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This is a page for YOU to share your thoughts, feelings, images, music, videos and many other things coming to your heart/mind throughout our annual meeting.

To Post:
Double click on any place on the screen and you should see a text box.
You can anonymously share whatever is in your mind and hear. Or you can introduce yourself with your name w/a picture, preferred pronoun, geographical location (including indigenous/native land in which you are located if you are in North America; See https://native-land.ca/ to find yours). You will see a camera icon that will enable you to take a photo of yourself, or upload one you have. You can use images, audio/video music as your introduction as well.

See you at the conference!

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I am Boyung Lee (she/her) who is honored to serve as the 2021 program chair of REA.  I live in Denver, traditional territories and ancestral homelands of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Nations. This area was also the site of trade, hunting, gathering, and healing for many other Native Nations: The Lakota, Ute, Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Shoshone, and others.
I do hope and pray that this annual meeting would help me become a more informed teacher and practitioner of gender and sexuality subject, a topic that is a part of who we are but many people in faith communities and theological/religious classrooms feel uncomfortable or unequipped to talk about.

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I am so glad to be with everyone again. It is good to see you here!

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I am beyond excited for all the papers, collaborative session, and plenaries that are in store. They sound so amazing - such necessary conversations! Thank you all!

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I wanted to share this prayer from Sojourners for our Conference.
https://us.e-activist.com/page/email?mid=93b4c52289884292b4e2a8743f88b8db
The Prayer is written by Rev. Megan Rohrer, Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and the first transgender bishop in a mainline Christian denomination.
Chuck Chesnavage, (he/him/his)
Munsee/Lenape Land and People in Yonkers, New York.

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How Relationships Can Turn Faith Leaders into LGBT Allies

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How Relationships Can Turn Faith Leaders into LGBT Allies

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This is an excellent article from Yes Magazine that reveals the unholy, anti-LGBTQIA alliance of religion, media and the law in various countries in Africa.  It's an example of how relationships can dispel the darkness of ignorance and fear of the other.
https://www.yesmagazine.org/social-justice/2021/06/23/kenyan-faith-leaders-become-lgbt-allies?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=YESDaily_20210630&utm_content=YESDaily_20210630+CID_6aa9fe1e057cc75489aa8a18b594a1ac&utm_source=CM&utm_term=Read%20the%20full%20story
Chuck Chesnavage, (he/him/his)
Munsee/Lenape Land and People in Yonkers, New York.

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Penda* did not feel worthy of a seat at the table with the 15 religious leaders she found herself nervously sitting across from, seven of them Christian, eight of them Muslim.

"Before I attended that forum, I knew that I was a sinner," she recalls. "I didn't think it was possible for me to go near a church. I didn't even think that I could have a conversation with a religious leader."

Yet in 2014, Penda, a masculine-presenting lesbian, found herself in conversation with these faith leaders, all of whom believed-and in many cases preached-that homosexuality is evil. But this was no ordinary conversation. At Penda's side were three other people: a Kenyan gay man, a sex worker and someone living with HIV. None of the faith leaders knew these details. That information was held back-until just the right moment presented itself.

The forum was part of a strategic faith engagement session organized by Persons Marginalized and Aggrieved in Kenya (PEMA Kenya), a sexual and gender minority group in the coastal city of Mombasa. In Kenya, where the LGBTQ community is a frequent target of conservative religious leaders, who preach discrimination and sometimes even violence against them, PEMA Kenya takes an unusual approach: it works to "convert" faith leaders to the gay rights cause by introducing them to LGBTQ people, face to face, to build empathy, compassion, and understanding.

The carefully orchestrated encounters require the utmost care-for all involved. "We don't aim to 'sensitize' religious leaders," says Lydia Atemba, a member of the faith engagement team. "We also prepare and equip our community to participate in dialogue with them. We try to bridge the gap on both sides."

The Most Unlikely Allies

The five-day event attended by Penda and the 15 religious leaders was ostensibly to discuss barriers to health care faced by marginalized people who have HIV. For the first three days of the forum, no explicit mention of homosexuality was uttered.

"We [then] brought other queer members into the sessions, and they spoke with the religious leaders," says Pastor McOveh, a queer pastor who helps to facilitate the program. (He requested his first name not be used.)

Penda was one of them. Now 44, she calmly shared her experience as a lesbian living in Mombasa. She had moved there in 2010, leaving behind the ruins of Kitale, a cosmopolitan town in Kenya that was struggling to recover from the 2007 election crisis. She described to them how she was verbally abused, and how she had been forced to sever ties with her spirituality because of faith leaders preaching anti-gay violence and discrimination.

"I have had troubles reconciling my sexuality and faith," she told the group.

She says sharing her personal story was surprisingly effective. The faith leaders' beliefs weren't instantly transformed, but, she says, "I think I saw a lot of compassion in some of them."

She was right. One of the conservative religious leaders attending that day was Pastor John Kambo. A pastor at the Independent Pentecostal Church of Kenya, Kambo was well-known for his public attacks on the LGBTQ community. He once declared that "the gender and sexual minorities, especially in worship places, are cursed sinners and will go to hell."

This wasn't Kambo's first PEMA session. The organization had been holding discussions with him for four years, gradually drawing him onto their side. "It was just follow-up meetings-continuous engagement overtime [to] change the way [he] sees things," recalls Ishmael Bahati, PEMA Kenya's executive director and co-founder. During this period, Kambo began reflecting on what the Bible says about love. According to transcripts from PEMA Kenya, he ultimately said that "continuous participation in these trainings opened my mind, and I realized that we are all human beings." The meeting with Penda was his last as an outsider-afterwards, he joined PEMA Kenya as an active, dedicated member, and remained one until his death last month.

Pastor John Kambo at a PEMA Kenya discussion. Photo from PEMA Kenya.

In the end, Kambo became an unlikely friend to the queer community. He underwent PEMA's Training of Trainers, which taught him how to carefully discuss LGBTQ concerns with his fellow faith leaders. But his conversion came at a price. He was excommunicated from the church for three years, and his marriage hit the skids. He continued to be an ally, however, and in 2018 he became the first religious leader to be nominated as a "Human Rights Defender" by the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders-Kenya.

That same year, Kambo invited Pastor Benhadad Mutua Kithome to a PEMA discussion. "PEMA Kenya produced good notes, and they were helping us very much," Kithome says of that meeting. "Some pastors were not agreeing with them-they were just agreeing with what the scriptures say. The way Sodom and Gomorrah was. The way, because of homosexuality, people were punished. But because of this training, some pastors, especially me, came to understand."

Athumani Abdullah Mohammed, an Ustaz (Islamic teacher) whose view of queer people changed gradually after partaking in a PEMA session in 2018, had a similar experience.

