Welcome. Thank you for joining us again for another
episode of the Interfaiths podcast here at FRU,
working on... trying to build interfaith dialogue
and respect for all religious traditions, including
those with no religious traditions, and creating
a pluralistic world. So we're here. We're very
honored to have Professor Jeanette Smith, who
is an institution in the South Florida community,
has done tremendous work in terms of social justice,
especially advocating for workers' rights, interfaith
dialogue, and particularly all forms of social
justice and trying to make the world a better
place. world a better place. She's had lots of
setbacks and challenges. Unfortunately, I think
we're going through one of those periods right
now. But she is an inspiration. She always comes
to the classroom, to meetings, in a very positive
spirit, always has something positive to say,
and is hopeful. She's a community builder, someone
who gathers all types of interest and people
together towards a vision of a better future,
a vision of a more just sort of society and really
pours her heart, her time, her energy, you know,
into people who are perfectly strangers, honestly,
and trying to make the world a better place by
touching people's lives. So she's done a tremendous
amount. And she's kind of one of our, I think,
our moral exemplars here in South Florida. And
we're very, very happy and honored to have her.
And she represents the Quaker community. So she's
going to talk a little bit about her personal
background, where she grew up and kind of some
of the formative experiences that she had in
terms of kind of what has made her this sort
of. person who really has a strong character
and has a strong moral foundation and vision
for her life in terms of social justice, and
talking a little bit about her journey towards
Quakerism as well. And then we'll continue the
conversation from there. So welcome, Jeanette.
Thank you. I don't even know how to go after
that. That was a lot. It's very nice to be here.
I think this is very cool that you're doing these
series. This is nice. So where do you want me
to start? Just a little bit about... Yeah, where
did you grow up? A small town in Northern Maryland.
There were two streets, Main Street and Church
Street. Church Street had the church. Main Street
had everything else. We really did get our mail.
There was like a little general store. That's
where we got our mail. So definitely grew up
out in the country. Great place, actually, in
a lot of ways to grow up. You know, playing,
running, climbing trees. And at that time, I'm
sure it's changed a lot since I grew up. Not
a whole lot of people went away even to college
where I grew up. My high school took several
different towns to fill up one high school. And
it was probably the size of one class at Palmetto
now or something. So it was small. It was small.
But I was also one of those kids that wanted
to see the whole world. And there was a show,
The Big Blue Marble. And at the end of it, you
could write a letter if you wanted a pen pal.
And so I had pen pals all over the world. And
in fact, my first one, the next biggest town
next to us. was Manchester was from Manchester,
Jamaica, because my teacher came in one day with
letters and said from different Manchesters around
the world and said, who wants a pen pal? And
up my hand went. So my very first pen pal was
from Manchester, Jamaica. And I later got to
meet her when I studied in Jamaica, like years
later in law school. Yeah, yeah. So it could
have gone a different way if I didn't have the
interest that I had. You know, which is kind
of why I ended up at Florida International University
as well. What about your parents in terms of
how did they help to shape you? Well, my parents
actually divorced when I was rather young. I
was born in Pittsburgh and I grew up, well, I
moved to the Azores. My dad was in the military.
He was in the Air Force. And my brother was born
there. For years, we've had to constantly explain
to people, no, he is a citizen. He is a citizen.
But we came back to the U .S. probably when I
was about three and a half. And my mom was actually
briefly, she was married another three and a
half years after that. And that's a nice part
of the story. My stepfather was a rather violent
person. And I admire my mom for having the courage
in a small town to leave that type of situation.
Because a lot of people wouldn't. Because, I
mean, now you're divorced twice, you might as
well be wearing a scarlet letter, right? But
she had the courage to leave it and to then work
three jobs taking care of my brother and I. So
I think that I really, you know, my grandmother
had been a schoolteacher, you know, fourth grade
schoolteacher. And the school where I went when
I was little, she was a teacher there. And so
I think a lot of my influences are from her because
my mom was so busy working just to take care
of us. You know, and then my uncle was a reader
and he said, you take a book everywhere you go
because you never know when you'll have a chance
to read. So a lot of things. So I started carrying
books everywhere I went. So I think between my
grandmother, you know, between my uncle, I was
just, you know, this idea that you just read.
