The public is encouraged to attend, discuss, and share perspectives at The Glass House at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, at Asbury Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall in Magnolia.
Participants will have an inter-faith dialogue about issues related to religion that are often avoided in mixed company. Attendance is free of charge, and refreshments will be provided.
The Glass House is a discussion forum hosted by Dr. Linda Tucker, associate professor of English at Southern Arkansas University. According to Tucker, this venue is a safe place to have conversations across the lines of difference that so often divide us.
“As we know, hard conversations about issues related to race and religion rarely happen in mixed company. It’s not necessarily that people don’t want to have those conversations; it’s that no one is quite sure how to have them,” said Tucker. “There is no rule book. Yet, such conversations are not only necessary, but they are possible and often productive.”
There have been three Glass House discussions this academic year, each of which was attended by more than 40 people.
“The discussions have grown increasingly more open, and at times raw and real, but they are always respectful. There is no shouting. There is lots of listening. There is even laughing,” said Tucker. “It is exciting and encouraging to see how eager and able people are to discuss issues and to listen to others’ points of view when afforded a safe place in which to do so.”
Tucker said the objective is to create a setting that is “safe, but not always comfortable.” As for the goal of the discussions, she quotes best-selling author Steven Covey: “…it is not about deciding who is right or wrong on any particular issue. It’s about people coming together seeking first to understand and then to be understood. If we are willing to do that, then anything is possible.”
The Glass House was founded by Tucker in 2013 in memory of one of her former students, Heather Glass, who passed away in 2008 at the age of 22.
For more information, contact Tucker at (870) 235-4210 or LindaTucker@saumag.edu.