"When I got a chance to engage, it was not easy because... I work with conservative organizations," he says. "The whole gospel I was hearing was against 'this people,' as they called them. I thank my brother Ishmael because he was so persistent. He brought me on board. The funny thing is, the first meeting we held was not a good meeting. I was so against everything they were saying, but he saw something in me which I couldn't see by myself. And he kept on engaging me. Now, I learned to listen and I opened myself to listen. I listen to what I want to hear-and what I don't want to hear."

Converting a Culture

The coastal city of Mombasa is a conservative place. Religion is at its core, and local faith leaders wield outsized influence, often preaching violence against the queer community.

"Rhetoric vilifying LGBT people, much of it by religious leaders, is particularly pronounced on [Kenya's] coast, and shapes public perceptions," according to a Human Rights Watch report.

This was the environment into which PEMA Kenya launched in 2008. Started as a health and social well-being community for gay and bisexual men following the tragic death of a gay man in Mombasa-he became sick and was abandoned by his family-the group later expanded to accommodate other gender and sexual minority groups. Then, in 2010, a call to "flush out gays" by two major religious groups-the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya and the National Council of Churches of Kenya-led to a spate of attacks on queer people.

The violence became a catalyzing moment for PEMA Kenya. "We thought that it is a good time to have a dialogue with the religious leaders," recalls Bahati, "to see if we can have a lasting solution for the attacks."

The organization appears to be making progress toward that goal. Until five years ago, Bahati says, Ramadan, which concluded this month, was a particularly dangerous time for queer people in Kenya's coastal region. A U.S. government report supports this observation, concluding that "the highest incidences of violence in the Kenyan Coast, which has a largely Muslim population, are reported during Ramadan."

For this reason, organizations like PEMA used to focus on simply keeping LGBTQ people safe from harm during these weeks. "Most organizations were looking for funds to relocate people, to support people" during this period, says Bahati.

But this year's Ramadan has been different. Attacks on queer folks are down, Bahati reports. "Things have really changed." He believes PEMA's years of meticulous relationship building are beginning to bear fruit. To date, PEMA has trained 619 religious leaders, 246 of which are still active members in the network. These members are crucial to spreading the acceptance of queerness in their congregations and communities in Mombasa and across Kenya. They also facilitate events alongside queer pastors and Ustaz, and review the group's strategic faith engagement manual, Facing Our Fears.

According to Jide Macaulay, an openly gay British-Nigerian priest, the influence religious leaders hold over public perception makes them invaluable allies. In his experience, building radical queer institutions in a place like Mombasa just isn't effective. This is something he learned first-hand-in 2006, Macaulay founded House of Rainbow, the first queer church in Nigeria. It was considered an affront to the societal and religious norm and was met with hostility. It lasted only two years.

"My largest focus was on the [queer] community, not necessarily on the rest of the society," he says. "We didn't take time to educate the society. House of Rainbow would have benefitted if we had allies within the community. [It] would have benefited if we started maybe as a support group rather than a full-blown church."

Now, like PEMA Kenya, House of Rainbow has evolved to make engagement with Christian and Islamic faith leaders the core of its mission, holding forums in Malawi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

Athumani Abdullah Mohammed, left, a Muslim faith leader who has become an ally to Mombasa's LGBTQ community, at a PEMA Kenya discussion in 2018. Photo from PEMA Kenya.

What the Scriptures Say

Bahati's expertise as an Islamic scholar comes in handy. For instance, he notes that the role of language is key to winning converts to an inclusive community.

During PEMA's strategic meetings, faith leaders are introduced, carefully and tactfully, to humanizing language. "You see, the word homosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer are not bad words," says Macaulay. "Society has made them scary." PEMA's facilitators explain appropriate usage, context, and meanings, and the harmful implications of using such language as slurs.

"What we say is that language is not innocent," says McOveh, the gay pastor. "Most of the time we realize that faith leaders use language unknowingly."

Of course, simply teaching more sensitive language is only the first step. In the Bible and Quran, certain verses and stories are still used to justify homophobic slurs and attacks.

"You realize that scriptures have different interpretations," says McOveh, "so we try to find common ground to tell them that, see, there is this which is provided by the religion and this which is given as perception." Macaulay echoes this point. "Looking at the Bible, there's a history of bad theology, mistranslation, and that mistranslation has caused many churches not to understand that homosexuality is not a sin. Homosexuality is not like robbery or theft. Homosexuality is like being Black. Homosexuality is like being albino. There are things that you just cannot change. ...Homosexuality is not a crime and it should never be criminalized."

While groups like PEMA Kenya and House of Rainbow have battled systemic homophobia in society, their efforts are still "a drop of water in the ocean," says Macaulay.

Homosexuality remains illegal in Kenya. The Penal Code explicitly criminalizes it, and a conviction can carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years. Petitions filed in Nairobi and Mombasa high courts in 2019 to rule these laws unconstitutional were both dismissed this year. Appeals have been filed, but according to Michael Kioko, a lawyer and LGBTQ advocate, it would take a long time to get a ruling.

"We'll have to wait for years to see whether the court of appeal will declare those provisions unconstitutional, and they may not," he says.

32 out of 52 African countries criminalize same-sex relations, with punishment ranging from death to lengthy prison terms. In some ways, these laws lend legitimacy to perpetrators of homophobic violence and discrimination.

The pandemic has presented PEMA Kenya with yet another challenge. The delicate work of working with new religious leaders can be risky, and the discussions can only take place in a secure location, says Mohammed.

"You cannot talk to people about these things in their area," he says. "You need to be very particular when it comes to safety because it's a lot of voices which are talking against this and people are willing to kill." Holding discussions with participants in an undisclosed location is safer, but it requires funding which PEMA has spent on taking care of needy community members during the lockdown.

Still, the efforts of PEMA Kenya's faith leaders continue to foster a safer city for a lot of queer people in Mombasa-in the streets, in the churches and mosques, and in their own homes. "[Now] someone can walk for a kilometer without being attacked," says Penda with relief. "Those were things that were not very much happening back then."
*Name has been changed to protect the person's identity. This story originally appeared on Reasons to Be Cheerful, and is republished here as part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems.
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How Relationships Can Turn Faith Leaders Into LGBT Allies

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Penda* did not feel worthy of a seat at the table with the 15 religious leaders she found herself nervously sitting across from, seven of them Christian, eight of them Muslim. "Before I attended that forum, I knew that I was a sinner," she recalls.

