The Big Interfaith Tent at Occupy Oakland: Faithfully Engaging the 99%

Fourteen members of the Interfaith Tent at Occupy Oakland locked arms in front of the tent and were arrested early Monday morning as the police raided the encampment. It is not surprising that our words and actions have been reduced to a few sound bites and fleeting images by the mainstream media, but there is a deeper, better story to be told.

Our Interfaith Tent is Big -- spatially and spiritually. The tent has been a sacred space of solace at the encampment, but it has also provided a spiritual canopy for an interfaith coalition of Indigenous Elders, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Jews in solidarity with the Occupy Movement, locally and globally.

As someone who pastors a local church less than four miles from the Oakland encampment, I am keenly aware of how critical it is to challenge the people in our faith communities to engage in soul searching dialogues that force us, not only to read between the lines and listen beyond the partisan sound bites, but also to grapple face to face with what it means to BE the 99 percent in all its complexity and diversity. So right after our worship service on Sunday morning and just hours before the raid on the Oakland encampment, 25 of us gathered around our boardroom table.

"We are the 99 percent!" It is one thing to chant this statement in a large crowd; it is another thing to embody this truth face to face. At our table we had people who have slept overnight at the Oakland encampment, some who have participated in the Occupy Oakland General Assembly and the General Strike, and some who got arrested last night. At our table were an economist who works for the Federal Reserve in San Francisco, a City of Oakland employee who works with at-risk youth, a senior citizen who lives in downtown Oakland, and several people who work in downtown Oakland or in San Francisco's Financial District, including one person who had the courage to admit that he works for a financial institution that represents the high end of the 1 percent.

I wanted to create a safe space for all to share their concerns, struggles, questions and hopes. The conversation was messy and raw, deep and unsettling. There were many truths spoken and many loose ends that could not be neatly tied together. People listened respectfully to one another and did not try to censor opposing points of view.

Our diverse congregation is like many, which why I believe it is imperative for faith leaders to bring folks together to air our disparate views. We all must have space to wrestle with our own personal culpability and acquiesce to an economic and political system that benefits the few and burdens the many.

Whatever our economic bracket, we each have a stake in the Occupy Movement. The success or failure of the movement to enact real and lasting change will depend on whether or not we can harness the power of that connective spirit that binds us as human beings, despite our culturally engrained and often religiously sanctioned self-interests.

One sure sign that people of faith are called to create a sacred space is that after the police raid on the Oakland encampment, the only tent standing was the Interfaith Tent. It stayed until noon, the hardest to tear down.

 

Comments

[Dr McClay]

02:46 PM on 12/09/2011

"Interfaith dialogue is a must today, and the first step in establishing it is forgetting the past, ignoring polemical arguments, and giving precedence to common points, which far outnumber polemical ones."
Fethullah Gulen
More

[mchriste]

09:16 PM on 12/05/2011

Communities of Shalom applauds Rev. Laura Rose's post and her work with Occupy Oakland. We also are involved in OccupyFaithNYC in solidarity with OWS. see link for our interfaith prayer and protest service yesterday at Zuccotti Park with Bishop Jeremiah Park, Bishop Alfred Johnson and Rev. Jesse Jackson. http://michael-christensen.blogspot.com

[goldcoastjon]

11:51 AM on 11/22/2011

Laura,

Thank you and your colleagues/fellow listeners for your work. How can we support you in it?

[Stephenandrewweber]

12:58 PM on 11/19/2011

I have barely heard any voice from any church speaking out to the media about this moment of history.

So Thank you for raising your voice.

[Enock Zamora]

07:57 AM on 11/19/2011

Let me leave this comment Rev. Laura Rose but first let me thank you for your service. In the past churches were a great place for refuge in times of trials. It would be very symbolical if we can find local churches that will give refuge to the 99% like in their parking lots to pitch their tents, feed etc. State terrorism will find it hard to attack the churches and a 'template' for the rest of the country to follow. I pray that you can make this happen.

[cjsim]

08:37 AM on 11/19/2011

AMEN

[sheepdog2219]

12:01 PM on 11/19/2011

Don't these people have homes? Why don't they peaceably assemble during the day and return home at night?