And I think that's probably what exposed me to
the idea that there was this much bigger world
out there that I wanted to see. And in fact,
though, here's an interesting thing, because
you mentioned about being Quaker. I was not raised
Quaker. I was actually baptized Catholic because
my father was Catholic. My mom was Lutheran.
In marriages where one party is Catholic, the
other is not, the rule is that you baptize Catholic.
My aunt always said it was a plot to take over
the world, marriage by marriage, child by child,
because I didn't grow up with my dad. And then
my mom was just working all the time. Even my
stepfather, when she got married, was Lutheran.
And he made the silly excuse, oh, we can't go
to church because they're Catholic and we're
little kids. You could have taken us anywhere,
right? And so I really just didn't grow up going
to church at all. But like I said, spent so much
time with my grandmother, who was half Native
American. So I think a lot of the ideas and the
way I saw things were that influence from her.
And it was actually when I was in, I'd gone to
Singapore to study. Okay. And my two women I
was closest to while I was there, I was studying
and working in a law firm, were an attorney who
was Sikh and then another woman who was Malay
who was Muslim. And those were the two women
I was closest to while I was there. And when
I came back from Singapore, which is an extraordinary
place because the diversity of religions, of
people, of cultures, of languages. And when I
came back. I really realized that, you know,
it didn't matter. Like, I may believe what I
believe, but I don't disbelieve what others believe.
Like, I was okay with that. I was very comfortable
with that. And that I, you know, because, you
know, the things we're told when we're little.
This guy is blue. Okay, it's blue. And we just
kind of accept these without necessarily questioning
them. So I came back with, you know, it mattered
that I believed what I believed. But it was okay.
I didn't disbelieve other things. And I came
back with that idea. And that is actually when
I actually went through confirmation. So let's
not tell the Archbishop this. I went through
confirmation into the church. I did an adult
confirmation. They kept putting me in the group
with the nun. So these are adult confirmations.
And interestingly in this group, because at this
point I had a law degree, the deacon was an attorney.
There was an attorney that was in a mixed marriage
that was converting. So there was a different
kind of group. It's not your average conversion
group. And they kept putting me in the group
with the nun. And I thought that was so funny.
And she said one time, this was a little bit
pre -Vatican too. She thought that if you weren't
Catholic, you went to hell. But wait, and I had
this example of a goat herd in Nepal. This was
really important to me, this goat herd. Because
I was like, he's a good goat herd, right? And
he takes care of the goats. He takes care, you
know, he's a good person in his village. He's
a good husband, good father, good son. This person's
going to hell because they're not Catholic. I
don't get it. And then she finally said, okay,
well, he wasn't. Goat herd was okay. But if you
left the Catholic church, that's where you would
go to hell. I was like, all righty. Anyway, so
I go through the process. I have my confirmation.
It was a moment. I definitely felt the spirit.
It was an Easter vigil confirmation. In fact,
my confirmation godmother was the dean of students
from UMLL. She's passed away now because I've
become very close to her over time. And it was
a moment. It was definitely a moment for me.
Was constantly like I had learned things and
read things when I was in Asia and I was thinking
about Basil Wetherington and there had been two
Catholic priests who had been in India and had
been threatened with excommunication because
they talked about like meditation. But nowadays
seminaries have centering prayer and things like
this. This is not. Yes, it's me. It's not. Seen
as, you know, heretical as it once was. So I
was constantly thinking, thinking, continuing.
And I then started to work for American Friends
Service Committee, which is a Quaker organization.
It's global. And I was the Florida director,
moved into shortly thereafter the regional director
for the Southeast. And, you know, I remember,
though, when I went to fill in my application.
After you turn in your resume, if they're interested
in you, you fill out an application. Because
they're faith -based, they can ask you questions
about your faith that you normally couldn't.
And you read a little bit about Quakers, and
I start to answer questions. And as I'm writing
my answers, it's like short essays, I start to
cry because I know this is what I am. This is
without even a question in my mind. I could feel
it. And I don't say anything. I apply. Okay,
day comes for the interviews. Quakers, we interview
by committee. We do everything by committee.
So you've got the committee of staff, the committee
of regional directors and things. And I was the
last person interviewed that day. And in fact,
the regional director at the time had been sure
they were going to have to start again. They
weren't going to find anybody. And then I came
in and we talked. I didn't really talk about
my faith in particular. We talked about how I
saw social justice issues, immigration, different
issues. I had a diverse background. I studied
in Jamaica, studied in Singapore. Mexico, Italy.
