Posted September 1, 2017
Have you heard the term Culture Wars around lately? Kind of curious but not exactly sure what it is? No problem – let’s start from the beginning.
While there may be other uses for the term in society, in our context, it describes a set of presentations and seminars centered on the principled perspective on history and contemporary issues. CARP America has been involved in this ‘Culture War’ Project since 2016 in New Jersey and has since hosted a 2-day pilot in Jan. 2017, a 1-day webinar in Apr. 2017, and a 2-day seminar for GPA also in April.
Core Team Formation
Since then, a core team of four people (Dr. Robert Beebe, Christine Froehlich, David Young, and Miyoung Eaton) have been sponsored by the CARP Board of Directors to work together with other academics to develop presentations for college students and young people on the following topics:
- Media
- Love & Sexuality
- Education
- Importance of a Worldview
- Thought Trends in History
The groups seeks to address pressing cultural issues from the perspective of God’s heart and cause college students and professors to influence the cultural discussion on American campuses.
This project is not just about sharing about a new perspective on campuses, but also about changing the way we speak to each other. One of the intentions of the program is to establish and embody the culture and environment of awareness, authenticity, open-mindedness, respect, and honesty among college students and professors where participants are empowered to impact the cultural discussion on American campuses.
What Is To Come
CARP has always been a movement of passionate students capable and ready to take on the world! To do that, they need good education. This project is meant to integrate teachings from the Divine Principle, Unification Thought, and other sources to train young leaders who can speak with clarity, conviction, and truth. We are so grateful for the educators who have contributed to the project so far and hope to find more CARP alumni, professors, and educators who can be part of this endeavor. If you are interested, please email admin@carplife.org
One task for the team is to find a permanent name for the project. While some feel the name “Culture Wars” is catchy, it doesn’t represent the intention of the project towards the ends of reconciliation. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Especially in today’s polarized society, we need a new way to relate with each other beyond the violence and extremism.
Some of the next steps include piloting the updated presentations to college audiences, getting feedback from students and educators, and training students in being able to teach this content themselves. There is still much more to do and develop but we are inspired by the students out there who want to be a stand for a principled perspective on campus.