October 2016

YTI NEWSWhat is your relat ionship with YTI?

I attended YTI in high school during a transformative period in my polit ical and theological thinking. I'd grown up bouncing around between dif ferent evangelical congregations across multiple denominations. In high school I began to realize that many of the simplistic answers I'd been given to questions about the relationship between faith and society weren't enough; I needed new ways to think about how to relate the Christian tradition to contemporary problems of justice, violence, and identity, and I needed renewed experiences of community and of ref lection through which to approach those problems. When I went to YTI in the summer of 2008 I found a community of people united not by their conclusions but by their questions? a community committed to justice and to self-formation alike. My time there laid the groundwork not just for a continued process of engagement with theological approaches to personal and polit ical questions but also for friendships that have endured to this day, almost a decade later. To return to the community this past summer as a staffer was an incredible experience, one that solidif ied and renewed my sense that I remain fundamentally formed and deeply compelled by the Christian tradition, even as I sometimes have trouble locating myself comfortably within it. YTI is where I have most consistently and most powerfully

encountered a vision of God as love and experienced a practice of Christian community as the just and peaceable Kingdom announced by the Jesus of the Gospels.

What is your rel igious background? What rel igious ident ity do you claim today? I was born and baptized in the United Methodist Church, but spent most of my childhood and early adolescence in Southern Baptist megachurches, with some time as well in Presbyterian, Independent Baptist, and Plymouth Brethren congregations. In high school I assumed this meant that I'd seen a real range of dif ferent approaches to Christian spirituality, theology, and community formation; but YTI showed me that the historical and contemporary diversity of the tradition was far wider and deeper than I'd imagined, and that the often fundamentalist evangelical milieu in which I'd grown up was only a tiny slice of what Christianity truly included. YTI itself has become my most enduring and transformative experience of an organized community of faith. When I returned to the program this past summer to teach as an Exploratory Course leader, it was with a real sense of homecoming, and my formation by YTI has shaped my approach to the other kinds of Christian communities ? from Quaker meetings to Catholic parishes ? in which I've participated

since 2008.

The Presidential Election in the United States is in just a few short weeks. As we approach Election Day, we have two YTI alums who come at faith and polit ics from dif ferent perspectives. These are their

perspectives:

What is your doctoral work?

At Yale, I'm a doctoral student in the polit ical theory program within the department of polit ical science; I also have aff il iations with the history department and the program in women's, gender, and sexuality studies. Before starting my PhD I completed a master?s degree at Cambridge University, where I wrote about apartheid-era Quaker nonviolence in South Africa. Broadly speaking, my research looks at how we should develop polit ical and social ideas in ways that foster emancipatory action in the world. My dissertation is a study of twentieth-century debates about the meaning of the concept of violence and of the polit ical work that those debates made possible.

Did your experience at YTI inf luence your decision to go into this kind of doctoral work? If so, how?

YTI was one of the most formative early inf luences on my interest in polit ical and religious nonviolence. The ways of thinking about questions of justice and peace that I encountered at YTI prompted me to begin exploring Anabaptist and Quaker polit ical theology, and I became interested in historical and philosophical problems in the study of war, violence, pacif ism, and civil disobedience more broadly. So there?s a deep sense in which I really wouldn?t be doing the kind of work I am today at all without my time at YTI.

If rel igion has a role to play in pol it ics, what should it be?

I?m not too interested in traditional questions about the separation of church and state or about whether people can appeal to religion in voicing their opinions about public policy. Instead, the deeper question about polit ics and faith for me has to do with the ways in which religious traditions embody and construct alternatives to the systems of power that dominate the world. Religious communities often function as polit ical communities, in that they provide people with meaningful settings for identity-formation, for the (re)distribution of goods, and for the development of broader orientations toward the world. In other words, I?m interested less in what ?religion? says to ?polit ics? and more in understanding how religious contexts are always already polit ical.

Matt Schafer is a doctoral student at Yale. He was a YTI scholar in 2008 and served on YTI

staff as an Exploratory Leader in 2016.

What is your rel igious background?

