A Civil Discourse Primer: Building Capacity for Engaging on Tough Topics

Election season is a time to emphasize not only voting but how voting is part of a year-round practice of civic engagement. This engagement is where we as individuals can invest in our communities by paying attention and speaking out constructively through the powers and rights at our disposal. But election season, perhaps more so this year, is also a time of heightened division that also impacts our church communities.

How can Episcopalians equip themselves to build and maintain relationships that are fundamental to our common life? What roles do healthy conflict and dialogue play in humanizing one another? This workshop will serve as a primer on our civil discourse curriculum, helping you understand the opportunities and limits of civil discourse as a critical tool for bridging partisan divides, learning from one another, and creating better solutions for our communities.

We will not go through the full curriculum on this program but rather hold an informal space to explore what civil discourse means in an election, in advocacy, and in caring for our neighbor. If you are curious about this curriculum, have or are planning to use another similar program in your community, join this call to help learn how to get the most out of such learning opportunities.

With the right framing, some disciplined practice, and self-reflection on what each of us needs to learn in this process, we can grow our individual and communal capacity for necessary conversations that leverage our diversity and help us solve problems together, even across disagreements. We expect the program to last about an hour, and it will be recorded.