Last Saturday our church co-sponsored a Better Together conference by the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

Here are my notes:

• We need to expand our definition of violence beyond physical harm.
• Non-violence in a love-centered way to thinking, acting and engaging that leads to personal, cultural, and societal transformation.
• There is a difference between non-violence and non-action. (You can have a non-violent stance but what are you going to do with it?)
• Non-violence requires spiritual discipline.  Montgomery Bus boycotts were an example of “disciplined outrage.”
• This is slow work.
• Be committed to both non-violence and to social change.
• Triple evils: Poverty, Racism, and Militarism. Advocate for policies that address the root causes of this.
• Even the oppressors are oppressed by evil.
• Listen to others, but you do not have to internatize what you disagree with.
• Shift your lens from being single issue people.
• Find things we agree on.
• My success is linked to your success.
• Listen without defense mechanisms, and take care of yourself in the process.
• Don’t dehumanize the people you disagree with.
• Transformation has no end goal.