Talking About Values Across Political Divides

The 250th anniversary of the United States' founding and the upcoming mid-term elections--both happening in the context of extreme political polarization--provide an opportunity to explore the values that ground and motivate our opinions across the political spectrum. Please join us for a community dialogue, facilitated by Lowell Greathouse with Oregon Humanities, where we can learn how to express and be curious about our deeply held values despite our political differences. This event is free and open to the public, along with Pacific students, faculty, and staff. Dinner will be served. 

Please RSVP (space is limited): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScecpX_ckWunGSxoUFsAFQDSNLMI8GefldCp_IVo4KUKEh0qQ/viewform

Co-sponsored by Pacific Student Political Society, the McCall Center for Civic Engagement, and the School of Place, Planet & People. 

Questions? Contact Prof. Molly Wallace at mollywallace@pacificu.edu 

Oregon Humanities Event Description:

“How can I be me without making it difficult for you to be you?” This question gets at the fundamental challenge of being in society together. We live in a contentious political world, and it’s difficult to talk about our deepest values and beliefs in safe, civil, and respectful ways. In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that nearly six in ten Americans felt that political conversations with those you disagree with are generally stressful and frustrating, as opposed to being interesting and informative. If we avoid such conversations, we lose opportunities to form a community with others that reflects our best selves. How can we learn to share our values in ways that bring us together rather than push us further apart? 

Lowell Greathouse is a retired United Methodist minister who served congregations in rural, suburban, and urban settings in Oregon, Idaho, and England from 1986 to 2019. In addition, he worked with community-based programs at Catholic Social Services in San Francisco, Community Action in Washington County, and United Way of the Columbia-Willamette. Lowell was born in Oregon and has family roots in the state that date back to the 1890s. He has been engaged in a variety of cross-cultural settings, including at the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (CCIDD) in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and is the author of the book Rediscovering the Spirit: From Political Brokenness to Spiritual Wholeness (Wipf and Stock, 2020).