Posture Problems: How White Christian Patterns Impede Interreligious Futures

Guides for interreligious dialogue tend to avoid specifically interracial dynamics. Similarly, guides for anti-racism avoid interreligious dynamics. Race and religion are simultaneously interwoven social constructions and lived realities that impact dialogue together. Building on the work of Khyati Joshi, who focuses on the systemic contexts of white Christian privilege, this interactive discussion will introduce relevant research and articulate three problematic postures of "centering," "othering," and "misrelating" that white Christians often bring to specifically interreligious interactions. Through a practical exercise scrutinizing current interreligious policy, participants will build skills for attending to the unique ways white privilege and Christian privilege converge to impede substantive interreligious progress and how to make realignments.