Building the Beloved Community: Uniting for Justice Across Lines of Race and Faith

This session is a roundtable of four notable leaders in the interfaith effort for justice, equality, and security in Chicago. Rev. Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, Father Michael Pfleger, Rev. Otis Moss III, and Rabbi Seth Limmer each have their own records of working over the course of decades for social justice. In the years of racial reckoning following the police-initiate murder of Laquan McDonald, these four leaders have begun to work together—with a wider team of dedicated clergy throughout the city—in leading Chicago toward just and equitable outcomes. They have taken public stands together in protest; they share a column together in the Chicago Tribune that began as a summer focus on preventing gun violence and has now become a regular platform for faith voices in issues of the day; together, they lead intentionally interfaith worship experiences to create the Beloved Community.