Event

COMMUNITY DIALOGUE CIRCLE

CAN'T WE TALK?
An Experiment in Conversation, Contemplation, and our Search for Common Ground on the issues that separate us!

This is a community initiative to prepare ourselves for courageous conversations and to provide leadership to show that political discourse in an election year does not need to be nasty.

This initiative has been inspired by our concern that our nation is deeply divided politically and it has become very personal. Family members have stopped speaking over political differences. Our religious and spiritual traditions offer wisdom and ethical values that can enhance the way we engage each other on topical issues, but they are mostly absent in the partisan, polarized way that we relate on such issues.

The theme for this initiative is: CAN'T WE TALK?

It will consist of 6 workshops designed to promote civil discourse through personal storytelling, role-playing exercises, relationship-building conversational skills and contemplative practices.

The first session will introduce a kit of conversational tools and skills that will facilitate authentic and respectful dialogue; it will also integrate contemplative practices of our diverse spiritual traditions to provide a healthy, grounded environment for our initiative.

Subsequent sessions will apply these skills and practices in authentic and mutually respectful dialogue with people who do not always agree with us.

The goal is to work together to design and sponsor an effective and replicable model for civil discourse on a divisive issue at a TOWN HALL FORUM on August 4, 2018.

MONTHLY COMMUNITY DIALOGUE MEETINGS - SAVE THESE FUTURE DATES:

WHEN: 3:00-5:30pm on

February 18
March18
April15
May20
June10

Please register (there is no charge) so we can plan the meeting, and kindly LIKE us and SHARE this event with your friends.

In community,
Rabbi Anson Laytner - Imam Jamal Rahman - Dr. Mark Jones, Ph.D - John Hale