Blog Posts

Paths to Understanding was invited by Bishop Shelley Bryan Wee to bring Indigenous leaders and Lutheran clergy together to engage in a question: How can Lutheran Christians begin to have a right relationship with Indigenous communities? In my work to counter dehumanization in the Pacific Northwest since 2015, I have often sensed that underneath Islamophobia,…

Temple De Hirsch Sinai synagogue in Seattle was vandalized with Antisemitic slurs and images this week. I am shocked but not surprised. I am certain that every person who receives our emails is saddened by this and stands with our Jewish neighbors. Here are some ways to do that: I talked about Antisemitism with a…

People often refer to the kind of work we do at PTU as “interfaith” or “multifaith.” These are good words. The challenge is with the word “faith”. Not all traditions use that word, and even many people in the Christian tradition use that word in different ways. For instance, some Christians use the word “faith”…

About ten people gathered to support the Jewish community at Kol Ami last Thursday on the second night of Passover. We had a great time! We got to talk with each other. We welcomed people as they arrived to share a meal and remember stories of liberation from enslavement. This story is a not just…

On Thursday we will be at Kol Ami, a Center for Jewish Life starting about 4:45 PM. We will have signs printed or you can bring signs of support for our Jewish neighbors. We are doing this to offer our blessings for the celebration of Passover. In light of the increase in hate crimes against…

A Holy Season of Solidarity I was out hiking today with my spouse and our dog. I realized I needed to write an email to all of you. Dehumanization leads to violence. It is a process of associating a group of people with a threat to what people value. In the last few days major…

Saturday night my spouse and I were invited to the first of its kind gathering in Anacortes. The occasion was ancient: the Persian New Year Nowruz. It originated in the Zoroastrian tradition but is practiced my many traditions today. The couple who organized the gathering are Zoroastrian, although they grew up Muslim. They are the…

I have learned a lot about how dehumanization works in the last 8 years. One of the most heart piercing lessons for me is that dehumanization is not only suggesting people to be targets of violence to those already prone  to violence. It does that. But not only that. Dehumanization is a process in which…