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Pope Francis invites transgendered community to Vatican for vaccine shots

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Pope Francis invites transgendered community to Vatican for vaccine shots

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Pope Francis set an example of compassion and care for the transgendered community.  Unfortunately, there is still too much silence from the Church leaders over the violence against trans black women, individuals, and legislation being passed to prevent trans children and families from receiving healthcare and treatments, or excluded from athletic activities..

https://religionnews.com/2021/07/02/at-easter-pope-francis-invited-transgender-group-to-vatican-to-receive-covid-19-vaccine/?utm_source=spotim&utm_medium=spotim_recirculation&spot_im_redirect_source=pitc&spot_im_comment_id=sp_UeEvP9p2_3911676_c_1ulGaf81zCzx3ExQl9RLbWbzJJ2&spot_im_highlight_immediate=true
Chuck Chesnavage, (he/him/his)
Munsee/Lenape Land and People in Yonkers, New York.

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https://twitter.com/TheNapMinistry

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What a wonderful and beautiful opening! Thanks for warm welcoming, Dr. Lee!

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What a wonderful and beautiful opening! Thanks for warm welcoming, Dr. Lee!

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Greetings to all, good to be at the conference. I have a major meeting during the event that will take me away part of the time but looking forward to being at as much of the conference as possible.

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It is a wonderful and exciting opportunity

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It is a wonderful and exciting opportunity

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good evening from Pakistan. I hope to attend the sessions, depending on external factors such as continuation of power supply and an error-free internet connectivity.

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Greetings, REA family! While other obligations prevent me from attending the conference more fully, I am swept up by the faith and persistence of RE scholars who are joining together to make this event possible. Surely, in times of social crises and uncertainty, scholars--who are intellectual artists--must get to work: to re-enchant one another towards a more wholesome world. Very best wishes.

Mai-Anh L. Tran
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Evanston, Illinois, USA
www.garrett.edu

*The Garrett campus sits on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations.

Photo: Engel med boksehanske, Elisabeth Helvin

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Just in case you need a link back to the conference website, here it is...

religiouseducation.net/rea2021

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After this wonderful presidential address and reflection time I am just thinking about bodies and making space for bodies, play, the erotic, etc. It made me think of Renee Cox and her photography... Yo' Mama's Last Supper in particular.

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Even tough I have trouble with my connection that makes me slow to response on chat and emoji :D But, it doesn't delay the fabulous, amazing, and enlightening presentation from all presenters :) 1st time in here, and so excited to upcoming sessions :) :) :)

~ Happy ~

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I am very happy to meet REA members. This year topic provides me very wonderful and exciting experience in the areas and classrooms of religious education. Thank you so much. God bless. Dr. Moon Son

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I am Bernardus Rukiyanto SJ from Indonesia. I am glad to be here with you all. I've learned a lot from this program. rukysj@gmail.com 

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I am Bernardus Rukiyanto SJ from Indonesia. I am glad to be here with you all. I've learned a lot from this program. rukysj@gmail.com 

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Plenary on Spiritual Healing for Moral Injury Trauma

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Plenary on Spiritual Healing for Moral Injury Trauma

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This article reveals the longterm impact on children witnessing violence and murder.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/06/01/violence-child-impact-prison.
Chuck Chesnavage

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I am grateful for this opportunity to learn, to unlearn, to unpack, to grow, to share, to experience, to embody, to imagine, to feeeland to make bread together.

Warmest greetings from Indonesia,
Mariska Lauterboom

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Patrick Manning, Greg Baker, Theresa O'Keefe and James Nagle great session today.. Deeply appreciated the exchange around youth/young adult and religious affiliation. I found a lot of underlying themes that might well translate into other traditions but the honest handling of the issue (and frank disclosures without moralizing) were truly helpful.

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I am so happy for this opportunity. I can learn from many friends around the world. Thank you so much. God bless.

Blessings,
Novy A. E. Sine (Indonesia)

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Healing the Healers article on clergy addressing increase in domestic violence during COVID

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Healing the Healers article on clergy addressing increase in domestic violence during COVID

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Good to seei how Healing the Healers is educating the world and clergy.                    https://religionnews.com/2021/07/06/breaking-the-silence-clergy-address-pandemics-surge-in-domestic-violence/?utm_source=pushly
The article focuses on Jewish Domestic Violence.
https://religionnews.com/2021/05/06/domestic-abuse-surged-under-covid-19-clergy-need-better-tools-to-help-survivors/

https://www.jwi.org/jewish-domestic-violence https://youtu.be/R69pO_OY3YQ

Chuck Chesnavage

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Ready or not, clergy are likely to be sought out more frequently by those leaving homes after a year of quarantine and quarreling.

(RNS) - "I don't get it. My husband and I have been in couples counseling for nine years already, but life at home is getting worse," says a woman to her clergyperson, her fingers fidgeting with her phone.

"First, the constant sarcasm, then the silent treatment and not knowing what's really going on with our finances. When he was furloughed last spring, he started throwing things, and one time he started to choke me ... " her voice trails off. "He's been swearing at the children, too, and smacked the dog on its head, hard, the other day, out of the blue. I don't know what to do," she whispers.

Do most clergy know what to tell this woman? Maybe they remember a seminary lecture in which they heard that a couple such as this one shouldn't be in marriage counseling. Do they suggest the couple stop seeing a therapist together? Maybe they feel the need to hear her partner's version.

What if the woman's spouse has recently offered to rig the campus with much-needed technology? What if the congregational leader's own exhaustion makes them quail at taking on another complicated pastoral situation?

As a congregational rabbi and 12-year member of Jewish Women International's Clergy Task Force to End Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community, I know I'm not alone in wanting a smarter way to support families suffering from abuse. The pandemic has spurred greater awareness of risk factors for domestic violence and new thinking about intimate partner violence. Our understanding has become more comprehensive and well-coordinated, more survivor-oriented, more trauma-informed.

That new thinking is amply evident in a report recently released by Jewish Women International titled " Domestic Violence in the Jewish Community," and based on a yearlong needs assessment of services for survivors within the Jewish community. It offers recommendations that do not shoehorn the needs of survivors into systems that have not been serving them well - civil and criminal justice systems, child welfare systems, government benefits systems, and economic and employment systems.

As the report highlights, survivors seeking help turn first to friends or families, then to clergy. Not a single domestic violence service provider interviewed for the report indicated that survivors turn initially to hotlines/help lines, secular domestic violence programs, medical professionals or law enforcement. Instead, most survivors turn to a trusted community in times of crisis.

Ready or not, clergy are likely to be sought out more frequently by those intent on leaving homes beset by quarantine and quarreling.

While the report addresses questions particularly facing Jewish communities, many of them are relevant to other faith communities.

For instance, if a victim does decide to leave her abuser, can you as clergy help her to stay in the community? What would a trauma-informed response to her suffering look like, such that you do not inadvertently misdirect her into re-traumatizing experiences?

