2025-02-11 HOPE-PV Faith Based Training

Join us on February 11th at 4pm EST as On Earth Peace partners with HOPE-PV (Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence) to offer a training for faith leaders on how to counter political violence.

See the event in your timezone here: https://dateful.com/eventlink/4894339062 

Participants will learn about 5 "Backfire" principles for countering political violence and repression. We will explore these principles through the lens of our faith commitments, while also remembering the faith refrains that strengthen us for such a time as this, core commitments that that lead us to action, and faith rituals that can be creatively re-purposed for political action in the public square.   

By the end of the training we hope to walk away with knowing the basic principles of what political violence is and looks like, key strategies for countering political violence, examples of faith based leadership in response to political violence. 

Purposes of the Training

• Build understanding of the contours of political violence, especially in our own contexts
• Awaken imagination about how we might assertively respond in the face of threats or acts of political violence
  
• Explore concepts that can help us identify and undermine political violence 
• Practice tools and approaches you can use at home right now or in a moment of crisis 
• Connect with others who are also working to interrupt political violence
  
• Celebrate the ways our communities have creatively resisted political violence

Context: On Earth Peace is expanding our organizing capacity to help those in our constituency develop community, courage, capacity, and commitment, as the temperature of political rhetoric and attacks against different communities continues to rise.  We are part of a national organizing initiative called Harnessing Our Power to End Political Violence (HOPE-PV). More information here: www.endpoliticalviolence.org  The HOPE-PV campaign is looking to support communities as they develop nonviolent direct action to prevent and respond to the political violence within their communities. 

See the event in your timezone here: https://dateful.com/eventlink/4894339062 

Facilitators 

Naomi Washington-Leapheart

Reverend Naomi Washington-Leapheart is the Strategic Partnerships Director at Political Research Associates, a social justice research and strategy center that provides strategic insights and actionable research that identifies, disrupts, and competes with movements and institutions that undermine democracy, justice, and human rights. In her role, she leverages PRA's research and communications capacities to support effective organizing and advocacy by movement organizations around the nation and globe.

Previously, Rev. Naomi served the city of Philadelphia as the Director for Faith-Based and Interfaith Affairs in the Mayor's Office from 2019 to 2023. Prior to working in municipal government, she was the Faith Work Director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, the country's oldest national LGBTQ justice and equality group. Rev. Naomi serves on the boards of SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, Pride in the Pews, and Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center. She is also a member of the Faith Advisory Council of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Rev. Naomi is an adjunct professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University and Arcadia University. She regularly engages congregations, justice organizations, and academic institutions as founder of Salt | Yeast | Light, a ministry grounded in facilitating spiritual candor, theological rigor, political disruption, deep reflection, radical action, and communal transformation. An ordained minister, she is a leader in The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and the United Church of Christ. 

Matt Guynn 

Matt Guynn is co-executive director and director of organizing for church and community groups for On Earth Peace. He works with groups around the U.S. and internationally to provide training, develop projects, and build capacity to challenge violence, build justice, and institutionalize nonviolence. Guynn is one of several co-founders of the Kingian Nonviolence Coordinating Committee, a group of Kingian trainers and practitioners providing mutual support and developing common projects to advance the Kingian legacy. With other KNCC members, Guynn coordinates intensive online cohorts in Kingian Nonviolence philosophy and methodology, including online Kingian certification opportunities.

Since 1996, Matt has been part of Training for Change, an international social change training center based in Philadelphia, PA, in recent years primarily on the online facilitation team. From 2019-2022, he served on the Coordinating Committee of the Oregon affiliate of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Campaign for Moral Revival, a resurgence of Dr. King’s final campaign. Matt previously worked as co-coordinator of training for Community Peacemaker Teams, preparing people to carry out nonviolent direct action and unarmed accompaniment in conflict zones, and served as an unarmed bodyguard for five months in Chiapas, Mexico. He is co-editor of the textbook Resist, Organize, Transform: An Introduction to Nonviolence and Activism (2020, Cognella Academic Publishing). Matt holds a B.A. in Peace Studies (Manchester University, 1995), an M.A. in International Peace Studies (University of Notre Dame, 1996), and an M.A. in Theology with a focus on theopoetics and social change (Bethany Theological Seminary, 2003). He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wife Sarah and sons Daniel and Owen.

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