BEACON: Rev. Alan Taylor
MAY 2012
Can We Affirm Our Common Humanity Without Minimizing Difference?
Rev. Alan Taylor, Senior Minister
minister@unitytemple.org
Dear Members and Friends,
When I originally came up with the title “When Among Strangers” for the March 22 sermon, multiculturalism wasn’t on my mind. The decision to speak on multiculturalism was inspired by a training I received earlier that month when attending the board meeting of the UU Ministers Association. To prepare for the meeting, the nine of us took the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) to assess our individual and collective sensitivity to cultural issues, thinking we were a good cross section for our colleagues.
Our facilitator, Beth Zemsky, walked us through the Development Model for Intercultural Sensitivity developed by Milton Bennett. The stages are as follows:
· Denial of Difference: “Since we all speak the same language, there’s no problem.”
· Defense Against Difference--Polarization: “When you go to other cultures, it makes you realize how much better our culture is.”
· Defense Against Difference--Reversal: “I wish I could give up my own cultural background and really be like one of these people.”
· Minimization of Difference: “Customs differ, of course, but deep down all people are really the same.”
· Acceptance of Difference: “Sometimes it’s confusing, knowing that values are different in various cultures and wanting to be respectful, but still wanting to maintain my core values.”
· Adaptation of Difference: “The way I interact with people of varying cultures shifts as I seek to understand and be understood across cultural boundaries, behaving in culturally appropriate--respectful--ways.”
· Integration of Difference: “Whatever the situation, I can usually look at it from a variety of cultural points of view.”
To my surprise, we members of the UUMA board did not rank high on this development scale for intercultural sensitivity. We didn’t rank low either. We were largely right in the middle--in minimization.
Minimization is not all bad--we who minimize cultural differences recognize the basic humanity of others. However, minimization is the last of the ethnocentric stages--it is the last attempt to preserve the centrality of one’s own world view, assuming that all people are ruled by common basic principles--our own! Those of us in this stage tend to seek comfort and tolerance without really understanding how other cultures are different because we aren’t fully aware of our own.
Our facilitator, Beth Zemsky, suggested that we Unitarian Universalists are prone to minimization because of our Universalist theology. We emphasize how all human beings are the same, often to the exclusion of acknowledging the real differences among us. This lack of awareness, she argues, leads to homogeneity. The task for us minimizers is to learn more about our own culture and avoid projecting our culture onto other people’s experience.
Given our value of cultivating cultural and racial diversity among our congregation, I was struck by Beth’s critique. I think she is on to something, especially when she suggested that we focus on inclusion and equity more than diversity. For diversity is about numbers--where we count the people. Inclusion, on the other hand, is where people count, and equity is where the outcomes count.
If you missed the March 22 sermon or want to reflect more on this topic, check out the podcast at http://unitytemple.libsyn.com/when-among-strangers. This sermon explores what I believe to be our spiritual work in addressing how prone we are to seeking comfort and tolerance when we are in the place of minimizing the differences of others.
As I wrote for that service as I reflected on Beth Zemsky’s training: May our hearts know that change is inevitable and transformation is optional. Our spiritual work is not about becoming comfortable but becoming confident. It's not about knowing everything but learning how to learn. May our learning bring us into deeper relationship with people of all walks of life.
Warmly,
Alan
