A Charlottesville-based religious organization called Clergy and Laity United for Justice and Peace (CLJP) plans to ditch the dogma in a new public outreach program that kicks off Wednesday, September 20, with a forum on “The Role of Religion in Politics”—the first of many planned public events to expand the group’s discussions beyond their monthly meetings. CLJP’s goal is to develop an active voice of moral justice that bridges all faiths involved.
“We’re—’upset’ seems a fair word to say—with what was propagated as the religious view in American policy and politics,” says Chairman Carl Matthews, who characterizes the dominant religious perspective as “fairly conservative.”
Islamic scholar Abdulaziz Sachedina, one of the forum’s panelists, stresses the public focus of the interfaith group: “The search is not for a common theology. Rather, it is for common morality that can garner the support of reasonable men and women.”
Wednesday’s panel will also feature Christian Science Monitor contributor Helena Cobban and adjunct UVA professor/organizational change specialist Russ Linden.
Though CLJP seems like the type of coffee-talk organization likely to burrow into academia and never emerge, the group says it is committed to engaging the Charlottesville public. But the CLJP will not strive for agreement among its members, which may limit its political impact. “We’re not willing to accept a dogmatic position on, say abortion. We are not consensus-driven,” Matthews says.
Though the group’s membership objective is “to be interfaith,” according to member Elizabeth Burdash. it “remains largely Christian, mostly Presbyterian at the moment,” Matthews says. “We welcome more Jews, Muslims, Hindus, anyone.”
The CLJP hosts Sachedina and fellow panelists at 7:30pm on Wednesday, September 20 at the New Albemarle County Office Building, located at 1600 Fifth St.
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