And so we were talking and she assumed I was
Quaker during the interview. It never dawned
on her I wasn't. And she was so excited about
me that she was making my to -do list already
while I'm being interviewed. And it's an interesting
thing because things that I believe that people
don't... you convert to something. I think you
discover what you are. I've always believed that.
So to me, that's what I always was. I just, you
know, and it was interesting because when I talked
to my mom about it, my aunt, they said, you know,
considering where we live, Northern Maryland,
that proximity to Pennsylvania, some of the ideas
and all the time you spent with my grandmother
and some of those ideas in, I think of Quaker,
Quakerism is like, it's more of um like a natural
faith right exactly you know and there's ideas
about mysticism and things and to me that fit
a lot of the beliefs that like my grandmother
grew up with and things so it just it it was
just who i am yeah i think it also explained
to why when i was practicing law and working
with a lot of reggae artists and i worked a lot
of rastafari and um they always say say yeah
rasta you're not know it i'm like no no i'm not
but It was because I was able, again, another
natural fate, because I was able to speak in
a way that they related to, but they also spoke
in a way I related to. So I don't think I became
Quaker. I think I always was Quaker. I discovered
that I was Quaker and haven't left the path since.
Well, that's amazing. So you now know more than
a lot of people do about my journey. No, I mean,
it's quite a remarkable journey. I mean, I know
that there was a lot of depth there. Because
it's something that you do. I think, I mean,
from my perspective, you really live the values
that I've seen among the Quakers. And particularly,
I was more exposed to the American Foreign Service
Committee and kind of some of the work that they
do, particularly. And this is kind of also some
of the work that I do with the Jewish community,
but especially after 9 -11. So there were some
of the few organizations that really stepped
up and said, we're going to support Muslims.
Because at that point, people were like, we don't
want to deal with Muslims. They're all terrorists.
They're horrible people. And that was like a
mainstream line across the United States and
particularly sort of in conservative circles.
And it was just remarkable to see people like
the Quakers that stood up and were like, no,
we're not going to. against hate a lot of the
liberal Jewish groups also um you know stood
up for for Muslim rights the Japanese Americans
also stood up so um yeah so I'm very indebted
and I have a lot of admiration for the Quakers
and I think that that especially the other thing
that I think is really remarkable that I think
American Muslims can learn a lot from is um just
the way that Quakers are um very much embedded
within American culture and society and yet they
can take very um and create moral authority around
it. And I think, like, one of the things that
I really found remarkable is pacifism. I think
that is such a powerful moral virtue that's really
not mainstream. It's not something that, you
know, people really agree with, but at the same
time, like, the way the Quakers own it is a way
that they're able to really help direct the...
They have moral authority in America based on
things like that, you know. It's interesting
you mention that because I remember one time
somebody wrote me a letter, somebody from Kentucky
or something. He saw an article where I'd been
interviewed, and he said, oh, it's admirable,
it's admirable, pacifist. He goes, but that's
the easy route. And I thought, wow, then you
really don't know what it is. I mean, it was
a really respectful response I had, but I thought,
you really don't know how difficult it can be.
I remember my younger cousin, he's... uh probably
about 15 years younger and he at one point when
he was like college said no she speaks out too
much to be a pacifist i'm like well you don't
know what exactly and it was really interesting
how people have like an idea in their mind as
to what pacifism means and And I also recognize
that to be pacifist in some countries is far
easier than in other countries. I get that. But
at the same time, it's not necessarily an easy
route and you can talk about it. But what would
you do in the moment? And I have this talk sometimes
with my students and like in charter religion,
sometimes we talk about different things. And
I'm not shy about sharing my background with
them because I if. I hope, if nothing else, they
come out of my classes recognizing that we all
have our own biases, the way we were raised.
culturally, religious, whatever it is, right?
That that's all intertwined. But other people
have other beliefs and that's okay too. But I
said, I don't think I'm fair to you if I'm asking
you to recognize your biases if I don't share
mine. And I always will explain, you know, and
they're always very interested because a lot
of times professors don't tell them, but I feel
like I'm telling them as part of like a moment.
And I said, so it's important for me to be able
to, and I tell them one of the advantages of
the work I do both in the community and the classroom
is that. Because I do believe everybody's path
is equally valid. I'm not imposing that on anybody.
But I'm also coming from a certain perspective.