What if she and her children need transitional shelter? Could you recommend, based on firsthand knowledge, where to go? Are you prepared to talk about safety planning? Able to help her name which of the four "stages of change" that those in hurtful or unhealthy situations tend to move through on the way to safety and stability? (The report describes the role of clergy in all four stages: pre-contemplation, contemplation, action, long-term healing and independence.)

Are there resources at hand to offer immediate spiritual nourishment to someone feeling both trapped and full of self-blame for her entrapment? Come to think of it, ever since you heard from the preschool teacher that this congregant's daughter recently slapped another student to the ground, you've noticed a pronounced tic in the daughter's eye. If she acts out again, what advice will you give her teacher?

This report is meant to jump-start discussions that will lead to culturally specific interventions and robust, innovative partnerships - between clergy and local shelters and between seminaries and local clergy on the front lines, as well as collaborations with real estate investors who could provide long-term housing solutions for those fleeing domestic violence.

Clearly, new thinking about the needs of survivors and new resources to help them are already here. If we clergy are the people with more authority than power, now is the time to lean on that authority to help relocate the very definition of support for the families we serve.
(Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum, who serves Bethlehem Hebrew Congregation in New Hampshire, is chair of the communications committee for Jewish Women International's Clergy Task Force to End Domestic Abuse in the Jewish Community. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

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Domestic abuse surged under COVID-19. Clergy need better tools to help survivors.

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(RNS) - "I don't get it. My husband and I have been in couples counseling for nine years already, but life at home is getting worse," says a woman to her clergyperson, her fingers fidgeting with her phone. "First, the constant sarcasm, then the silent treatment and not knowing what's really going on with our finances.

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The conference has been excellent thus far; I am looking forward to the next few days. The energy is empowering.  Dr. Sandra

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Sex Education Revisited Presentation with Emily A. Peck-McClain/Bernardos Rukiyanto article on Joshua Harris updating his I Kissed Dating Goodbye book and TED Talk

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Sex Education Revisited Presentation with Emily A. Peck-McClain/Bernardos Rukiyanto article on Joshua Harris updating his I Kissed Dating Goodbye book and TED Talk

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https://www.gospelherald.com/articles/71699/20171208/joshua-harris-apologizes-mistakes-kissed-dating-goodbye-powerful-tedx-talk.htm?gclid=CjwKCAjw_o-HBhAsEiwANqYhp8-XmZU4HQwLxnFLOy3qdcoiAoutTVD6FrwBz4TPXLCmhOeHzknLMhoCczYQAvD_BwE
Chuck Chesnavage

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Breaking Christian News: World, Business, and More | The Gospel Herald

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Joshua Harris, author of the 1997 bestseller I Kissed Dating Goodbye, has given a TEDx Talk identifying what he got wrong in the controversial book.

"In today's world, we spend so much energy being right and proving others wrong," he says in the talk's description. "Twenty years ago I wrote a best-selling book about dating that I'm now realizing misguided and even hurt some people. I'm hoping that my experience of listening to my critics and reevaluating my conclusions will inspire others to see that progress and growth always involves the humbling process of admitting mistakes."

Harris wrote "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" when he was 20 years old, had been homeschooled his entire life, and had not yet been in a dating relationship. The book discusses the problems with contemporary "recreational dating" and presents "biblical courtship" as an alternative. In his book, Harris also urges Christian singles to commit to "purposeful singleness," as romantic relationships should exist only as a means to preparing for marriage.

"I was young, I was religiously zealous, I was certain, and I was restlessly ambitious," Harris recalled. "Youth, zeal, certainty, ambition ...they have the tendency to set the world on fire. I was writing to fellow Christians, I was saying, 'We need to be serious about our faith, we won't have sex until we're married, and if we want to avoid premarital sex, we should radically change our lifestyle, and that means we should stop dating.'"

The book quickly became a staple among the Christian community, selling over 1.2 million copies and propelling Harris to instant fame.

However, two decades later, Harris, now a married father of three, admitted that over the years, a number of individuals have shared how his book negatively affected them and promoted a damaging and unhelpful view of sexuality, relationships, and dating.

Harris said that while there are some good ideas in "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" -- like the fact that "you don't have to be in a dating relationship to be a whole person" -- his eyes have been opened over the past few years to "see some fundamental problems" he included in the book.

"I didn't leave room for the idea that dating could be a healthy way of learning what you're looking for in a long-term relationship, that it could be a part of growing personally," he said. "I gave the impression that there was one formula that you could follow, and if you followed that, you'd be happily married, God would bless you, and you'd have a great sex life and marriage."

He added, "Obviously, the real world doesn't work that way."

However, the 42-year-old pastor and author said what he regrets most is the fact that he transferred the fear inside of him to his writing.

"Fear is never a good motive," he said. "Fear of messing up, fear of getting your heart broken, fear of hurting somebody else, fear of sex."

Harris, who went on to serve as senior pastor of Covenant Life Church for several years, said he finally understood the problems in his book after he stopped being the pastor of a large church and went to graduate school.

"I stopped having to be constantly right about everything," he said. "I just became a student who was listening."

Today, Harris said he's working with those who have been hurt by his book and is even producing a documentary that shares his journey and delves into how religious communities talk about sex and relationships.

"It's been such an emotional roller coaster for me," he said. "There are moments where I feel contrite and there are other moments where I swing over and I'm defensive and I'm mad that people are blaming me for things...I just want to run away from the whole process. But, the reason I don't, is because I believe that this is the pathway of growth for me, that I'm going to learn things in facing up to what I got wrong."

"There's transformational power in admitting that you got something wrong," he added.

Earlier, Harris told NPR that while the Bible gives "certain commandments and guidance" relating to sexuality and relationships, Christians often take truths from God's word and add extra human regulation onto them, the pastor contended.

"For example, there are clear things in statements in Scripture about our sexuality being expressed within the covenant of marriage. But that doesn't mean that dating is somehow wrong or a certain way of dating is the only way to do things," Harris said. "So you can kind of, like, back up and say well, because of this, then you should do this, this and this as well. And I think that's where people get into danger. We have God's word, but then it's so easy to add all this other stuff to protect people, to control people, to make sure that you don't get anywhere near that place where you could go off course. And I think that's where the problems arise."

In addition to "I Kissed Dating Goodbye," Harris, along with his wife, Shannon, has written several other books on the topics of relationships and dating, including "Boy Meets Girl" and "Sex Is Not the Problem (Lust Is)."

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Joshua Harris Apologizes for Mistakes in 'I Kissed Dating Goodbye' in Powerful TEDx Talk (Video)

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Joshua Harris, author of the 1997 bestseller I Kissed Dating Goodbye, has given a TEDx Talk identifying what he got wrong in the controversial book. "In today's world, we spend so much energy being right and proving others wrong," he says in the talk's description.

