Healing our house divided

This fall, The Westminster Town Hall Forum presents “Healing Our House Divided”  a four-part series in which intellectually diverse thinkers will argue that community can surmount what separates them. All of the forums are free and open to everyone. 

Westminster Town Hall Forum Director Tane Danger, a Kingfield resident, mentioned they will offer meaningful ways individuals can reach out across rifts and cultivate a less antagonistic, angry society. They will show ways one can build bridges for a more respectful, pluralistic, and peaceful world. 

In 1980, Westminster Presbyterian Church members Paul and Diane Neimann, launched the Westminster Town Hall Forum at the church 1200 Marquette Ave.). Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, was the first speaker, and the Reverend Donald Meisel moderated. Since then, more than 250 speakers have addressed forum audiences. 

Healing our house divided 

This year, the advisory board wanted to focus on something that has impacted many people across the entire state and country. Over the course of conversations that the board had, the topic of healing, and ‘healing our house divided’ came up. Danger stated it continues to come up, in part, because of how polarized society has become.  

“The world right now feels like it’s very split and very pulled apart in a variety of different ways, and we were ruminating on that as a topic,” Danger said. 

However, the board did not want a forum to focus on being divided, but rather wanted to try and focus on what the community and an individual may be able to do about it. They wanted to present questions such as: Are there solutions? Are there ways to build bridges across the divisions that we see and bring people together? 

The series includes Jonathan Reckford on Oct. 5, 12 p.m. (recording available online), Lisa Pruitt on Oct. 25, 12 p.m., Eric Holder on Nov. 22, 6 p.m., and Chris Blattman on Dec. 8, 12 p.m. All forums will also be livestreamed on their website and are also available to view afterwards. 

“We wanted people who were going to dig into what actually drives some of the polarization that we see, and what you can do about those roots of the divisions in our communities,” Danger said. “We were actively looking for people who were going to talk about something deeper than that on this question.”

One of the things that Danger really encourages people to do with the forums is to take time to challenge what they think personally. He pointed out that many may tend to think about how these talks may change others’ opinions, but that these should also bring in self-reflection. 

“The work starts at home and how we challenge ourselves to think differently about any issue is really important both for the health of the conversation and, in this case, democracy,” Danger said. “It’s as important for that as it is for ourselves and for how we grow and function.” 

ENGAGING WITH THE WORLD AGAIN

Danger believes that civic engagement and civic dialogue aren’t something an individual does to other people, but it is a practice that should be done with the self in order to be in a place to listen and engage thoughtfully with other people. 

He also pointed out that, since many people were isolated during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can make one feel more divided or more separated from people who are living in different places or with different experiences. Danger hopes that this series is an invitation for folks to step out and really think about how they engage with the world beyond. 

“I think it is vitally important for the health of our democracy because, if you can’t find ways to connect with people civilly, it gets really scary to think about what the alternatives to that would be,” Danger said. 

Each forum is one hour in length and consists of a speaker followed by a Q&A with written questions from the audience. Local musicians perform a half hour before each forum, and a public reception, often with a book-signing by the speaker, follows the presentation. Danger pointed out that these receptions are a great way to try and build bridges with other community members. 

“You come to the forum and then immediately afterwards there’s a buffet of snacks and refreshments, and you can have a conversation with other folks who are in the same talk, and meet some people who are there,” Danger said. “And so, they obviously have something in common with you, but you might be hearing it or thinking about it from a very different perspective.” 

To find out more information on the forums, look online at https://westminsterforum.org/ or email questions to info@westminsterforum.org. Their website also includes a full list of archived presentations since 1980 with audio recordings of the talks before 2004 and videos thereafter. 

“I really try and drive home that I think that we forget that we’re lucky to have something like the Westminster Forum, and I want to encourage people to really take advantage of that,” Danger said.