Elizabeth Moon, my Church, Safe Spaces, and a lot of Headscratching

[cathschaffstump]

It has been a busy week in my brain. I finished the troll novel, and then fell into a week which included Bryon's parent teachers conferences (doing the errands for 2, instead of one, on my end), my penultimate nightclass, and the grammar retreat. Ugh.

Added to that, I had dinner with my pastor on Monday. Bryon and I have followed Kathy to 3 Methodist congregations (Methodists have a tendency to move ministers around), and we think she's a smart spiritual leader, a liberal Christian who's good at what she does.

Monday, I discovered that she's having some serious issues with the congregation, and that some members of our church had left due to conflict, not with Kathy, but with people who aren't behaving churchly. These unchurchly people are trying to oust her in the new year. As she related these tales to me, I found myself perplexed, because you know, this is church, man. I get conflict in other organizations, but there are some pretty clear Christian tenants that tell you how to behave.

And then, last night in White Privilege class, we were talking about safe spaces to talk about issues of racism, and color, and I brought up MoonFail, and the con comm's rescinding of her guest of honor status. I suggested that might be creating a safe space, although I felt pretty disappointed in the con comm waffling so long in making the decision, when it was clear that Moon countermanded the mission of the convention as feminist and progressive, and being a safe place.

Now, people suggest that this would have been a teachable moment for Ms. Moon. Weelll, given that Ms. Moon has exercised white privilege by walking away from the response (in all fairness, we'll watch to see if she puts anything up when she is less busy), I'm not convinced that she sees herself as in need of any modification or change.

Timmi is right. I too have to blame Fox News for both of these situations.

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