And I sometimes tell them, I said, I wonder about
those moments, you know. If my mother were in
danger, how would I respond? There's a lot of
things I try to talk my way out of first. Well,
what would I do? It's my mom. Exactly. Like we
think we know. Right. And I had an interesting
situation last year with a student who has now
been expelled. who was rather violent. Right.
And very aggressive in my inter -religious dialogue
class, actually. And was up and, you know, was
kind of challenging with the other students and
then came up and finger in my face and, what
do you think about that? And he went to sit down.
And I, and this is probably just being me, but
also being me as a Quaker, I said, well, it strikes
me as a bit aggressive. And it struck him, how
did she stay so calm? Like, I didn't... You know,
plus, let's be frank. I've also learned you can't
show fear to the bully. You don't. You don't.
It's worse. And I said, you know, it strikes
me as rather aggressive. And he got so angry,
he stormed out of the room. Yay. After that,
they put, we had plainclothes detectives outside
two of my classes for the rest of the semester.
But a couple of the students were really surprised,
especially the young women. Like, how did you
stay so calm? Even a couple of the guys were
like. That's probably already embedded within
me. So maybe that was one of those moments where
you sort of see. But at the same time, his things
progressed with him and there was a lot of negative
communication threats. I remember somebody was
suggesting to me from the FIU police and things
like I should carry mace or something like that,
just in case. And I really, I had to sit there
and think about that. And I went online, I looked
for Quaker groups, and there was one woman who
had bought mace at a suggestion and never took
it out of the package. And I was like, I couldn't
find it in me. I understood that people were
saying it would be defensive, but it would still
be violent. And I really had to think about how
do I keep myself safe in a way that's nonviolent.
So I had to think a lot about timing, where I
went, what I did. And I'm sure he's moved on
to bothering someone else now. Not a good thing.
But that was a bit of a test. absolutely that
was a bit of a test yeah absolutely yeah no i
think that there's these real life situations
i mean one of the things i also like about the
department also is that we've been able to connect
with um the jane community yes i love that's
been such such a so much to learn from i think
yes in terms of their own tradition of non -violence
and what that means and there's just you know
the non -violence of intention of thought of
speech and there are all these like philosophical
dimensions to it i think that's been a lot of
fun to sort of learn through oh we talk a lot
about like positive peace right and it's it's
more than just like the absence of tension it's
the presence of justice so that's another whole
angle there and it was funny i at one point took
the sacred source class with a professor who
used to be here, Steve Bose. We got to write
after the Jane lecture. He was so impressed with
what I wrote. He says, you should look into doing
the fellowship. You should this and that. You
just understand. I'm like, I just understand
what it means to be Quaker. I feel like Jane
sometimes put us to shame because they're all
next level. It was so fascinating that what he
saw in me as an understanding of Janeism was
actually Where I was coming from already. Yeah.
I remember thinking that was funny. Yeah. No,
I mean, I think a lot of this stuff is like they're
very deep, eternal truths that these faith traditions
are able to sort of understand and express. And
so just finding those commonalities, I think,
is like extremely rewarding. And it's also really
nice to see it reflected in other people and
to have those conversations. I think especially
in these troubling times, it's always wonderful
to see other people that have similar values,
you know. Yeah, absolutely. But, you know, it's
interesting when you say that, though, because
there's people I feel, because I do, as you mentioned,
a lot of interfaith work, have for years, American
Friends Service Committee, South Florida Faith
Worker Justice, Mosaic previously, MCCJ. I used
to co -chair the clergy dialogue. One of the
first times I'd ever had a non -clergy person
because my tradition doesn't have clergy. You
still get these truths across. Judith, who's
now kind of chairing us, as you know, I connect
with her. We've been on panels together, and
we've been asked questions about different topics,
and we always say afterwards, I totally agree
with what you said. I'm like, I totally agree
with what you said. But now she's coming from
a Jewish tradition. But it's like there's people
I feel like I connect with, and it doesn't have
anything to do. with what their particular faith
is. It's those underlying truths. Right, right.
Yeah. Talk to me a little bit about your interfaith
work, you know, like kind of what you've learned
over the years in terms of doing this sort of
work. Any sort of lessons learned? That's interesting.