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Catholic High School Sexuality Education Resource

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Catholic High School Sexuality Education Resource

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In our session, we mentioned the article in U.S. Catholic on the state of sexuality education in Catholic schools -https://uscatholic.org/articles/202103/sex-ed-has-failed-catholics-heres-how-it-can-be-better/

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This is a web page of resources that accompany a collaborative session held during the REA2021 Annual Meeting (July 5-9, 2021, RuntheWorld).

Slides

Bibliography

Background readings on Sexuality, Gender, Race, and Trauma

Herman, Judith. [1992]2015. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence-From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books.

Menakem, Resmaa. 2017. My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies. Los Vegas: Central Recovery Press.

Ott, Kate. 2019. Digital Spiritual Embodiment: Power, Difference, and Interdependence. Cursor_ Zeitschrift Für Explorative Theologie. Retrieved from https://cursor.pubpub.org/pub/3lsdep9t

Rambo, Shelly. 2010. Spirit and Trauma: A Theology of Remaining. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Schneider, Laurel C. 2004. "What Race is Your Sex?." In Disrupting White Supremacy from Within: White People on What We Need To Do, edited by Jennifer Harvey, Karin A. Case, and Robin Hawley Gorsline, 142-62. Cleveland, OH: Pilgrim.

van der Kolk, Besser A. 2014. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. New York: Penguin.

West, Traci C. 1999. Wounds of the Spirit: Black Women, Violence, and Resistance Ethics. New York: New York University Press.

West, Traci C. 2019. Solidarity and Defiant Spirituality: Africana Lessons on Religion, Racism, and Ending Gender Violence. New York: New York University Press.

Wimberly, Anne E. Streaty, Annie Lockhart-Gilroy, and Nathaniel D. West, eds. 2020. From Lament to Advocacy: Black Religious Education and Public Ministry. Nashville: Wesley's Foundry Books.

Research on pedagogy

Creamer, Debbie and Michael Hemenway. 2021. Exploring in-person: Kaleidoscopic experiments in embodiment, materiality, and time. Cursor_ Zeitschrift Für Explorative Theologie. Retrieved from https://cursor.pubpub.org/pub/creamer-hemenway-exploring-in-person

Crumpton, Stephanie M. 2017. "Trigger Warnings, Covenants of Presence, and More: Cultivating Safe Space for Theological Discussions about Sexual Trauma," Teaching Theology & Religion 20:2 (April): 137-147. https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12376.

Doering, Carrie and Rubén Arjona. 2020. "A Spiritually Integrative Digital Pedagogy." In Teaching Sexuality and Religion in Higher Education: Embodied Learning, Trauma Sensitive Pedagogy, and Perspective Transformation, edited by Darryl W. Stephens and Kate Ott, 127-43. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429327162.

Evans, David, and Tobin Miller Shearer. 2017. "A Principled Pedagogy for Religious Educators." Religious Education 112, no. 1: 7-18.

Fleischer, Barbara. 2006. "Mezirow's Theory of Transformative Learning and Lonergan's Method in Theology: Resources for Adult Theological Education." Journal of Adult Theological Education 3 (2): 147-62. https://doi.org/10.1558/jate.2006.3.2.147.

Freire, Paulo. 2005. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 30th anniversary ed. Translated by Myra Bergman Ramos. New York: Continuum.

Grosland, Tanetha Jamay. 2019. "Through Laughter and Through Tears: Emotional Narratives to Antiracist Pedagogy." Race Ethnicity and Education 22, no. 3: 301-18.

Hess, Mary E. 2020. "Finding learning amidst the maelstrom: Storytelling, trauma, and hope." Teaching Theology & Religion 23, no. 4 (December): 218-30. https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12567.

Hess, Mary E. 2018. "Using Digital Media and Storytelling to Unearth Racism and Galvanize Action," in Teaching Race: How to Help Students Unmask and Challenge Racism, edited by Stephen D. Brookfield. Jossey-Bass.

Hoggan, Chad, Kaisu Mälkki, and Fergal Finnegan. 2017. "Developing the Theory of Perspective Transformation: Continuity, Intersubjectivity, and Emancipatory Praxis." Adult Education Quarterly 67 (1): 48-64. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0741713616674076.

Keefe-Perry, L. Callid, and Zachary Moon. 2019. "Courage in Chaos: The Importance of Trauma-Informed Adult Religious Education." Religious Education 114, no. 1 (May): 30-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2018.1435989.

Lelwica, Michelle Mary. 2020. "Embodied Learning Through Pedagogical Promiscuity." In Teaching Sexuality and Religion in Higher Education: Embodied Learning, Trauma Sensitive Pedagogy, and Perspective Transformation, edited by Darryl W. Stephens and Kate Ott, 17-29. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429327162.

Montano, Steffano. 2019. "Addressing White Supremacy on Campus: Anti-Racist Pedagogy and Theological Education." Religious Education 114, no. 3: 274-86.

Ott, Kate, and Darryl W. Stephens. 2017. "Embodied Learning: Teaching Sexuality and Religion to a Changing Student Body," Teaching Theology & Religion 20:2 (April): 106-16. https://doi.org/10.1111/teth.12373.

Sitron, Justin, and Donald A. Dyson. 2009. "Sexuality Attitude Reassessment (SAR): Historical and New Considerations for Measuring Its Effectiveness." American Journal of Sexuality Education 4 (2): 158-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15546120903001407.

Stephens, Darryl W. 2020. "Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for the Religious and Theological Higher Education Classroom." Special issue Reflecting on the Possibilities of Religious Education Research. Religions 11, no. 9: 449. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090449.

Stephens, Darryl W., and Kate Ott, eds. 2020. Teaching Sexuality and Religion in Higher Education: Embodied Learning, Trauma Sensitive Pedagogy, and Perspective Transformation. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429327162.

Practical helps

Handouts

Resources Mentioned During the Workshop

Websites

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This is a web page of resources that accompany a collaborative session held during the REA2021 Annual Meeting (July 5-9, 2021, RuntheWorld). Background readings on Sexuality, Gender, Race, and Trauma Herman, Judith. [1992]2015. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence-From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. New York: Basic Books. Menakem, Resmaa.

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Please comment your email address if you would like to receive notification when Dori Baker, Gina Robinson, and Jennifer Moe's book is published.

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Please comment your email address if you would like to receive notification when Dori Baker, Gina Robinson, and Jennifer Moe's book is published.

