Sometimes, as in any loving relationship, it involves healing and repair work when harm has happened either intentionally or unintentionally. This involves leaning into different perspectives to understand another’s lived experience, even when we want to shut down or turn away. More specifically, Love calls us not only to express what we believe in theory about racial equality and shared flourishing – flourishing for all of us rather than some of us – but to do the often hard inner and relational work toward these values. Indeed, this call and commitment to Love and beloved community go beyond categories of race and political affiliation.įrom this stance, we can approach racial equality and justice from a much more loving, spiritually grounded and constructive perspective rather than from zero-sum identity politics. Our faith traditions and spiritual paths also invite us to care for the other beyond our own self- and clan-interest as an expression of Love. Think you know where 'woke' comes from? Inside the word's musical history – and influence. Certainly, when we add faith and spirituality into the conversation, we know that all the faith traditions and spiritual paths call us into Love.Īnd by Love, with a capital L, we mean the most powerful force for our highest good, rather than merely a sentimental feeling or deep affection. Notwithstanding the real differences in our lived experiences and perspectives, our deepest values call us to act in service to what the Rev. Americans' faith traditions call us to love each other Racial equality unites us: Nearly every American endorses racial equality. But to make any real progress together, we need to go beyond power struggles and agreeing to disagree.Īnd as our nation prepares to celebrate Juneteenth on Monday, it's critical for us to find the courage to engage consistently in the hard, often difficult work to secure equality for all Americans. Reading the poll's findings in this way, we see that most Americans agree that racial equality is important, even while we have different ideas about how to address racism and inequality. This involves being honest about where we differ and where we can imagine a shared future in which we all flourish. We read these findings by going beneath the surface to make sense of them through the lens of our deepest spiritual values. Fewer than half of Republicans (45%) hold that view.Īnd 61% of Republicans say efforts to fight racism make life more difficult for white Americans 31% of Democrats hold that opinion. A strong majority of Democrats (82%) believe that racism makes it more difficult for people of color to succeed. It's a belief strongly shared across political parties, religious affiliations, and racial and ethnic groups.Īmericans do have significant differences about the consequences of racism and efforts to combat it. The poll found that an overwhelming majority − 91% − of Americans believe that all people deserve an equal opportunity to succeed, no matter their race or ethnicity. On the surface, the numbers tell us that we are divided about how to achieve racial equality based on political affiliation, race, and religious or spiritual beliefs. The new Public Agenda/USA TODAY Hidden Common Ground poll offers important data about how Americans view racism and racial justice.
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