MORGANTOWN – Think back to when you were a kid, growing up in your hometown.
Think back to the interactions your parents had with the other parents on the block: How they actually talked about issues, while having common ground that went beyond your house, and your house of worship.
And their houses, and houses of worship.
It was about being neighborly in the best sense, Eve Faulkes said.
That, and being separate – in the best sense, she said – in matters of civic regulation and religion.
“Well, that’s what Sunday is about,” said Faulkes, an activist and artist who will be one of the participants in “The Good Neighbors Rally on Faith and Democracy,” which is set for that day in Morgantown.
The gathering is sponsored by the West Virginia Faith Collaborative, the NAACP, the Community Coalition for Social Justice and Mountaineers Indivisible.
It begins at 3 p.m., with a march from the Farmers Market Pavilion on Spruce Street to the Ruby Amphitheater at Hazel Ruby McQuain Park, where the rest of the proceedings will run from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Aristotle Jones, “The Appalachian Soul Man,” will serve as emcee for the afternoon. Live music and a food drive are also on the bill, along with local faith leaders.
The Rev. Michael Delk from St. Thomas a` Beckett Episcopal will offer thoughts, along with the Tree of Life Congregation’s Rabbi Joe Hample.
Remarks will also be delivered by Msgr. Paul Hudock, a Roman Catholic priest and Pastor Stephen Lowe, of the Church of the Brethren, followed by the Rev. Zac Morton, representing First Presbyterian Church.
Also on the bill is the Rev. Jenny Williams, of Justice & Jubilee.
No evangelizing, Faulkes said – just the invoking of dialogue and observations over how it can get “off-kilter,” as the gathering’s organizations say, when church and government blur Constitution and community.
If you practice a faith, you’re invited, Faulkes. If you don’t practice a faith, you’re invited.
“Just claiming the truth about what being a good neighbor requires of all humans,” she said. “We need to get back to that.”
