Faith-Sponsored Workshops
To reflect America in our offerings, these workshops support communities of faith in progressing the mission of Braver Angels.
Faith-Sponsored Workshops (FSW) are Braver Angels workshops that include an additional opening and closing that is specific to the faith tradition, led by the faith organization that is hosting the workshop. Faith-Sponsored Workshops encourage the faith-organization’s host to be actively involved in planning and leading both the opening and closing activities, which can include a faith-based rationale, prayer, and/or other practices. The core Braver Angels workshop materials are unchanged.
Braver Angels is a secular organization that develops educational tools to build bridges between people divided over politics. We also partner with religious groups who use our tools in the context of their own religious traditions, and this is the format for the Faith-Sponsored Workshops.
Braver Angels plans to offer Faith-Sponsored Workshops for a variety of faith traditions. These workshops will bring depolarizing skills and experiences to your faith organizations. The first Faith-Sponsored Workshops are focused on the Christian faith, with a Jewish version in Field Test.
Currently Available
Experience has shown that oftentimes Depolarizing Within is the best workshop for a congregation that is new to Braver Angels because it helps one examine their inner polarizer in the context of their own side. Click here for more information, or click on any of the workshop links below.
The new Depolarizing Ourselves (D.O.) Introductory Workshop can be led by a D.O.-Facilitator who completes the self training described here. D.O.-Facilitators are not qualified to lead other BA workshops. All the BA workshops above must be led by one or more qualified BA Moderators.
Sponsor a Workshop
Any Braver Angels Member can serve as Liaison, or ‘Relationship Builder’, to sponsor a workshop for their faith organization. You will need to find a leader in your congregation who will be the Host partnering with the Braver Angels workshop delivery team. Please submit your request using the link below.
FAQ
Any BA Member can serve as the ‘Relationship Builder’ to sponsor a workshop for their faith organization by identifying a congregation or organization that will sponsor/host the workshop and then filling in this webpage.
The only difference is that in the Catholic version there is one slide that uses teaching from Pope Francis on depolarization. In the Protestant version this slide uses a scripture passage from one of St. Paul’s letters.
There are at least 4 significant advantages to the FSW ‘wrapper’ approach that provides faith-based customizations for a few ‘wrapper’ slides at the top and bottom of the workshop:
- We keep intact the separation of church and state within Braver Angels because our core materials continue to be secular while providing sponsoring faith organizations the ‘wrapper’ as a way to incorporate their faith-based depolarization rationale.
- Moderators don’t need to have proven expertise in the target faith tradition, although the main moderator needs to be comfortable with that tradition.
- We don’t need the workshop’s creator to evaluate and approve changes to their core slides.
- The FSW workshops are scalable because they do not need a heavy lift by the Braver Angels Development team.
The host is the ‘Master of Ceremonies’ during the workshop. She or he is responsible for the opening and closing as well as helping to promote the workshop to get people registered.
No, but the Main Moderator needs to be comfortable in the target faith tradition. If there is a second Moderator they need not be comfortable in the target faith tradition since they will not be delivering any religious information.