Speakers: Toni R. Battle (Baptist and Native
American faith traditions), Mary Waskowiak (Catholic faith tradition), Bhawana
Kamil (Islamic faith tradition).
As an agnostic leftist with a fiercely agnostic
upbringing, I'll admit that I was reluctant to attend this particular panel,
but as it was the only one that fit in my schedule, I showed up, ready for
uncritical panderings and protestations of faith.
What I encountered, however, was a profoundly
moving dialogue consisting of a mixture of personal narrative and political opinion
that explored a wide range of ways in which the panelists' spiritual beliefs
affected their work. There was a really moving sense of honesty present
in the room. I came to understand that for these women, the call to do
social justice work came first, and their spiritual beliefs were simply a
continuation of their work, spirituality and social justice synergistically
informing their lives.
I was fascinated by the crossover between their
views, methods and personal stories, given that they were all in different
disciplines and from different faith backgrounds. It reminded me of a quote from the
introduction to a book by Sanam Anderlini, “Although their motivations and ideologies
may differ, their vision and demands for the future often converge…They
emphasize a holistic notion of peace, defined not just in military security and
political terms but also in terms of human security, rooted in a combination of
political, economic, personal, community and environmental factors” (p. 9,
2007).
This forum also connected well to the work that Ann
Jones did with her Global Crescendo project. The telling, and most
importantly, the sharing, of stories is an intrinsically human activity and can
allow us to make deep connections with other humans. These deep
connections, communicated through photo work or live speech, can remind us in
an extremely effective way that violence against any one person is violence
against a whole network of people, extending all the way back to ourselves.
Anderlini, S. N. (2007). Women Building Peace: What they do, why it Matters. London: Lynne
Rienner Publishers.
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