Common Ground on TV
We did it. In ten days, working with an amazing core of volunteers, we conceived, developed, and launched a full-fledged campaign! In the first 24 hours, we have hit 36 states, hundreds of co-signers and several news outlets. And we have only just begun.
Sign the Charter. Host a Dialogue. Spread the Word.
On the 9/11 anniversary tomorrow, as some groups threaten to burn the Qur’an, I invite you to raise your voice and stand for your own vision of America through Common Ground. Share on facebook, blast your networks, urge people to sign the charter and plan to host a dialogue this month. Stay tuned as our campaign grows.
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Want to read more? My co-conspirator Jodi Elliott talks about Common Ground in the Tennessean:
“I don’t think many of these people are acting out of hate and bigotry but fear,” Jodi Elliott, communications director of the Common Ground Campaign, told me. “And we see that coming from the left as well as the right.’’
Elliott’s organization aims to find common ground in all 50 states by encouraging young people to sign the Charter for Common Ground and host film screenings and dialogues in their schools and workplaces this month to commemorate the 9/11 anniversary.
The coalition of students and young people on Wednesday announced a grass-roots campaign to protest the nationwide increase in anti-Muslim speech surrounding the ground zero mosque controversy in New York. Earlier this month, the group came together to respond to the recent increase in anti-Muslim sentiment and violence, including the vandalism at the proposed new Islamic Center in Rutherford County.
“Some people fear that others want to take away our way of life,’’ Elliott said. “And some of their thoughts are founded on ignorance.’’
That’s the same thing that was going on in the Old South.
“They don’t always know where the other side is coming from, and we want people to find common ground,’’ Elliott added. “We want to bring people together to have a compassionate dialogue, ideally in the same room. We want people to find common ground as to why we are acting like we are.
“Our campaign is not one to choose sides but to open space in a public sphere. We want people to share their stories as well as their fears.’’
Talking to people unlike you about your fears or concerns sounds like a great idea when it comes to solving problems or disagreements. Why not try having a dialogue with someone different and see where it gets us? I guarantee you it will make us all feel much better than the hostility many of us carry inside these days over such things as the building of a religious institution that may be different than the one you or I attend.
Read the whole column here.