Spirit & Place concludes festival with conversation about ‘American identity’ – Indianapolis Recorder

Each group consists of people who find themselves completely different from one another, whether or not it’s due to ethnicity, socioeconomic background or upbringing.

Former White Home staffer Cari Twigg joined panelists Stephen Prothero, a non secular research scholar, and Kathleen Belew, a historian, to debate how you can have fun variations and embrace those that don’t seem like us inside our group.

The dialog Nov. 12 capped the annual Spirit & Place Pageant. The theme was “American Id.” The competition’s director, Erin Kelley, moderated the dialog.

“A technique we settle for this plurality just isn’t settle for that you simply exist in a group of those who seem like you,” Twigg mentioned. “We reside amongst people who find themselves completely different than us.”

The panelists mentioned one factor everybody has in widespread is being surrounded by folks of their communities who share completely different beliefs and values.

“A part of what brings us collectively as a shared ritual is that we argue concerning the textual content, concepts and values that we predict needs to be our values and we are able to’t all agree on them,” Prothero mentioned.

Halfway via the dialog, Kelley added three images to the display screen and requested the panelists to interpret what they noticed and what similarities have been current amongst them.

“We spiritual research students have been fairly adamant that this appears to be like like a non secular occasion,” Prothero mentioned of a photograph that confirmed a girl holding an image of Jesus with a Donald Trump on the Jan. 6 rebellion. “Right here now we have a traditional picture of Jesus, probably the most extensively considered and reproduced pictures of Jesus. He’s wanting dreamily Trump-y along with his Make America Nice Once more hat.”

Prothero mentioned the photograph represents the argument that America is a white Christian nation and that faith within the photograph is used as an indication of revolt.

One other photograph depicted a white husband and spouse giving their son a sizzling canine. The photograph, Belew mentioned, was related to the rebellion photograph as a result of a white couple with their youngsters — exhibiting off the so-called American Dream — represented Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more” slogan.

Throughout a Q&A session on the finish, panelists have been requested what the current midterm elections say about American id in 2022.

“We’re shifting right into a much less race-centric organizing construction amongst partisan coalition and shifting extra right into a geographical based mostly one,” Twigg mentioned.

Contact employees author Timoria Cunningham at 317-762-7854 or at timoriac@indyrecorder. Observe her on Twitter @_timoriac.