Subvert the norm: remaining vigilant

It is finished!

We just had an amazing time at the subvert the norm conference at drury university in Springfield Missouri. There were some well known voices and some new voices that were added to the conference for this second installment. However, this is not an update, I will leave that up to those who are much more detailed than I. But I do want to deal with an issue that was highlighted towards the end of the conference. I understand this might not be popular. But do want to say that the quality of speaking from voices new and old was of a high caliber and I think progress is being made. But I wonder if progress needs to be a bit more aggressive? There was some concern that feminist voices, and voices from the lgbtq community were not as robust as it could be. Actually even Jack Caputo voiced his agreement and concern with this very issue. As one advocate said that “we even need those allies to use their influence to fight for a more substantial platform for those in lgbtqg community”. Clearly this issue needs to be addressed. Because the longer there are outsiders that are spoken about but never represented by themselves rather than others on their behalf we don’t subvert the norm, we cement it into a static boring caricature of the past we seek to critique. In a perverse sense nothing changes and patriarchy as history and habit become the new religious practices hidden under fashionable theological rockstars who end up hiding the inequality with their names. This is not the case here yet. We need to make sure this does not happen.

I think we are on our way and should be excited about the road of endless possibilities ahead. But we must remain vigilant.

So who are we inviting for next year’s event so we can bridge the gap? Contact Phil Snider on facebook with your suggestions!

(Another injustice is that no one interviews Tony Jones and we need to rectify this! ;-))