Politics & Faith Town Hall at Queens University on August 8th
Source: Queens University / Queens University
Four of your neighbors from the city recently visited Northern Ireland to learn about the fallout from the 30 years of war between Protestants and Catholics. The conflict, known as “The Troubles”, was from 1968-1998. Casey Crimmins, COO of FORCLT and Pastor of Multiply Church, Dr. Hadia Mubarak, Associate Professor of Religion, Queens University of Charlotte, Jennifer Roberts, former Mayor and consultant for The Carter Center and Rev. Dr. Stephanie Moore Hand, United Methodist Church and community leader, were joined by twenty-one other faith and community leaders from other states. The trip was sponsored by the Carter Center and Rethinking Conflict, a nonprofit that focuses on conflict transformation, peacebuilding and reconciliation.
The group met with Northern Ireland leaders and learned about the impact of dividing the community into two groups who have dehumanized each other. Pastor Casey says that just as bakers lay out their ingredients and start to mix them in, you can see where those ingredients have been mixed in here. “You have a very dangerous recipe and I’d say coming back to the states or as we’re over there looking back at our beautiful country, we’re just seeing that decades and decades and decades worth of ingredient preparation has led us to a place whereas I look at the table, we see a lot of the same ingredients.” Pastor Casey says that the church is silent; but it really isn’t.”
According to Pew Research Center surveys for the past few years, more Americans support than oppose the separation of church and state. About 73% say that religion should be kept separate from government policies. Pastor Casey says, “we’re talking about politics and faith, which is something that we try to separate, but more than ever, we’ve seen this gradual build to where there’s so much division which we hear so much about.”
Hear their experiences at a Town Hall meeting, Faith & Politics: Reflections from Northern Ireland, on Thursday, August 8th, 6:30 PM, at Belk Chapel, Queens University, 2234 Radcliffe Avenue. The moderator is Praise 100.9’s Tonya Rivens. Register at forcharlotte.org.
