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Adam Russell Taylor I was born in the shadow of the civil rights struggle. My Black mother and white father made the controversial decision to marry in 1968, the same year Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, a tragic turning point in our nation’s history in which progress was replaced with riots, the Vietnam War, and a backlash to the advances of the civil rights struggle. I became convinced my generation inherited the unfinished business of that movement. The message of King’s final book — Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? — is just as applicable now. Today, we are at another dangerous crossroad and I offer a form of that same question: “Where do we go from here: destructive polarization or the Beloved Community?” Destructive polarization is increasingly fracturing our politics, our culture, and even our congregations. We battle over mask and vaccine mandates. Legislators in 48 states have proposed over 400 new voter suppression bills. The devastating impacts of extreme weather — from Hurricane Ida to wildfires ravaging the West Coast — highlight how polarization has blunted our nation’s response to the climate crisis. States are trying to prevent students from learning about systemic racism, whitewashing another generation’s understanding of our nation’s history. Disagreement over policy has increasingly turned into hate and contempt; opponents seek to defeat rather than persuade. We are stuck in a cold civil war that turned catastrophically hot on Jan. 6 as insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol. So what is the cure? Answering this question — not just for myself but also for my two young sons — compelled me to write A More Perfect Union: A New Vision For Building the Beloved Community. In order to move forward together, we must embrace a vision for our future that is aligned with our deepest spiritual values and civic ideals. We need a more hopeful and unifying meta-story for where we want our country to go — a story that can counteract the ahistorical and dystopian allure of the “Make America Great Again” fallacy.
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From the Magazine Dorothy Day Didn't Segment Her Life (by Rosalie G. Riegle) Her spirituality flooded into everything, including the political. |
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Introduction to Sabbath Economics with Ched Myers: A Web Event Dig even deeper into faithful giving and living with activist-theologian Ched Myers and economist Susan Taylor in this virtual workshop on October 15-16. Explore with others from around the country how to apply biblical values to our personal, household and collective economic lives. Hosted by Faith and Money Network. Sept. 15 — A More Perfect Union Virtual Launch with Adam Taylor & EJ Dionne EJ Dionne will moderate an engaging and rich discussion of the book's themes and applicability to this moment in U.S. history with a panel that includes Sojourners President Adam Taylor, Whitney Parnell, Eboo Patel, and Joseph Tomás McKellar on Wednesday, Sept. 15, 4:00-5:00 p.m. via Sojourners Facebook & SojoAction Twitter. |
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