Faith’s Undeniable Impact on Civic Infrastructure and Civic Behaviors
Earlier this year, the PACE Faith In/And Democracy Learning Community gathered at the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, MI to learn from one another, and to explore two evidence categories for faith’s contribution to our civic life and democracy.
First, we considered the matter of how people of faith and faith institutions support place-based civic infrastructure. The term “civic infrastructure” refers to “the spaces, programs, and people that encourage all residents to interact, find common ground, and solve problems together,” according to The Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship. On this topic, we heard from Jewish Community Action’s Executive Director Beth Gendler and Deputy Director David Snyder. JCA’s mission is to organize the Minnesota Jewish community for racial and economic justice. They advance their mission through congregation-based organizing alongside issues-based campaign work.
Beth began with a reflection on how religious place-based civic work is changing in response to technological and social developments. What does it look like to build civic infrastructure if people’s identification with a particular place or local community of people becomes less and less salient? What happens when a community’s civic interest is oriented toward issues and decisions that are largely…
