Q&A: the Rev. Liz Peterson
In 2009, the Rev. Liz Peterson was given an interesting task: work on new church development after the merging of a historically black church–First United–and a white congregation, Fourth Presbyterian.
The result was Fourth United Presbyterian Church, a mixed congregation housed in a brick building in Old North Knoxville. The church acts as a community center as well as a place of worship, sharing the building with other faith organizations and groups like the Carpetbag Theatre.
Peterson, a white pastor, said she noticed some “resistance” after the merger. The two congregations tended not to sit together or go to the same events. Peterson realized that until the underlying tension was addressed, the church would never fully coalesce. So the church began making it a priority to host events and discussions addressing racism, a move that Peterson says has made the church more “vibrant” because they’ve “finally talked about the elephant in the room.”
Throughout February, in honor of Black History Month, Fourth United Presbyterian is hosting events each Wednesday night (6-8 p.m.) as part of their “Social Justice Series.” The events range from discussions on dismantling racism to “The Citizens Guide to Lobbying” with Tom Castelli from the ACLU.
For the Rev. Peterson, fighting racism isn’t a “secular issue,” but an integral part of her mission as a faith leader.
What has been the most rewarding part of running the Social Justice Series and anti-racism trainings?
I think that what’s rewarding is when you see understanding, when you see particularly a white person who previously was completely unconscious about how racism works in our world, when you see them start to go, “Whoa, this is really a thing, this is a problem.”
The rewarding part is when people come together and you see a black and white person who maybe might not have an arena to really talk honestly anywhere else in their lives. It’s like, we interact with black people all the time, but when do we really sit down and go, “Talk to me about your experience of racism.” You just don’t do that over coffee much.
Why do you think it’s important for your church to be active in issues like this?
Politically, I feel like the Bible has been co-opted by people who would use it for ill purpose. This is not a new thing, this has been going on in this country since its beginning, where piety and biblical verses have been taken out of context to oppress people. The gospel has nothing to do with that…
I just don’t know how you could read the Bible and be a lover of Jesus Christ and not want to do the internal work of getting rid of your own bias against people based on their race. I don’t see how you could really read the scripture and not want to fight against prejudice.
How do you think Knoxville can press forward in 2017?
I would love to see the community that has grown to continue. We’ve forgotten how to connect, haven’t we? In such a lot of ways. I think one of the problems that we have is we get in our little pockets of people that think like us…
The new normal, the new “majority” or whatever, is a bunch of people that otherwise never talk to each other, but now say, “You know what? Humanity matters and love matters.” It doesn’t matter what your religion is…
We will not be able to sustain our hatred of Trump for long—it just takes the energy out of me. But we will be able to sustain our love for each other. That will last.
Why should people come to the Social Justice Series events?
Any time you can get a little more self-aware about some of the things that we might have internalized as children that keep us from really being open to other people and hearing people, anytime you have an opportunity to engage with that in yourself and to meet other people is a good thing. I would say everybody who’s even just a little bit open would get something out of it.
Fourth United Presbyterian Church
1323 N. Broadway
865-522-1437
fourthunitedpresbyterian.org
Programs:
• Social Justice Series, a weekly discussion about race relations, occurring every Wednesday through the month of February, 6-8 p.m.
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Hayley Brundige is a writer and forever-intern studying Journalism and Public Policy at UT. Her work has been featured in Scalawag Magazine and Inverse. She might use you to get closer to your dog.
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