2013 Ridván 201- |
The announcement by the Universal House of Justice in the Ridván Message of the creation of the Office of Public Discourse. [Ridván 2013]
As an example of their work here are a few lines of action that were identified by the Office of Public Discourse at the Bahá'í World Center as being particularly helpful capacities to build at the national level in the United States:
- Reading the reality of society and its discourses on race. This includes not only visiting cities as described above to learn about current programs, but also discovering how people in various parts of society are talking about race.
- Entering established social spaces, such as conferences and workshops. A wide variety of opportunities are open for Baha'i participation, Andrews notes — not just groups that study the dynamic between white and African-American communities, but also institutes for studies concerning Native Americans, Asian Americans and Latin Americans.
- Developing sincere friendships with people active in social justice work. Working with others over a number of years, OPA has found a nucleus of groups "with whom we can build relationships and who are interested in engaging with us," Lample says. Those collaborations help the office participate effectively in high levels of discourse.
- Convening spaces for a variety of people and agencies and creating content to stimulate sharing of thoughts. Right now the most active Baha'i-sponsored space is the Dialogue on Faith and Race, which OPA hosts every three months. While that attracts about 20 participants in an average session, "about 50 organizations are loosely part of the community that we bring together," Andrews says. Usually the content that starts conversations at those gatherings is in the form of a document or white paper, but the team is looking at learning to create podcasts and videos for a wider audience.
- Learning how to engage small, knowledgeable groups of Bahá'ís. The race discourse team has started conversations with Baha'is across the country who have expertise and experience taking part in the national discourse on race. "This aspect of our work will likely grow and develop as the American Baha'i community continues to gain more experience in translating the writings of Baha'u'llah into action and the power to articulate what it is learning," Lample says. [NSA USA website]
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Office of Public Discourse; Public discourse; - Bahá'í World Centre; Haifa, Israel |
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