America’s Founding Fathers believed that religion and freedom of conscience flourish when the government does not control religion and individuals’ consciences or when religion or a secular orthodoxy dominates the state.
Communities of faith play a critical role as champions of ethics, civility and virtue, characteristics our Founders believed to be essential to a self-governing people.
They must also remain vigilant protecting this precious right through example and education.
Whatever your faith or belief, protecting religious freedom and freedom of conscience is our mutual responsibility. Let’s do it together!
This ToolKit provides you with ideas about how you can help raise the levels of civility and civic literacy in our community.
- Join the Civility Campaign!
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- Civility is more than just being courteous or nice. It’s about how we see each other, talk to each other, listen to each other, work together and even disagree with each other. BUT being courteous and being nice is a great place to start! Be part of being the difference.
- Join our “Good Deed Challenge” on social media
- Join our “Did You Know” Campaign!
- Each Monday UWS:CCC posts one “Did You Know” fact of the day related to Civility or Civic Literacy. You can find each week listed here or check out our Instagram: @united.we.standccc for a shareable short version!
- Not appropriate for worship services, but great for study groups, community service groups in your church, synagogue or mosque where you can share and learn in ways appropriate to your organization.
- Remember, civility and citizenship are important to all of us!
- Organize a community conversation – for many reasons!
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- To underscore the shared constitutional value of freedom of religion and conscience
- To reinforce the importance of “community,” even when composed of various viewpoints and experiences
- To increase trust through understanding – while continuing to disagree
- The “All America Conversations Toolkit” provides a wealth of “how-to” create that conversation:
- For small groups, large groups, town halls, existing meetings
- Organize a “Living Room Conversation”
- Designed for 6 to 8 people, these are conversational bridges across issues that divide and separate us and provide an easy structure for engaging in friendly yet meaningful conversations with those whom we may disagree. Free tools, guidelines, and other resources can get you started!
- Join “Living Room Conversations” online, or better yet, create your own “Living Room Conversations,” using “Conversation Agreements” and even provide feedback to others online.
- Revive Civility offers additional tips and guidelines:
- Encourage members of your faith to complete an online course or webinar on the Constitution and how our government works and the importance of freedom of religion. Invite them in appropriate settings to briefly share the most important thing they learned. Combine it with our “Did You Know” campaign.
- The quickest and easiest online introduction to our Constitution is the National Constitution Center’s “Interactive Constitution” where you can check out each of the Constitution’s 7 Articles and 27 Amendments. Read them, explore their history, their meaning today, as follow discussions by scholars of different perspectives on what they agree upon and what they disagree about.
- “Documents of Freedom” is a great digital course produced by the Bill of Rights Institute. Designed primarily for high school students and their teachers it works for anyone interested in our government and its history.
- “Voices of History” available from the Bill of Rights Institute, is a series of brief (about fifteen minutes) videos perfect for groups or individual learning and covers topics such as “Being an American,” “Congress and the Constitution” and “Founders and the Constitution.”
- Reading something is generally better than reading “about” something. To explore our country’s Founding Documents, check out the Bill of Rights Institute’s short digital courses on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the other Amendments and more! Read about our Founding Fathers (and Mothers, too – well, at least one).
- The Ashbrook Center at Ashland University offers free online webinars on the Constitution and American history, using original documents. You can choose from many courses and completion certificates are awarded (if you complete the webinar!):
- If you really get into this (like we do!), check out these blogs and podcasts where conservative and liberal thought leaders get together to debate the Constitution:
- Learn by watching – Civility in Action (and Incivility in Action!!)
- Encourage people in your faith community to commit to having an open mind – not changing their minds, but being open to others’ opinions and new evidence or information. Why bother? Here’s why….
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- It will help you find the truth.
- It will make you more persuasive.
- It opens opportunities for growth and learning
Remember – it was once believed that the sun revolved around the earth and the earth was flat. Galileo was censored and tried because he disagreed. But he was right!
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- OpenMind is a free, interactive, professionally-based platform designed to foster intellectual humility, empathy, and mutual understanding.
- Create an account and then choose between “Classroom or Campus”, “Company”, “Organization or Local Community”, “Religious Community”, or “On your own.”
- It takes about two hours to complete and you even earn a certificate upon completion! You will be better for it.
- Additional available essays, videos, academic articles, and books can add to your effort.
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- Conduct an Open Mind session for your organization, using materials specially designed for religious groups!
- Encourage members of your faith community to have “Lunch Across the Aisle” – that is, with someone who is different than them or holds views different from theirs. But don’t go unprepared and don’t try to convince the other person about anything…just focus on learning about them and from them.
“…You and I ought not to die until we have explained ourselves to each other.” — From John Adams’ end-of-life letters to lifelong political foe Thomas Jefferson
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- The “One-on-One Conversation Guide” from Revive Civility provides detailed tips and guidance for a successful meeting.
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- Host a “Jefferson Dinner.” Thomas Jefferson was known for small dinner parties where important issues of the day were discussed and friendships blossomed. Sharing a meal creates the perfect atmosphere! Try it out!
- Spend just 5 – 10 minutes a day learning about the origin of our government, the Constitution, the Founders who drafted it and why it was amended immediately in response to its critics. You vote, you should know!
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- Constitution Facts gives you thorough, rapid-fire, everything-you-need-to-know information about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Founders and more! For each section, you will find a quiz. Can you pass them?
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- Buy copies of the Constitution to distribute to your employees or union members. Then READ it! You can purchase from many sources, including:
- If you really want to sharpen your skills (and we hope you do!), start a Ben Franklin Circle or an Asteroid Club to transform yourself, find common ground with others (while being true to your own beliefs) and make our community better. Do it over lunch, at home in the evening or anywhere!
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- Ben Franklin Circles are based on a club called “The Junto” organized by Franklin in 1727 made up of individuals with various interests and skills. The Circles meet regularly, using Franklin’s classic 13 virtues to spark discussion.
- Here are a few more resources for hosting a circle:
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- Asteroid Clubs represent a new approach to communicating about the civic problems that polarize – and paralyze – us, based on the concept that people are more likely to find common ground when they unite to fight common threats. Easier said than done! But worth the effort.
- Take the 7-Day Civility Challenge through Revive Civility – Be a connector of respect and civility and share your challenge activities.
- Use these hashtags to share and engage others:
- #civilitychallenge
- #ReviveCivility
- Use these hashtags to share and engage others:
- Be civil on social media – here are some tips for fostering civility on social media and a fun exercise using a text messaging platform for high school and colleges students as well as adults who enjoy their cell phones as much as the younger generation!
- Invite a speaker from United We Stand: Civility, Citizenship and the Constitution to share our mission and progress toward increasing the levels of civility and civic literacy in Orange County.
- Be among the first to participate in “The People” program, designed to bring Americans together in civil conversations about core American values, reaffirm our unity and work together to “fix our broken democracy.”
- A non-partisan approach to resolving issues
- A “civic start-up” looking for local leadership
- Based on a non-partisan Declaration of The People