Today, we launch Bridging the Political Divide with Parker Palmer. It will be available for free to anyone who wants to take it from today through September 19.After that date, it will remain available to ChurchNext subscribers and for purchase.

We offer this class as a ministry that we feel America really could use right now. Political divisions, for good and ill, are nothing new in the U.S., but lately, they have been unhealthy, not only between the candidates on each side of the aisle, but among their supporters. In the past couple of decades, a Pew research study shows, extreme antipathy between Democrats and Republicans has risen sharply, with many members of each party viewing the other party as actively dangerous for the country. An exceptionally vitriolic election season has done nothing to dampen these party-based hostilities.

In this class, author and activist Parker Palmer discusses the sources of today’s antipathies and talks about ways for us to engage in productive political discourse. He suggests that while healthy divisions strengthen American politics, unhealthy divisions bring us down socially and politically. He offers guidance in how to re-frame our approach to political thinking and conversation to produce better discussions, better politics, and better relationships.

We hope that you will enjoy this class and spread the word about it to your friends across the political spectrum. Would would like to thank Forward Movement, The Episcopal Church, Bexley Seabury Seminary, Living Compass, and the Center for Courage & Renewal for making it possible for us to offer this class free for these two weeks.

For more information about taking Bridging the Political Divide, please click here. For a preview, please click below.