[Peace-discuss] AWARE's outreach to other groups

[Karen Medina]

Phil said:
 > attending the church in question and trying to see things from their
 > perspective.

For instance, the members of a church I have been attending are so 
varied that there are pockets of people who are for the war, larger 
pockets who are against the war, yet the ministers rarely say much about 
it one way or another.

But I am still not sure why we feel we have to treat churches with kid 
gloves. Churches are led by human beings, not deities. I am not saying 
be disrespectful, just why should we be afraid to ask the question 
"which way do our beliefs call us to act on the issue?"

-karen medina

Phil Stinard wrote:
> Hi Ricky,
> 
> You've raised a very important point, one that I made previously with 
> regard to the AWARE church presences.  You are trying to reach out to a 
> group without alienating them.  You've made an important first step, 
> which is realizing that you have feelings of discomfort (e. g. frowning 
> on military service, disapproval of religious views) towards the group 
> you are trying to work with.  I think that it's important to understand 
> the people you are trying to convince.  Otherwise, you're speaking past 
> them and not communicating.  With regard to the church, it could be 
> attending the church in question and trying to see things from their 
> perspective.  For the military, it could be realizing that the US 
> soldiers in Iraq are not your enemy (despite plenty of propaganda to the 
> contrary--see Mort's posting of  Doug Soderstrom's  "Why I Cannot 
> Support The Troops In Iraq" for an example).  I'm not saying that you 
> have to attend VFW meetings, but I think it would be helpful if AWARE 
> members were to attend a homecoming celebration for returning veterans 
> and speak to these people and welcome them back.  Then you'll be able to 
> see their humanity.  Just a suggestion.
> 
> --Phil