“A lot of churches were always instrumental in trying to make the relationships between the races better.” “I think it is instrumental to try to bring things about peacefully, as opposed to through violence and fighting,” he continued. “Ultimately, their relationship with God and Jesus Christ is what motivated them to want to bring about justice and equality in a peaceful way.” Martin Luther King and many other ministers came together to try to lead civil rights events and to bring equality,” he said. “When you think about the civil rights movement, a lot of the leaders were ministers. He continued by explaining that throughout history, the church has always been an instrumental voice, whether positive or negative, for the issues of race. It’s hard to love someone from a distance.” “One of the ways that we love our neighbor is to get to know our neighbor. “From a Christian perspective, Jesus taught us that the two most important commandments are to love God, and to then love your neighbor as yourself,” explained Bellard. Seeking understanding through Christianity is a natural practice for the church. “We also want to look at how we can help the future. “Part of our goal is to understand the past, and then to see how that past is impacting our present,” explained Bellard. This limited worldview is something they hope to broaden. The goal is to communicate, talk, and at least understand the viewpoints of each of us.” “The history that we look at has a lot of the same issues that are just repeated. “Growing up in the Lake Charles community, I just didn’t have an African American perspective, and I thought that was important to learn and to view,” he said. Through this series, he hopes to give locals access to perspectives that were not available to him when he was younger. Knapp has found himself grateful for this opportunity to provide understanding for others. “When we don’t really know what those experiences were or what those instances were, then it makes it hard to understand why the reaction today is so strong.” A lot of it has to do with past experiences or historical events that have taken place,” he said. Some of the things that have happened in the past can explain some of the emotions that people are experiencing today, or at least some of the reactions that people have. There are some aspects of history that tend to come up over and over again.” “I’m a firm believer that if you don’t know your history, you’re bound to repeat it. “The key is that we want to try to understand where someone else is coming from or what their perspective is,” Bellard said. Bellard referenced Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” He believes that Habit 5, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” is important for this conversation.Īccording to Bellard, the first step to truly understanding someone different from you is to first know the history of their heritage and injustices. For Knapp and Bellard, understanding is the root of progress.
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