Sunday, December 11, 2011

whether or not to say something to my professional certifying organization

I was at a professional conference last month in Nashville. As a part of the conference there was a luncheon for those of us who held a certificate in our speciality (to get the certification we had to apply, demonstrate proof of experience and take an exam). There are less than 500 of us in the country. Anyway, at this luncheon, there was a guest speaker who happened to be former hospital administrator and is now a chaplain. The luncheon was started by a prayer/blessing which included “in Jesus Christ’s name . . .”. I must say I was really taken aback. We are NOT a faith based organization, we are a professional organization made up of many faiths. It seems to me that such a prayer/blessing was out of place here, and while offensive may be too broad of a word, it was definitely inappropriate. I am a member of this organization. It does not represent my beliefs and I was not aware that I needed to subscribe to a certain set of spiritual beliefs to be a member of this organization.

I have clients that are faith-based organizations, and when I attend events (or even meetings) with them and they begin with prayer, I am respectful of their practice. But this instance was not that.

Perhaps I should mention that those in power in this organization are old white men from the south who would most likely disregard my objection as left-wing political ravings from a California female, so I’m not so sure that saying anything would make any difference.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Twelve Seven Eleven

I resigned from the Design Review Commission in the middle of a meeting tonight – I could no longer be put in a position to compromise what I believe is the right thing to do or to be railroaded. I am sad about it.