Praying for Peace and Justice on March 10, 2024
Holy one, we know that there is no peace without justice. We ask: hear your people’s prayer.
Inspire a spirit of cooperation among all people that we may restore a desire for promoting the common good, along with non-violence, justice and peace. We pray for unity and civility within governments, organizations and within the human family as we seek to implement changes that lead to diversity, equity and inclusion. May we demonstrate compassion that incorporates the seeing, hearing, and honoring others and using that compassion to spread healing energy and to show empathy to people that are in pain, no matter the cause of the pain and being open to examine our role.
Background
March is Women’s History Month, a celebration of women’s accomplishments and contributions to all aspects of society. It’s also a time to reflect on the challenges for women moving forward.
The National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA) chooses and publishes the themes every year. In 2024, the theme is “Women Who Advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” The NWHA notes that the elimination of discrimination is an important goal, and those who work to accomplish that face a tough battle.
In recent years we’ve seen tremendous growth in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives but there have also been many who have critized and resisted them. People tend to resist these initiatives because they experience at least one of three forms of threat: status threat – my organizational status may change – if you benefit then I lose; merit threat – you don’t have the same skills and talents and are getting preferential treatment; and moral threat – if I acknowledge my privelge then I may not be as good or moral as I think I am. Depending on the kinds of threat they perceive, they may then engage in three kinds of resistance: defending or justifying the status quo because changes are perceived as harmful to their group; denying – we don’t have a problem –; and distancing, acknowledging there’s a problem but I’m not the problem, I’m not discriminating against anyone.
As we at Seekers seek to promote Racial & Ethnic Justice we have long realized that an uneven playing field will never bring equality or justice and we need to establish firmer safeguards, practices and legislation reflecting these values