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Friends Can Boost Health, Well-being Among Older Adults

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Friends Can Boost Health, Well-being Among Older Adults

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https://www.aarp.org/home-family/friends-family/info-2017/friendships-improve-health-older-adults-fd.html#:~:text=If%20friendships%20last%20through%20older,The%20study%20reports%20that%20older

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This is the first REA meeting I've attended, and I'm gaining so much from each of the sessions. Thank you for gifting me with this opportunity to participate!
Paz, Dr. Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi

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Hi REA, I want to share this information for those interested:
Korean Cultural Center NY will be screening 10-female directed Korean film s from July 1 to 31 for free: https://www.koreanculture.org/films/2021/7/1/female-directed-korean-films
*All films are in Korean with English subtitles

"10 films across various genres by female film directors have been selected for this program as we celebrate the way in which they have paved their own paths in Korean cinema.

Many of the films selected for this special screening bring light to the underprivileged in society, resist a male-dominated gaze, and tell stories that celebrate the experiences of women."

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[뉴욕한국문화원]+여성+영화감독+특별전

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Greetings from Indonesia!
I am Jeniffer Wowor from Duta Wacana Christian University, Yogyakarta. This is my first experience with REA. It seems full of promise and hope to me. Learning together even when we’re apart. I really enjoy the first moment/experience because I know there’s always more to come with REA :)

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http://www.miabirdsong.com/

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Article for Panel on Boundaries of Affiliation

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Article for Panel on Boundaries of Affiliation

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This is an interesting article on deconversion/disaffiliation within the Muslim community among the teenage/early 20's truth seekers.
https://religionnews.com/2021/07/07/exmna-the-cost-of-leaving-islam-for-american-muslims/?utm_source=pushly
Chuck Chesnavage

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Understanding why people leave any faith is key to understanding America's future.

(RNS) - One of the most interesting developments of the social media age is that people are able to find like-minded individuals easily and anonymously. While that anonymity is not without its downsides, one of its real benefits is that people can express who they really are and what they really think about a variety of issues.

Particularly interesting to those who study American religion are the social media communities that have cropped up among those who have left their religious traditions to convert to a new religion or left faith behind entirely. Former evangelical Protestants identify themselves on Twitter with hashtags such as #exvangelical and #empty the pews. On Reddit, a constant stream of Mormon leavers talk about their experience in leaving the church on the subreddit r/exmormon, which boasts some 200,000 users.

No group of spiritual refugees is more organized, perhaps, than the Ex-Muslims of North America. Founded in 2013 as a nonprofit with the goal of standing for the rights and dignities of those who leave Islam, EXMNA raises and spends funds to better understand its members' experiences. Three years ago the group surveyed its membership, and the results offer a fascinating glimpse into not only the factors that make it more likely someone will leave Islam, but the challenges those leavers face.

RELATED: Riz Ahmed launches new effort seeking to increase Muslims in Hollywood

Before digging into the results, it's necessary to note that this survey was collected using a convenience sample: Those surveyed were not randomly recruited, but were collected from EXMNA members. Additionally, as these results represent the experiences of EXMNA and not all of those who leave Islam in North America, the data relies on people who leave Islam as they move into adulthood and have often suffered a steep cost for their apostasy in terms of their social, emotional and financial lives.

According to the survey of these people, defection from Islam happens at a very young age for many. When asked "How old were you when you left the faith?," 16% of the sample indicated that this occurred when they were 16 years old or younger. Rates of defection rose dramatically as respondents moved into their late teens.

By 18 years old, nearly a third of EXMNA members had left Islam behind, and that percentage increased to 54% by age 21. Just four years later, three-quarters of respondents said that they were no longer followers of Islam.

Thus, the likelihood of leaving Islam appears to be at its highestwhen young people's lives are the most unsettled. As teenagers and 20-somethings seek to earn a degree, get a job and possibly find a life partner, their attachment to the religion of their youth begins to wane. The EXMNA data tells a complicated story about these young people's fidelity to Muslim doctrine and practice.

About half the sample indicated that they drank alcohol before they left the faith and only 45% said that they prayed "as often as possible" or "all the time" when they were still Muslims. These numbers fall largely in line with other surveys about the behaviors of young Muslims. It's also notable that over half of the sample said that they were engaging in premarital sex while still Muslims - something that is doctrinally forbidden for followers of Islam and is looked down upon by members of the community.

Certainly, some of this has to do with the fact that many respondents left the faith as young people, but the data shows that some were only loosely tied to Islam even when they still considered themselves a Muslim.

The exception is the practice of avoiding pork consumption. Scholars have noted elsewhere that the prohibition against pork consumption is one of the deeply ingrained behaviors and, indeed, about 9 in 10 ex-Muslims said they never ate pork products when they were attached to Islam.

The data also makes clear that leaving a religion is more than ending certain ways of life. It leads to a cascade of implications that can impact all aspects of the apostate's life, often negatively, and often most powerfully in their relationships.

Two-thirds of EXMNA respondents reported that they hid their deconversion from some people in their lives, while 62% said that they lost friendships. Forty-five percent of the sample indicated that they had been ostracized by some members of their family, and 30% said that they lost financial support as well.

RELATED: 'The Deconstructionists Playbook' outlines ways forward for questioning Christians

Just about 1 in 5 ex-Muslims said that they were kicked out of their home once they renounced Islam and about 1 in 7 reported that they were physically abused.

Suffice it to say that leaving a faith group is never an easy transition, but it is one that more people than ever are making, in almost every faith. It's long been said that understanding religion is key to understand any society, but today understanding the push and pull of conversion and deconversion may be the most important key to understanding America's future.
(Ryan Burge is an assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, a pastor in the American Baptist Church and author of "The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, And Where They Are Going." He can be reached on Twitter at @ryanburge. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

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The high cost of becoming a none for American Muslims

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(RNS) - One of the most interesting developments of the social media age is that people are able to find like-minded individuals easily and anonymously. While that anonymity is not without its downsides, one of its real benefits is that people can express who they really are and what they really think about a variety of issues.

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Resources for Questioning Texts and Media Papers

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Resources for Questioning Texts and Media Papers

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Aybice and Ashar shared there research on gender research in RE textbooks in Turkey and Analysis of Islamic education and ethics textbooks in Pakistan.  Hopefully their research will make a positive difference in improving the curriculum materials in both ountries.  The two resources are very helpful for those interested in analyzing biases in curriculum materials and measuring implcit bias on a number of topics.
https://www.sadker.org/curricularbias.html
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/
Chuck Chesnavage
Munsee Lenape Land/Nation

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Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, publishers and professional associations issued guidelines for non-racist and non-sexist books. As a result, texts of the last twenty years are much improved. Unfortunately, they are far from bias-free. The following seven forms of bias can be found not only in K-12 textbooks, but also in college texts, in the media - in fact, they are all around us. Feel free to explore these definitions with your students, as well as try the strategies suggested.