I was raised Baptist, I guess I should say Missionary Baptist, to be specif ic. I go to church now, not as often as I should. I don?t necessarily go to only Baptist churches, I stil l identify as Christian, not necessarily Baptist.

What is your background in pol it ics? What work have you done?

I started volunteering with an organization called Organizing For Action in 2010 in Chattanooga. Organizing For Action is a non-prof it that spun off of the 2008 Obama campaign. I began as an educator teaching people what the Affordable Care Act was and how it worked. After being there a while I was approached by someone in the campaign who offered me a paid position on Obama?s 2012 re-election campaign. I took a paid position in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami doing on the ground organizing. In November of 2012 I returned to Chattanooga to work on the campaign for mayoral candidate, Andy Berke. When he won the election in 2013 I stayed on to help with the transition team. I then returned to graduate school. After about a year I came back as a regional organizer for Organizing For Action where I worked with others on issues like gun control, healthcare, climate change, and women?s rights. I then worked for UnifyEd in Chattanooga, which is a grassroots movement for public education reform. I hired and trained organizers and also drafted plans for the organization. I left polit ics and non-prof its for a year. Now I work for the government of

Chattanooga as the Civic Engineering Coordinator. I actually work under Andy Berke, the mayor I worked for while he was campaigning.

How has your faith inf luenced your work with pol it ics?

It has inf luenced my work. I?m trying to be more disciplined in reading the Bible every day. I think what has inf luenced me the most is remembering that no matter how dif f icult or complex a problem is to always love your neighbor as yourself . I try to make that my guiding light. I hope to make Chattanooga a better place, and I think that is fueled by my

faith.

How does/should faith inf luence voters when they go vote?

That?s an interesting question. I do think that faith inf luences people when they vote. I think that people would say that faith guided them in voting for any candidate. I think that voters would say that faith guides them, and that?s not necessarily a bad thing. Faith guides us in dif ferent ways and I believe people vote for their values which are inf luenced by their faith. It?s rare that people vote on individual issues, they are more inclined to vote on what they think a candidate?s values are; that?s not necessarily a bad thing. Religion does play a role in voting.

Do you have any closing thoughts? One of my close friends and I disagreed polit ically, we also dated, we both believed that our religion informed our polit ics and we both thought we were right. I think that it is always important to understand individual?s paths and experiences. There are many opportunities for dialogue. I don?t think the goal of polit ics should be for everyone to be of one mind. I think the goal should be conversation about experience. There is always room for dialogue.

Jermaine Freeman currently lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee and works for the local government. He was a YTI

Scholar in 1996

BECAUSE YOU GAVE: AN INTERVIEW WITH A 2016 SCHOLAR

Name: Peter White, Greensboro, Georgia

What interested you in YTI? I was really excited about the opportunity to study and further understand biblical text, and to experience what college will be like for several weeks.

What makes YTI unique f rom other summer programs? YTI gives us the opportunity to go in-depth into the study of scripture, culture, and to jump-start college life. The diversity among the scholars is the diversity I hope to experience in college. It gives me a broader understanding of the world and other perspectives and views on scripture.

In what ways is/has YTI chal lenged or changed you? YTI really helped me realize how each person has a dif ferent interpretation of scripture. Having grown up in a particular denomination that is the primary perspective I?ve been exposed to. At YTI, I see much diversity and understandings.

What would you l ike to say to al l of those who support YTI f inancial ly? Besides THANK YOU? I?d tell them they are giving youth the opportunity to expand knowledge and know God deeper. They are investing in our growth, which I believe is answering God?s call to us all to serve and help others.

Thank you to the many alumni and friends of YTI who helped make this experience possible for Peter and the other 2016 scholars. Your gifts play a significant role in the lives of these scholars and the long-term sustainability of YTI. We invite you to join this important community of YTI supporters by making a one-time gift or setting up a recurring gift online.

Thank you for your consideration.

For questions about giving, contact Jessica McDaniel, YTI Development Director at 404.727.0058 or jessica.mcdaniel@emory.edu.

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