The St. Petersburg Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has launched a new Saturday evening forum series that will focus on many of today’s most relevant and controversial social issues, including LGBT Pride.
The free forums will feature guest speakers, films, discussions and other creative ways to explore the topics. A goodwill offering that will benefit a cause related to the topic of the forum will be taken at each event.
The first forum is scheduled for Saturday, March 20 at 7 p.m. at the Quaker Meeting House at 190 19th Avenue SE in St. Petersburg. It will focus on racial equality and will include a film followed by a discussion facilitated by Wendy Loomas, a member of the Quakers who works for the Pinellas County Health Department.
The film The Story We Tell explores the roots of the race concept, including the 19th-century science that justified it and how it gained such a hold over our minds. It explores how what we assume to be normal, commonsense, even scientific, is actually shaped by our history, social institutions and cultural beliefs.
Topics for the next three months have already been lined up as well. On April 17, the topic will be climate change and environmental responsibility. Climatologists from Eckerd College and a representative from Repower America are tentatively planned to present. The May 15 forum will examine war and peace issues, including the present day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. On June 19, the topic will be LGBT Pride to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in June 1969.
“Throughout history Quakers have been called to social action,” said Connie Hotchkiss, clerk of the Peace and Social Concerns committee of the St. Petersburg Friends Meeting. “We hope these new forums give more people an opportunity to learn about issues that are at the very forefront of the culture wars and examine ways they can get involved to enact powerful social change within our community and around the world.”
The St. Petersburg Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is part of the liberal unprogrammed sect of Quakers.