Seven Forms of Bias in Instructional Materials

Invisibility: What You Don't See Makes a Lasting Impression.

The most fundamental and oldest form of bias in instructional materials is the complete or relative exclusion of a group. Textbooks published prior to the 1960s largely omitted African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans from both the narrative and illustrations. Many of today's textbooks are improved, but far from perfect. Women, those with disabilities, gays and homosexuals continue to be missing from many of today's texts.

Stereotyping: Shortcuts to Bigotry.

Perhaps the most familiar form of bias is the stereotype, which assigns a rigid set of characteristics to all members of a group, at the cost of individual attributes and differences. While stereotypes can be positive, they are more often negative. Some typical stereotypes include:

Men portrayed as assertive and successful in their jobs, but rarely discussed as husbands or fathers.

Women as caregivers

Jews as rich

Imbalance and Selectivity: A Tale Half Told.

Curriculum may perpetuate bias by presenting only one interpretation of an issue, situation, or group of people. Such accounts simplify and distort complex issues by omitting different perspectives.

A text reports that women were "given" the vote, but does not discuss the work, sacrifices, and even physical abuse suffered by the leaders of the suffrage movement that "won" the vote.

Literature is drawn primarily from western, male authors.

Math and science courses typically reference European discoveries and formulas.

Unreality: Rose Colored Glasses.

Many researchers have noted the tendency of instructional materials to gloss over unpleasant facts and events in our history. By ignoring prejudice, racism, discrimination, exploitation, oppression, sexism, and inter-group conflict, we deny students the information they need to recognize, understand, and perhaps some day conquer societal problems. Examples include:

Because of affirmative action programs, people of color and women now enjoy economic and political equality with (or superiority over) white males.

The notion that technology will resolve persistent social problems.

Fragmentation and Isolation: The Parts Are Less than the Whole.

Did you ever notice a "special" chapter or insert appearing in a text? For example, a chapter on "Bootleggers, Suffragettes, and Other Diversions" or a box describing "Ten Black Achievers in Science." Fragmentation emerges when a group is physically or visually isolated in the text. Often, racial and ethnic group members are depicted as interacting only with persons like themselves, isolated from other cultural communities. While this form of bias may be less damaging than omission or stereotypes, fragmentation and isolation present non-dominant groups as peripheral members of society.

Linguistic Bias: Words Count.

Language can be a powerful conveyor of bias, in both blatant and subtle forms. Linguistic bias can impact race/ethnicity, gender, accents, age, (dis)ability and sexual orientation.

Native Americans described as "roaming," "wandering," or "roving" across the land. Such language implicitly justifies the seizure of Native lands by "more goal-directed" white Americans who "traveled" or "settled" their way westward.

Such words as forefathers, mankind, and businessman serve to deny the contributions (even the existence) of females.

The bias against non-English speakers.

Cosmetic Bias: "Shiny" covers.

The relatively new cosmetic bias suggests that a text is bias free, but beyond the attractive covers, photos, or posters, bias persists. This "illusion of equity" is really a marketing strategy to give a favorable impression to potential purchasers who only flip the pages of books.

A science textbook that features a glossy pullout of female scientists but includes precious little narrative of the scientific contributions of women.

A music book with an eye-catching, multiethnic cover that projects a world of diverse songs and symphonies belies the traditional white male composers lurking behind the cover.

Investigative Strategies for Bias Detectives

Here are several strategies for teaching these concepts in K-12 and teacher education classrooms. Ask students to review school textbooks and identify each of these seven forms. Then ask them to suggest ways to remove the bias and create more equitable textbooks.

Extend this activity by asking students to identify these forms of bias in college level texts (academic areas as well as teacher education), or in magazines and television programming.

While curriculum bias clearly impacts females and students of color, males can also be victims as well. Using the 7 forms of bias as a framework, find examples that negatively impacts males, and suggest ways to overcome the bias.

Ask students to identify how these seven forms emerge in interpersonal interactions. For example, teachers stereotype when males are asked to help with physical classroom tasks, or fragment by studying African Americans only during "Black History Month.

Share an example of curriculum bias or equity that you have identified.

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Seven Forms of Bias in Instructional Materials

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Back in the 1970s and the 1980s, publishers and professional associations issued guidelines for non-racist and non-sexist books. As a result, texts of the last twenty years are much improved. Unfortunately, they are far from bias-free.

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If you would like to chat about potential collaboration for a 2023 program theme proposal around Climate Justice, let me know at doribaker@mac.com

something like ... For the Love of Earth and its Creatures: Religious Education & Climate Care / Collapse / Concern

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$3500 Annual Innovation Grant - Calling all Religious Education Innovators! 

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$3500 Annual Innovation Grant - Calling all Religious Education Innovators! 

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Hello friends! With the pandemic this past year along with other factors, it has been a while since we have reminded people about this opportunity. While details are still to come, the Harper/Wornom Committee is very excited to receive new applications detailing your innovative project ideas! You can check out the basic requirements here on the REA website. We still need to update the application, and a deadline for 2022 applications has not yet been set, but this will all be updated soon. In the meantime, start thinking about your potential projects - OR, if you have any students or practitioners with whom you work that might have a creative RE project idea, you can encourage them to apply!

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https://www.gileadchicago.org/#home

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Hi colleagues: As we enjoyed the conference and shared wonderful & queerful ideas, we thought it was significant momentum to create a working group for LGBTQ+ participants and allies. If you are interested in joining this group, please contact Heesung Hwang heesung.hwang@ctschicago.edu for further information.

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I was unexpectedly not able to attend this year, even though I had been planning on doing so. I am very sad about that. Will there be online access in future years available as an option?Can you also remind me where and when next year's annual meeting is? I feel like I need to get clear again on everything after this last year.

Warmly From, Rev. Sierra-Marie Gerfao (she/her/hers)

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Young Adult Initiative at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 2020 report

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Young Adult Initiative at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 2020 report

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https://issuu.com/shane206/docs/holy_listening_final_2020_report

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Young Adult Initiative at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 2018 Report

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Young Adult Initiative at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary 2018 Report

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https://issuu.com/shane206/docs/holy_listening_report__f_

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Slide handouts for Trying to be a Muslim American Woman presentation on Friday - 

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Slide handouts for Trying to be a Muslim American Woman presentation on Friday - 

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Hello All! Hope you are well.
I am just making my slides available as a handout if anyone is interested in printing and following along tomorrow. Thanks! Reem Javed

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Reem Javed - Handout - Slides - REA - 7.9.21

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Slides for "In Our Mother Tongues: Cultural Hybridity and Vocational Exploration"

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Slides for "In Our Mother Tongues: Cultural Hybridity and Vocational Exploration"

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Thank you to everyone who joined the Vocational Provocations session! Anne and Peter invite feedback and dialogue, especially with the fruitful starting points we propose.

