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Glen Stassen SRER Scholar-in-Residence Plenary Lecturers include:
Miguel A. De La Torre - Presidential Address
How is the current political system in the United States undergoing a religious sectarian cold war, wherein the minority position of white Christian nationalists seeks to implement an apartheid political system designed to silence and disenfranchise BIPOC communities? Current U.S. political divisions (Republican v. Democrat) have similar characteristics to religious sectarian wars of the past (e.g., Catholic v. Protestant, Orthodox v. Catholic, Sunnis v. Shia). During the Trump administration this was a cold war; but in the aftermath of his presidential election loss and diminished political power the war is beginning to turn violent, as demonstrated during the storming of the Capitol. How does one seek justice within an atmosphere where: oppressive initiatives are presented as virtuous by means of religious freedom discourse; where modern Christian political views are derived from the divine-rights far-right conservatives and the dismissal of opponents as going against God’s will and lacking a legitimate, different political view; and, where Jim & Jane Crow 2.0 is being established, thus legalizing immorality? What, then, can be expected of those who seek a justice-based response?