place of privilege and moving forward is no longer acceptable in my life. It is my intent to turn my privilege against its’ self, to spend more time engaging with and speaking out in support of those who have no such measure of privilege.

To those who support Occupy in our community,  Thank You! To those who do not; may your minds remain open to dialogue about the important issue of economic justice.

You are all part of the Blessed Community that I hold so dear!