“Getting Religion Right in a Time of Crisis”

Spiritual leaders speak about their social activism

How has the COVID-19 crisis, and our responses to it, revealed the injustices endemic to our culture? How can we turn things around? And what role does religion play in confronting this crisis?  

The UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Studies, Interreligious Dialogue and Peace and the UO-UNESCO Crossings Institute will host a series entitled “Getting Religion Right in a Time of Crisis.” Sister Helen Prejean will talk about her recent book River of Fire: On Becoming an Activist (Random House, 2019) on Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 7 p.m. And on the following Wednesday, October 21, also at 7 p.m., Rabbi Michael Lerner will talk about his recent book Revolutionary Love: A Political Manifesto to Heal and Transform the World (University of California Press, 2019). Both talks will be presented via Zoom. 

In her book, River of Fire, Sister Helen Prejean shares the story of her growth as a spiritual leader, speaks out about the challenges of the Catholic Church, and shows that joy and religion are not mutually exclusive. She writes about the relationships with friends, fellow nuns, and mentors who have shaped her over the years.  

Sister Helen has been instrumental in sparking national dialogue on capital punishment and in shaping the Catholic Church’s vigorous opposition to all executions. In 1982, she began corresponding with Patrick Sonnier in the Louisiana State Penitentiary. He had been sentenced to death for the murder of two teenagers. Two years later, when Sonnier was put to death in the electric chair, Sister Helen was present to witness his execution. In the following months, she became the spiritual advisor to another death row inmate, Robert Lee Willie, who was to meet the same fate as Sonnier. After witnessing these executions, Sister Helen realized that this lethal ritual would remain unchallenged unless its secrecy was stripped away, and so she sat down and wrote a book, Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States. That book ignited a national debate on capital punishment and was turned into an Academy Award winning movie and an extraordinarily moving opera.  

Social theorist and psychotherapist Rabbi Michael Lerner has developed a strategy for a new socialism built on love, kindness, and compassion for each other. In his book, Revolutionary Love, Lerner proposes a method to replace what Lerner terms the “capitalist globalization of selfishness” with a globalization of generosity, prophetic empathy, and environmental sanity. 

Rabbi Lerner is the editor of Tikkun magazine and author of eleven books including two national bestsellers, Jewish Renewal and The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right. He received Morehouse College’s King-Gandhi Award for his work for peace and nonviolence.  

This lecture series is cosponsored by the Oregon Humanities Center. Both talks are free and open to the public. Details and Zoom links can be found at: unesco.uoregon.edu/partnerships/unitwin-network