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A review by micklesreads
The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and the Rise of a New Justice Movement by William J. Barber II, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
5.0
This book is a must-read for anyone currently trying to raise their voice and join the resistance. It's a great model for coalition building and acting locally to make real change. Reverend Dr. Barber provides a clear historical background for his movement that positions local action against the history of the "southern strategy," and it's a useful background that all organizers, new and seasoned, should know.
The strategies for organizers at the end are fantastic, too, for starting action on the ground.
My one problem with this book is that he positions everything inside a religious framework. He is not overtly disrespectful of atheists, but he routinely equates moral objections with religious objections, stating that people keep going because they have faith that God will overcome the bad in this world. The nation is becoming less and less religious, and there needs to be room for people who don't believe in God within a moral movement. Morals do not equal religion, and atheists are more altruistic than their religious counterparts according to some studies. (Religious people tend to give to their churches more than they give to non-denominational or non-religious charities, interestingly.) So, I'm moral, I'm at least agnostic if not atheist...where does my faith come from, if not from God? That reassurance rings hollow to me, so what can I believe in to keep me going? How do I fit in? I don't have the answer, but I wish this book didn't make me feel a bit out in the cold in that regard.
The strategies for organizers at the end are fantastic, too, for starting action on the ground.
My one problem with this book is that he positions everything inside a religious framework. He is not overtly disrespectful of atheists, but he routinely equates moral objections with religious objections, stating that people keep going because they have faith that God will overcome the bad in this world. The nation is becoming less and less religious, and there needs to be room for people who don't believe in God within a moral movement. Morals do not equal religion, and atheists are more altruistic than their religious counterparts according to some studies. (Religious people tend to give to their churches more than they give to non-denominational or non-religious charities, interestingly.) So, I'm moral, I'm at least agnostic if not atheist...where does my faith come from, if not from God? That reassurance rings hollow to me, so what can I believe in to keep me going? How do I fit in? I don't have the answer, but I wish this book didn't make me feel a bit out in the cold in that regard.