I think one of the most important things, well,
first of all, I think it goes to the underlying
truths. Like when we talk about things, like
I've done a lot around workers' rights, you know,
low -wage workers in particular. immigration
-related issues, that there are a lot of underlying
truths that are the same across traditions. I
often say to my students, I don't know a tradition,
and there may be one, but I don't know one that
says, go steal from your workers. That's not
something that's taught. And so I think there's
a lot of similarities in that regard. I also
think that it's important to know, when I was
a little girl, I had this idea that... There
was God and everybody just called God different
things. Right. And it's a lot more complex than
that. But when I was a little girl in Maryland
in my two street town, that's what I thought.
Right. And I think that it's important to know
that you're not necessarily going to agree on
everything. That's OK. You what are the and even
people in general, if you're looking at social
justice types of topics are not going to have
the same ideas. So what are the things? that
you can meet on. Where are the things that you're
in the same place on? And that you can work on
these issues because you're in that same place.
Because I think sometimes people think it's going
to be across the board. And it's not. And I've
been involved with numerous interfaith services.
And sometimes a complaint, not of those services,
but of other events I've seen in the community
that have been interfaith, has been people have
felt like their beliefs got watered down. So
that nobody was saying something the other people
didn't agree with. That's a danger. That's a
danger. The interface services I've been involved
with have fortunately not been that. We all were
part of it. There may have been an overarching
theme, but we were all part speaking from our
traditions. So I think that's really important.
Because if you're looking for everybody to agree,
you're going to water it down to something somewhat
meaningless. Exactly. So I think that's important.
And I think sometimes people who aren't accustomed
to doing that work. don't realize that right
like we're we're okay with not agreeing on everything
it's perfectly fine exactly and in fact that's
why i've involved it really enjoy being involved
with like clergy dialogue for example where we
would have sometimes theological topics and i
always get invited to speak from a certain perspective
when it's the workers you know but you'll have
like a jewish perspective a muslim perspective
you know um a christian perspective which I feel
there. Let's go broader. You just say Christian.
I don't know what that means. I'll tell you a
little secret too. People don't always realize
this. I know that Quakers are considered to be
one of the Protestant sects. Not usually if you
ask Quakers. So some Quakers will tell you they
are Christian. Other Quakers will tell you that
they're not. And I remember I was dating a guy
for several years and something came up and I
said, but I'm not Christian. He says, but you're
Quaker. I said, yes. So you're Christian. No.
He's like, wait, I have to stop our whole relationship
for a minute and say, wait, explain this to me.
Because it's not, once upon a time when the religion
was first founded, it was considered a separate
branch of Christianity, outside Protestants,
outside Catholics. But I think it's come to the
place because so much of what we do is that idea
of the spirit or that of God within everyone
and that light within and that reflective piece
that... There are folks who are more Christocentric,
but there are others who are not. And it doesn't
make us any less Quaker. So, for example, the
meeting here, the Miami Friends meeting, tends
to, in my mind, be more traditional. It's interesting
because we're probably progressive in our social
ideas, but traditional in our practice. You may
not necessarily identify with being Christian
when you're Quaker. I would never even propose
to speak for all Quakers. Right, right, right.
I've seen that, I think, with some of the other
more universal traditions within Christianity.
I work with the Unity Church and some of the
other groups. You'll see that within these movements
as well. Right, right, right. So a lot of people
don't realize that. Exactly. An assumption is
made. Maybe true, may not be true. It depends
on the Quaker you're speaking to. That's right,
exactly. So, you know, with South Florida Interfaith
Worker Justice, I work with a lot of clergy and
had to gather clergy. A habit I have for anyone
who wants to organize faith community, I always
would go to someone's services first. I wanted
to go to their house of worship. I wanted to
get familiar with what was important to them.
You know, what's in their bulletin? What do they
talk about? You know, then I would approach because
I really was looking. It could be like I knew
what we were working on and I knew that it was.
shared amongst many traditions around worker
justice but i also needed to know like what mattered
to them what were the issues of importance to
them i love that i think that's great yeah it
makes a big difference yeah yeah because sometimes
and also when you're asking clergy to get involved
You have clergy that are from houses of worship
that have, you know, multiple clergy, the senior,
the junior, the this, the that. But then you
have others. It's one person who's trying to
do everything and their community has issues
and someone just got evicted and this is happening
and that is happening. So you really need to
find where's that connection? What am I doing
that speaks to what you all care about and are
already doing? How can we work together? And
it may be different. I used to kind of joke that
sometimes there were the worker churches and
the employer churches. Interesting. So the employer
church is a little more interested in how it
fits their scripture, et cetera, et cetera. The
worker church is like, can you come in and do
some worker rights trainings about wage stuff?
