Florida has a reputation for lots of things: for its perpetual summer weather, for its many theme parks, and for being one of the most heavily populated states in the U.S., with one of the most diverse populations in the country. That population includes an extremely diverse faith community—Florida is home to Christian churches, Jewish synagogues, Muslim mosques, Buddhist Sanghas, Hindu temples, those who don’t associate with any faith, and so many more.

But today, that diversity is under attack. Christian Nationalism, as defined by the Interfaith Alliance, is a political ideology that “conflates American identity with an exclusive form of religious identity.” That rhetoric has given rise to and supported policies targeting Florida’s education system and democracy. In the past few years, Christian Nationalists have campaigned against “sinful” books and educational materials—leading to Florida’s nation-leading rise in book bans and threatening the separation of church and state.

On January 12, a group of people from all different kinds of faith backgrounds convened in Miami to better understand how Christian Nationalism touches all of our lives, and what we can do about it. 

With the guidance of several South Florida faith leaders, more than 50 attendees gathered at the beautiful Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ to share their stories and anxieties, but also to hear from people with very different experiences and to explore what we have in common when facing the current threats to our democracy and the freedom to read.

“None of us should be here today to change your neighbor’s mind. That is not the goal,” said Katie Blankenship, the director of PEN America Florida and one of the primary event organizers. “We are not convincing people, we are not changing people. We are creating bridges of communication, we are practicing our empathy. . .we are opening our minds to other perspectives with the specific goal of creating broader community.”

This event was the first in the “United Voices for Democracy” (or UV4D) series held by the PEN America Florida office. This series springs from the 2024 United Voices Summit, wherein attendees identified several topics and issues in which they wanted to dig deeper. The UV4D series prioritizes roundtable discussions to foster deeper conversations and build bridges where divisive topics like Christian Nationalism have sought to sow seeds of censorship.

This UV4D event was held in collaboration with faith leaders like Pastor Laurie Hafter of the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, who also hosted the event.

“When it started for me was that January 6th event in Washington D.C., and there amid all of the weapons and all of the violence, amid all of the flags and all of the commotion and anger and so forth, were crosses and Christian flags,” Hafner said. “And I thought, what has happened to us? What has happened to my faith?”

Rabbi Robyn Fisher of Beth Or Miami, Tehsin Siddiqui with the Coalition of South Florida Muslim Organizations (COSMOS), Matt Anderson of Mosaic Miami, and Reverend Tom Capo of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Vero Beach were also in attendance to guide the conversation.

“When we look back at World War II and the signs that were there, we’ve always sat in judgement of them,” Fisher told the group, speaking on the Jewish experience of Christian Nationalism. “Why did they let this happen? [But] all of a sudden, we’re in a climate where we can feel similar signs of democracy being chipped away and immigrants’ rights being taken away and persecuted.” 

“We’re seeing increasing restrictions on what kids can learn, and most often, how to be in community with each other,” Capo said. “We’re seeing more prejudice, more bullying because people don’t see each other anymore.”

Attendees also participated in a Trusted Messenger Training presented by PEN America’s Henry Hicks, and a Digital Safety presentation by beck haberstroh to help those in attendance fight the spread of disinformation in their communities and protect themselves from harassment.

While engaged in some truly difficult and vulnerable conversations, participants also left with practical advice to defend against misinformation, disinformation, and online abuse, and several calls to action to ensure that their engagement with this issue would not start and end in that room—including joining our United Voices Network for more events like this one.

Said one attendant, “I don’t believe in any of the gods. But I do believe that this community is transcendent of any one god or any one faith or any one religion, and that’s why I find myself here. I think what we really need to do is to create one out of many and create unity where we have division . . .to reach out to those who have opposite views of us and embrace them, and lower that barrier of anger and hate and resentment.”

Sophia Brown is the program coordinator for PEN America Florida.