A Forum with Braver Angels

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 7–8:30 P.M., in Bloedel Hall or online via Zoom

NOTE UPDATED TIME!*

Register here to attend in person in Bloedel Hall*

Register here to participate online via Zoom

Capacity for the in-person event is strictly limited. If you register, but your plans change and you can no longer attend in person, please email Erik Donner in the cathedral office at edonner@saintmarks.org to cancel your reservation. You may register to participate online via Zoom at any time up to the day of the event.

*PLEASE NOTE: Both in-person Evening Prayer and Community Dinner will be offered as usual this Wednesday, at 5:30 and 6 p.m., respectively. As always, food service will end promptly at 6:30. To allow time to re-arrange Bloedel Hall, the forum itself will begin at 7 p.m. and continue until 8:30 p.m. (slightly later than a normal Cathedral Commons offering).

Civil discourse requires mutual respect. Respect, not agreement, is an essential key for a healthy discussion. This workshop addresses how we may inadvertently be complicit in, or possibly even encourage, polarization.

What is the Depolarizing Ourselves Introductory Workshop?

The Depolarizing Ourselves Introductory Workshop is designed to help you lessen the effects of polarization when you encounter them in your political conversations. Note that by “polarization,” we are not referring to healthy disagreements over issues or philosophy. We are talking about how we regard and talk about large groups of ordinary people on the other side of our own politics as if they were enemies.

This is a group session that is approximately 1.5 hours long. It is led by a volunteer Braver Angels Facilitator. Braver Angels is a non-religious organization that develops educational tools to build bridges between people divided over politics. We also partner with religious and other groups who use our tools in the context of their own traditions.

Goals

To teach participants:

• How to be more aware of their own “inner polarizer”.
• How to interact without demonizing, dismissing or stereotyping large swaths of the population.

In our current political climate, much of our conflict stems not from healthy disagreement over policies, issues, or philosophy. Instead, it’s created by the often emotional, rancor-escalating, and highly polarizing conversations that we typically have with others. Braver Angels has created our Depolarizing Ourselves Workshop to help you reframe how you view the other side in the face of disagreements around politics. Successfully ‘taming’ our inner polarizer starts with recognizing our tendencies around harmful generalizations about the other side. This requires acknowledging how we often attribute negative intent and motivations to the other side without first trying to understand them.

Register here to attend in person in Bloedel Hall*

Register here to participate online via Zoom

*NOTE: Capacity for the in-person event is strictly limited. If you register, but your plans change and you can no longer attend in person, please email Erik Donner in the cathedral office at edonner@saintmarks.org to cancel your reservation. You may register to participate online via Zoom at any time up to the day of the event.