It does seem though that OWS is moving beyond peaceful assembly and more towards civil disobedience. I mean public display of sexuality, assaults on police officers, drugs and alcohol, defecating on police cars.

My church would probably be pretty supportive of peaceful assemblers gathered in peaceful protest of something they believe. However, increasing criminal behavior disguised as civil disobedience, I'm reasonably sure my church would not involve itself with that. Why should it? It would be symbolic if churches followed your suggestion, but it would send the wrong message. Christ is compassionate, but an anarchist, he is not.

Why doesn't the Interfaith Tent do more to bring peace and order at OWS. It would increase the credibility of OWS.

[Enock Zamora]

01:42 PM on 11/19/2011

In any movement or revolution there is [always] state sponsored terrorism sheepdog2219 and that is those in power will try to make the movement look bad to make them look irresponsible or a terrorist group. Many churches in the past have helped these movements in times of suppression. We must not forget that there is good and evil in this world and many people have hijacked religions and just because some use religion to make them viable we should not forget that 'we can tell a good tree by the fruit it bears.'

[larose510]

08:43 PM on 11/19/2011

The OWS movement as a whole is committed to nonviolence and the GA in NYC and other places have made resolutions about this. Those who have stayed at the Occupy Oakland camp can testify that it has been nonviolent and peaceful overall. In reality the encampment in Oakland is shining a light on all that already exists within this city... a long history of people who do not have their basic needs met and are struggling to survive and feel the brunt of inequality. It is important to remember that the news media can tend to focus on the bad news and not the good news... community, consensux are not as interesting as enmity and conflict. The Interfaith Tent has been working to be a presence of non-violence at Occupy Oakland. 14 faith leaders demonstrated this as they were arrested by the police. Also we need to remember that the first act of real violence was when Scott Olsen was hit by a tear gas cannister and sent to the hospital with critical injuries. The cycle of violence is a cycle and each of us needs to be the one to stop the cycle. Non-violence and providing for "the least of these" was and is core to the teachings of Jesus and why I think those who follow in the path of Jess need to be integrally a part of the Occupy movement.

[TruthOverfaith]

06:29 AM on 11/19/2011

Your religious nuttery adds nothing to the debate. Save it for your religious nuttery websites.

[cjsim]

08:38 AM on 11/19/2011

You need to study the history of the activism of the ucc conference. Social justice has always been high on their ajenda. cjsim

[Thomas VonBerge]

05:34 AM on 11/19/2011

Refreshing to see religions coming together and cooperating, not something heard of too often these days. COEXIST.

[Andrew DiMartino]

05:24 AM on 11/19/2011

It truly sickens me that in the 21st century the interfaith tent is not the first torn down... Are you kidding me?

[Stephenandrewweber]

12:55 PM on 11/19/2011

Clearly you need a vacation. I suggest watching sunrises and smelling flowers.

I get sick watching people being beheaded. When people kick dogs until they stop barking and lie still whimpering.
I feel you need to start over and remember what truly is sick. And first lodge all of those feelings on those clear events. ..

[OCerInTN]

09:03 PM on 11/18/2011

No Wiccans, Druids, Astrau, Hindu, or many many other flavors of paganism?

[larose510]

12:28 AM on 11/19/2011

Yes, the Tent is welcoming of all spirituals paths and we welcome all of the above.. we need to outreach even more....If you know anyone who wants to be a part, send them our way.

[Sandy Goforth]

02:36 AM on 11/19/2011

Hi, Do you get the impression that what the occupy people want is a return of morality to our nation?

[OCerInTN]

04:10 PM on 11/19/2011

I really doubt you are welcoming of all spiritual paths. LaVeyian Satanism is probably not welcome. I doubt that my form of Druidism is welcome either.

[bjefrz]

06:05 PM on 11/18/2011

Rev Laura - you forgot to mention the Unitarian(s). Are there others not mentioned among the 14?

[larose510]

12:29 AM on 11/19/2011

Hi, my apologies.. You are right. We have two UU folks who were arrested and have been very involved. My oversight. Thank you for pointing this out.