religion Archives - We Are Not Divided

Young people are eschewing organized religion at record rates. Yet, many Millennials view their struggle for social justice as its own higher calling. In this way, they’re following in the footsteps of the countless nuns who, over the years, have combined their service to God with a mission to uplift the vulnerable and marginalized. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that “spiritually diverse” people in their twenties and thirties are moving into convents through a program called Nuns and Nones. In this video, we’ll meet one of them, along with the sister she connected with.

This is the third video in “Bridging Divides,” a five-part series hosted by Scott Shigeoka, in which we talk to people whose personal experiences show us how real-life divisions can be overcome. See the transcript of this interview here.

Watch the first video: Is This the Unlikeliest Friendship in America?

Watch the second video: A Therapist Teaches Us How to Connect

It’s a friendship that, to many people, might seem hard to comprehend: she’s a gay rights activist who worked to legalize same-sex marriage, and he’s an evangelical Christian who worked to prevent it. Yet Sheila Kloefkorn and Glenn Stanton found a way to reconcile these differences and form a friendship that suggests there’s no ideological divide that can’t be bridged. Earlier in We Are Not Divided, we told you the story of Braver Angels, the organization that initially brought them together. Now they tell us, in their own words, why they stay friends — and explain the inherent value in forming bonds with those you disagree with.

This is the first video in “Bridging Divides,” a five-part series for We Are Not Divided hosted by Scott Shigeoka, in which we meet people whose personal experiences show us how real-life divisions can be overcome, despite the odds. See the transcript of this conversation here.

In early 2019, I quit my job to begin a journey across the country. My goal was to have vulnerable and human conversations with people whose perspectives were different from my own. I met these people at Trump rallies and farms, in rural Appalachian towns and Midwestern cities. As a queer, Asian-American who was born in Hawaii but now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, my hope was simple: to forge connections and bridge divides.

The trip was supposed to continue until this year’s elections, but it was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic — yet another circumstance, it turned out, that would further divide our country.

I did make it to Minnesota, however, where I met the team behind a podcast called On Being, hosted by Krista Tippett. They were engaged in a divide-bridging effort of their own called the Civil Conversations Project. We decided to collaborate on a short film that tackles a topic I care deeply about: bridging the LGBTQ+ and faith divide.

As someone who identifies as both queer and spiritual, I wanted to bring together LGBTQ+ people with people of faith (or both!) for a series of open and honest conversations.

The video shares just a few of those magical moments. The most interesting part of my work involved preparing participants, since some of them were skeptical or nervous about connecting across differences. We also had to create the conditions where all participants had shared power to both talk and listen during the conversation. Just to note: this video was filmed before the pandemic, which is why you won’t see people wearing masks or practicing social distancing.

My involvement with We Are Not Divided is a continuation of this work. Starting on Monday, I’ll be hosting a five-day video series right here called “Bridging Divides.” In it, I’ll interview people from all walks of life — an evangelical Christian and a gay rights activist, a Millenial and a Benectine nun — who are finding ways to come together, despite their different life experiences. I hope you’ll enjoy those conversations as much as I did.