Can you talk to us about that? And they could
tell us where it is in the Bible. Can you help
us with the food pantry? Can you help us with
the food pantry? Where are you? Yeah, and so
I feel like it's important to know where somebody's
coming from. And these could be the same tradition,
faith tradition. But they have different areas
of concern at the moment. One thing I find fascinating,
which I love with the Muslim community, it's
changing a little because there are a lot more
mosques than there used to be. But one of the
areas that's often socioeconomically separated
with certain traditions are the faith community
because it's the neighborhood where you live.
But because there's less mosques, there's more
diversity. I love that. I love that. That's one
of the things I've always appreciated. Yeah.
I mean, there's like, I mean, especially to the
mosque that I go to is the one that Michelle
Lansar, the first mosque in Florida over there
in Liberty City. And like when you go for Friday
prayers, like 200, 300 people and like, like.
neurosurgeons down to like people who are working
construction and like from all over the world
from Morocco to Africa like anywhere in the world
right um so it's quite remarkable just the diversity
of people yeah and I love that and that's not
what happens in a lot it tends to happen more
if it is a community which has fewer yeah houses
of worship because then people all come together
exactly yeah yeah yeah no it's quite remarkable
what have you seen that has um tanked interfaith
projects so things that made them not work out
or the kind of fizzle out schedules okay because
you're asking generally people who are already
very busy And so who you're going to have that
gets involved is going to be somewhat dependent.
You know, people who are retired may have more
time than say other people may have. If you're
talking about clergy, I often dealt directly
with clergy and with their social justice committees
and things in different houses of worship. And
so schedule was a big thing. Also, I really have
seen not. As much with the interfaith community.
But I have seen situations where people really
weren't respectful enough of the other faiths.
Not so much when it's all interfaith. That's
pretty good. It's when you're also maybe dealing
with some community groups and there's an overlap.
I've had my own experiences when it's called
South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice. you're
going to be in meetings with all kinds of people.
The Miami Worker Center, all kinds of different
folks. And I remember the disparaging comments
that would be made of faith communities sometimes.
And I would be like, sitting right here in front
of you, drafted that wage theft ordinance you're
using, right? And sometimes there were folks,
if you were working on something that might be
seen as a little more progressive, there were
folks that saw faith community as the enemy or
the one holding things back or sheep. If we could
just go in, they'll just listen to us and they'll
do this thing. I found it interesting one time
when I had a breakfast that I had hosted. interfaith
breakfast near Labor Day and there were clergy
and there were also some folks from unions and
other groups. And I remember a woman that was
with one of the unions with Jackson Memorial
Hospital and there were some challenges going
on in the workplace. And she was very annoyed
because they had had an event and no clergy had
come to their event. And my first question was,
did you invite us? And sometimes there's an assumption.
That if you have this moral right and this action
that you're taking, that automatically faith
community will step up there and be with you.
Like any other groups, you have to have a relationship
and know who we are. And also, if you just want
to use the presence as opposed to actually having
a conversation. So I've been in situations where
they've taken a position and I've been like,
I can't take that position. I agree with underlying
what you're trying to do. But, you know, that
particular wording, that's not going to appeal
to me and to certain faith leaders that I know.
Because oftentimes I was being asked to reach
out to other faith leaders. So that was not faith
working with faith. That's usually when someone
outside is trying to figure out how to work with
the faith community. That's more where I see
the problems. It's not so much. I think when
you have people that deliberately want to work
together in an interfaith setting. they're there
because they already have an openness to the
fact that other people... Right, exactly. Now,
that being said, some folks are not as open to
less mainstream faith, even within those settings.
That's a great point as well. I've heard those
comments. I won't quote, but I know a particular
rabbi who said something, and I'm like, that's
not helpful. Now, he said it privately to me.
But, yeah, so I think sometimes, like, some...
Interfaith communities might not be as open to.
UU Church is usually okay, but not with everybody.
And I remember years ago when we were trying
to do the mission statement for South Florida
IWJ. And this is before I was executive director.
