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As you know, I attended the Alliance of Baptists Annual Gathering in Evanston a couple of weeks ago. It was quite a good gathering that refreshed my batteries and provided lots of material to consider. What I’d like to tell you about now is the keynote speech from Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, who is an Episcopal priest, womanist theologian, former inaugural Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary, and is currently the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral.
At the heart of her keynote was this challenging question: How do we remain silent as the sacred human dignity of people is threatened?
It didn’t feel like a question meant to accuse. It felt like a question meant to wake us up. Many of us know that feeling. We see what is happening in the world and in our own communities. We feel the weight of it. And still, sometimes, we grow quiet. Not because we don’t care, but because we are tired, unsure, or afraid of getting it wrong.
Dr. Douglas reminded us that silence is not as harmless as it can seem. Over time, it can allow harm to continue. It can make what is wrong feel normal. It can leave people carrying burdens alone that were never meant to be theirs.
And at the center of her message was a truth we return to again and again: every person carries sacred dignity. Not something earned. Not something granted by others. Something given, held, and worthy of protection. When that dignity is threatened, it touches all of us. It calls something out of us. But this is not a call to become louder for the sake of being loud.
It is a call to become more faithful. To notice. To care. To speak up. To stand with those whose dignity is not being honored. To build communities where people are not only welcomed, but truly protected and seen. That kind of life does not happen all at once. It grows slowly—in conversations, in choices, in the ways we show up for one another day by day. It takes courage, yes, but also humility. It asks us to listen as much as we speak, and to stay when it would be easier to step back.
For us as a community of faith, the question lingers in a good way. Where are we being called to pay closer attention? Where might our voices matter more than we realize? Where can we take one small step toward protecting the dignity of another?
We may not have all the answers. But we can begin here—together—by refusing to look away, and by trusting that even small acts of courage can make room for something more whole, more just, and more loving to take root among us.
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