I've decided to take the name "diary" in a literal sense. In this space, and other installations yet to come, I plan to detail my efforts to carve out a place for the progressive religious community in Eugene, OR. I do this in hopes that my experiences will be valuable to others and also that I may get advice from those more experienced than I.
The details of my plan will come below the fold, but let me say a piece about myself first. I have never made secret of nor apology for my faith; I am a witch. One would think me an unlikely person to organize a new interfaith ministry. However, I think there is evidence to support the claim that many of the sheep who follow the religious right are disconnected from their faith rather than fanatics of it.
Combined with the fact that less than a quarter of my county belongs to a church of any stripe, I see a need.
My organization, which was founded nearly a year ago, now, is called the Interfaith League of Voters. Our stated purpose is to educate voters on issues of religious freedom, to register voters of minority faiths, and to fight any political initiative which is an enemy of moral or religious freedom. We believe in seven specific points.
- That every human being has the right to choose their own moral path, manner of worship and spiritual faith.
- That every human being should be free to pray to any deity, or none at all.
- That no church, sect, creed, faith or coalition thereof should have power over any branch of government.
- That nobody is free to worship as they will unless all people are free to do so.
- That the government ought not legislate or oversee matters of moral choice unless they have severe and unconscionable repercussions on society.
- That the government ought not show favoritism to any church, sect, creed or faith.
- That the Constitution and Constitutional laws are the basis for the governance of America, and not any religious or holy writing.
In the Spring, I intend to apply for a charter from the Interfaith Alliance (www.theinterfaithalliance.org). Before I do, I would dearly like to show the beginnings of a ministry which would justify investment in by a national organization.
I have a few plans in my pocket that I'm working to bring to reality. First and most important is a Crisis of Faith hotline. People in my community need an outlet whereby they can talk about their faith in a non-judgemental setting. The fact that only a quarter of them belong to a church is not a measure of how many people of faith there are, but how few people have an opportunity to recieve counseling when they need it.
I plan to organize local counselors of as many different faiths as possible. Besides strictly legal requirements, we would operate under a minimum of rules: don't judge, don't evangalize, and don't break annonymity.
Once we are organized (hopefully within the next couple of months), we'd begin to publicize. I expect there are plenty of people who do not have a church, who cannot talk to their minister, or who are curious about others faiths, and they are all potential callers. From a central line, I would put callers in touch with a counseler of either their faith or the faith they are curious about.
I welcome any and all help on this project. So far, I've had contact with a number of churches and ministers. It has been my hope that ministers would see the value of an interfaith effort such as this, and would put me in contact with laypeople eager to do good works.
This is, as I see it, the most important plan my organization has at this time. Other plans include rallies, potlucks, park cleanup projects and school playground repair projects(like repainting rusted swings).
I also maintain a mailing list of people concerned about religious freedom issues. When I see an issue arising (the most recent ones concerned H.R. 418 and abstinance-only sex education), I send around a letter telling about it and what we can do to fight it. It was after a call-in effort to our local NBC affiliate that they aired a critical piece about how national NBC had rejected a UCC television ad. So hopefully we're doing some good.
All comments and advice are welcome.