I was just on the board. And I remember a clergy
person from a congregational church that said,
well, we should put this. And there was something
about God in there and that everybody will agree
with this. And I said, not Unitarians. And our
Unitarian minister. The board member wasn't there
that day, so I felt like I should mention that.
And so I think sometimes there's even an assumption
about faith, that we all think the same and maybe
not. And, of course, when you start to go into
Wicca and everything, that's a whole other conversation
with maybe not as much openness. I will say one
thing, though. The interfaith clergy, faith leaders,
and I always tend to also say faith leaders for
those of us who don't have clergy in our tradition.
who really are open to other traditions. Like,
for example, they would like to see more engagement
with non -Abrahamic traditions. And they think
that that's unfortunate that we're not having
more. So I think that those folks want to have
that and are open to that. Like I said, more
of the issues have been when it's come from people
that want to figure out how to work with the
faith community on their issue. And there's a
little bit of a lack of understanding. Yeah.
All right. So we're coming to the end of our
time, but I want to, I want you to kind of, what
would your message be to young people that are
interested in doing interfaith work? What would
you like to tell them? I think it's funny. I
should have this answer right away because I
say things to my students all the time, even
in the interreligious dialogue class, you know,
One thing we talk about in my class as well and
I is that you had said in the very beginning
about how the diversity here and there's also
people that don't have a faith tradition. And
we talk about that as well. And like, what are
the underlying values? What are the things that
matter to you? So it's kind of it's not the exact
same conversation, depending who the young person
is that you're speaking to. because there are
folks in my classes, for example, that you'll
know they have a faith tradition. It'll come
up. And then there's other folks that don't,
but we'll talk about what it means to be agnostic
or what it means to be atheist or even... We'll
always do the question, can atheists be moral?
Of course they can. But we have that conversation
about sometimes people have these ideas. And
people go to their faith tradition for different
reasons. Some folks in my classes and my students
will say, we see it as a guideline, a moral guideline.
And others, it's a comfort to them. We have all
these different conversations. But I think if
anyone... You don't go into interfaith work because
you want to spread your faith. That's not what
interfaith work is. It's not personalization.
Yeah, that's not what that is. And that's a conversation
we have too. But if you are just truly interested
on working on things that matter to you in your
community and you would like to help change in
your community, I think it's a great way. to
do that type of work and engage with and you'll
be surprised how many people actually share some
of your same ideas even though they may have
had different backgrounds been raised differently
but i think it's a fantastic way to kind of live
your faith and even if you are a person not of
a traditional faith tradition um i think it's
a great way to to live your values right so the
thing about quakers is that um People say we
practice what we preach, but we don't preach.
We practice what we practice, right? Because
we don't have clergy and such. And so I often
think, and I don't want to get too long for you,
but I often think our worship, for those who
don't know, is like silent worship, and you listen
for the Spirit. And I sometimes have to, and
if you feel you have a message, you stand, you
share, you sit back down. No one's supposed to
respond to you directly because it's not a conversation.
They can reflect on it. I sometimes... don't
know if I should stand or not stand because my
mind moves a thousand miles a minute and I'm
always thinking about justice type things because
it's how my mind works and I sometimes think
is that a message or isn't it but I'm already
primed to those types of messages because of
my beliefs you know so it may well be a message
but it's like a little bit of a determination
there but I think if you feel moved to make a
difference in your community I think through
interfaith work is a fantastic way to do it.
And even if you don't, I don't want anyone who
doesn't have a formal tradition to feel they
can't do that. Because I've had a lot of young
people who are just trying to live out their
values. And this is a way that it helps them
do that because of things that they care about
in their community. I love that. That's perfect.
I think it's very, very good. Yeah. I think it's
important for people, for young people also,
you know, who are trying to come, come up in
a very turbulent world. Yeah. And one that, you
know, it's existing, you know, there's so much
messaging. on so many different sort of platforms
and in a very distracted sort of way, you know,
to think about something that you can do that
you can, you know, really reflect upon in terms
of like, what are your values and how do you
move in through the world and how do you impact
other people's lives? And, and I think for me,
the interfaith work, I think is a really good
way for them to be able to explore this part
of who they are. I agree. Thank you so much,
Jeanette. I really appreciate it. This is really
wonderful. Thank you for coming. Yeah, this is
a great conversation. Definitely we're going
to have you on for season two as well. Okay,
well, thank you very, very much. I could say
a lot more, but we don't have more time.