The Garrison-Martineau Project

(a.k.a. The Conversation Mother Warned You About!)

So far, we have had over 130 participants, including Presbyterians, Baptists, Charismatics, Catholics, Atheists, Humanists, Independents and even a Pagan --- all sharing their stories and making connections! The heart of our program is person-to-person small group dialogue. However, we also recognize that some folks need to see how our program works before taking the step to become a participant themselves. With this in mind, we're offering our first ever Garrison-Martineau Panel discussion this October - invite a friend! We're also offering "Deeper Dialogue" for folks who've participated previously to discuss a relevant and timely topic in more depth. Whatever your worldview, I'd like to invite you to one of our upcoming events :

• No upcoming events planned. Would your group be interested in hosting one? Contact the coordinator

Reports from Past Events!

Our first "Deeper Dialogue" Saturday Oct 2 in Hayward! Exciting day. We show that it was possible to discuss religion and politics in a way that shed more light than heat. We had a Republican voting for Nader, a former Goldwater volunteer who has moved to the left, and lots of other interesting stories about political voyages and the intersection with religious or nonreligious convictions. Thanks to everyone who made this day possible!

Our first panel discussion Friday Oct 22 in Oakland! We opened the event with our very own short film How Is Your Neighbor Voting? featuring local man(&woman)-on-the-street interviews which was a lot of fun. We then heard from a panel featuring a conservative Christian (Pastor Leversie Johnson), a liberal Christian (Pastor Brad Bunnin), a self-described "neo-Pagan Pantheist (Dennis "galen" Mitrzyk), a left-leaning atheist (Jim Heldberg) and an independent atheist (Ken Barnes) What fun!

I learned something from everyone. Brad Bunnin talked a little bit about how gerrymandered "safe" districts promote polarization. Leversie Johnson reminded us that the politicians don't hate each other as much as we think they do -- just look at how often they attend funerals or other events with one another. Galen encouraged people to have confidence in vote for what they really wanted. Jim Heldberg brought down the house when he explained how he motivated people to vote -- by telling them they didn't want them to vote! (I'll do the voting!) And Ken Barnes let us in on his voting strategy: "I always vote against the incumbent."

(CORRECTION: Leversie mentioned how often politicians attend birthday parties, graduations, and dinners. Anybody will attend a funeral! Thanks to the readers for keeping the website accurate. Additional feedback/corrections? Click here .)

We hope that people felt encouraged by seeing that it was entirely possible to discuss religion and politics in a way that brought some understanding of the people behind the rhetoric. We encourage people to join the conversation themselves by signing up for one of our small group dialogue sessions.

Congratulations to our "out-of-California" cohorts who ran Garrison-Martineau dialogue sessions this year! Kudos to Charleston, SC (Jan 20), Seattle, WA (Sep 11) & Portland, OR (Sep 12) Don't be left out! We continue to encourage people interested in hosting a Garrison-Martineau session in their "neck of the woods" and can provide help in doing so. If you might be interested in such an endeavor, please contact Coordinator, Chris Lindstrom to discuss the possibilities!