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Blessings all. This has been a wonderful REA. As Boyung Lee commented: “the world awaits our vision and guidance.” In this time of pandemics (race, health, economics, isolation), may we continue to find ways to share the inclusive wisdom and hope and challenge of our traditions. May we help people know that all are God’s children and heirs. May we love God and our neighbors.  I look forward to the continuing and expansive work of REA. Thank you.
Jack Seymour

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Thank you very much for so many insights coming during this conference. It is a blessing to absorb wisdom from all of you. Also to find an inclusive community of learning. It has already teach on how to be religious education practitioner in this plural society. I hope more collaborative work in the future. Sincere, Nancy Souisa (nsouisa@yahoo.com)

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A blessing for gender affirmation surgery ...

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A blessing for gender affirmation surgery ...

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I'm sharing here a blog that might be of interest to folx creating rituals for LGBTQ+ communities and allies. Thanks everyone for a great conference!

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A threshold is a place of letting go of an old identity and waiting on a new identity to emerge. It is a liminal moment when the sacred is being born in us, a time of unravelling and slowly reknitt...

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Digital Story Presentation and pdf slides for CCOP

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Digital Story Presentation and pdf slides for CCOP

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The RTW recording of the CCOP presentation did not record the Digital Stories that were shown.  If anyone is interesting in learning more about Digital Stories or want to see more of them please reach out to me with the information in the pdf. .
Enjoy all of the Digital Stories and the links to other resources including the link to the Maria Harris tribute in 2015 at the REA.
Chuck Chesnavage
Munsee Lenape in Yonkers, NY

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Hello all!
The conference was a great learning experience for me. I couldn't attend all the sessions due to time difference but tried to watch all recordings from RTW. And it was a great opportunity to present my paper at this high quality conference. Thanks REA team for your efforts on organizing this event in such difficult times.
Greetings to all
Aybiçe TOSUN
ESOGÜ, Turkey
atosun@ogu.edu.tr

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The final plenary was such a powerful combination of art, poetry, story! And seeing some of the artists Dr. Junker shared with us, reminded me of the work of Elisabeth Ohlsen, a Swedish artist, who did a series of the life of Jesus set in the Queer community back in 1998: https://ohlson.se/index.php/utstallningar/ecce-homo/

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The final plenary was such a powerful combination of art, poetry, story! And seeing some of the artists Dr. Junker shared with us, reminded me of the work of Elisabeth Ohlsen, a Swedish artist, who did a series of the life of Jesus set in the Queer community back in 1998: https://ohlson.se/index.php/utstallningar/ecce-homo/

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I commend that art to you as well! (Mary Hess)

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Truly happy to have been part of the REA Meeting 2021. It's helpful to me on a deeply personal level, especially at this time of the pandemic. I would like to share this story which I wrote after the conference. Thank you to all speakers and organizers! And to Dr. Chesnavage for the invitation. Hope you enjoy this article!

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By Marivir R. Montebon

New York - With the emergence of digital technology, truth-telling through digital stories in the classroom has become an effective method of learning and teaching Religious Education. It has also become a teacher's way to spark the waning interest of students on religion as a course or subject.

Dr. Charles Chesnavage shared his experience of digital storytelling as narratives of faith among his students at the Mercy College and Unification Theological Seminary in New York City where he teaches World Religions.

Chesnavage was a presenter at the panel 'Catholic Community of Practice' titled 'Digital Stories as a Creative Assignment for Studying World Religions' for the Religious Education Association (REA) National Meeting on July 5-9, 2021.

REA is more than a hundred years old, founded in 1903 by William Rainey Harper, the first President of the University of Chicago. It has a diverse membership from the Baha'i, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and other traditions involved in all aspects of religious education.

It is the biggest organization of religious educators worldwide, leading in research into moral and religious development through conferences, workshops, and in-depth studies.

In his classes last semester, Chesnavage asked his undergraduate and advanced studies students to produce a personal and experiential video of their stories of faith. Like a film festival of sorts, he awarded those works that excelled in clarity of message and technological artistry.

"As life happens around us, the students definitely capture (reflection and learning) aspects into their lives. Religious themes are expressed implicitly more than explicitly. They choose their role models mainly from their families and not really world leaders," said Chesnavage.

The value of digital stories as a method of teaching and as a way to invoke and stir the interest of students toward Religious Education could not be underestimated.

"What is personal and experiential is universal, and what is universal is personal. The digital stories provide a multicultural, interreligious worldview dimension and a personal dimension," said Chesnavage.

Citing the scholarly work of Bloom and Lambert, Chesnavage said that "artistic assignments are the highest level of learning and the relationship of the art and the brain promotes mental health, healing and activities that de-stress the mind, body and soul."

Chesnavage provided themes for his students to choose in developing their digital stories such as birth, experiences in life and death, sickness and suffering, and holidays.

For his next year's presentation, Chesnavage said that artistic creations such as poetry and visual arts would be featured. "Artistic creations are very popular among students," he enthused.

Dr. Mary Hess, professor of Educational Leadership at the Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN and a key facilitator at the REA conferences, uses digital storytelling to give "voice" to her women students on intersectional and personal issues on women's rights, gender, and racism.

In her published study on 'Digital Storytelling: Empowering Feminist and Womanist Faith Formation among Women,' Hess noted that digital storytelling gives students the opportunity "to learn how to use technology to make their own voice heard and the potential to use knowledge and experience, a potential way to foster agency."# (Featured photo: Dr. Charles Chesnavage and Dr. Mary Hess. This article was first published at the UTS.com)
ADS

www.magicmelt.com

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Teachers keep the classroom alive with truth-telling digital stories of faith

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By Marivir R. Montebon New York - With the emergence of digital technology, truth-telling through digital stories in the classroom has become an effective method of learning and teaching Religious Education. It has also become a teacher's way to spark the waning interest of students on religion as a course or subject.

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I wrote an article about the conference, as I was truly inspired. Thank you to Dr. Lee and all REA organizers and speakers!

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I wrote an article about the conference, as I was truly inspired. Thank you to Dr. Lee and all REA organizers and speakers!

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Enjoy and share!

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Religious Educators: Leading the Way to Truth-telling and Healing in these Challenging Times

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New York - Truth-telling and inclusion have been the rallying theme of religious educators in their week-long annual conference as the antidote to the escalating challenges of poverty, marginalization, mental health, and the pandemic. How do you heal and become whole again was that soul-searching question at the recently concluded 2021 annual meeting of the Religious Education Association (REA) on July 5-9, 2021.