About us
Civil, respectful conversation with people with different political views?
Yes, it is possible. We’re doing it and you can, too.
Crossing Party Lines is YOUR brave space to meet and talk with people you disagree with and may not even understand. You might even have fun!
Our events include:
- DISCUSSIONS: We meet as small groups where you can talk to real people about the issues that divide us. Share your unique insights, encounter new perspectives and new ways of looking at the world, and experience what it's like to feel heard and understood.
You'll find that it is possible to disagree in a way that leaves you feeling true to yourself and your beliefs without losing your friends or your cool.
- WORKSHOPS: We teach the skills you need to effectively talk across differences. You will learn ways to foster curiosity and invite listening, acquire strategies for overcoming common communication barriers, and develop the confidence to talk politics with people you know, live, and work with.
- COMMUNITY EVENTS: We’re not just about talking – we’re also about community. We host game nights, screen videos, share books, and offer many other ways of connecting across differences.
At all events, trained facilitators set the tone of the discussion and help the group build trust. Come see what civil, respectful conversation is like. Who knows, you might make friends with someone you disagree with!
More about Crossing Party Lines:
We are a national nonprofit with chapters in eight states. Because we believe that the success of America’s unique democracy relies on the diversity of our viewpoints, we encourage people of all political views and parties to join and participate.
Come learn, explore, practice, and grow with us. Join this grassroots movement and become the change in your community.
Note: Due to COVID, most of our events are online. Unless otherwise stated, events are open to all Crossing Party Lines chapters, giving you a chance to interact with people from all over the country.
Upcoming events
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Diversity Vs. Unity: In a nation of immigrants, what makes us ‘one people’?
Unitarian Universalist Society of South Suffolk, 28 Brentwood Rd, Bay Shore, NY, USDiversity and immigration have always shaped the American story. From the nation’s beginnings, the United States has wrestled with a core question: What holds us together as one people when we come from so many different places? And as a corollary: Can a shared national culture coexist in a multicultural society with large-scale immigration?
This conversation invites participants to consider a central American tension: Are diversity and unity in conflict—or can they strengthen each other in the United States?
Multiculturalism is generally understood as a social and political framework in which multiple cultural, ethnic, religious, or linguistic traditions are recognized, protected, and allowed to flourish within a single society, rather than being absorbed into a single dominant culture.
Some argue that when multiculturalism emphasizes group identity over shared civic norms, it can weaken social trust, shared values, and national cohesion. In this view, a strong common culture rooted in shared civic expectations, language, and norms is necessary for democratic solidarity and social stability, particularly amid high levels of immigration.
Others contend that multiculturalism is compatible with, and even supportive of, a shared national culture. Immigrants may change the fabric of a society’s culture but so does the passage of time, new technology, social media, a native-born population, and much more. Immigrants change culture for the better by introducing new ideas, expertise, customs, cuisines, and art. Far from erasing the existing national culture, they expand it in a way that is essential in an interconnected world.
Here are a few questions we might explore:
- When you think about being ‘American,’ what does that mean to you personally? And where did your sense of belonging in this country come from - family, school, religion, community, or something else?
- What values or habits do you think Americans need to share in order for our democracy to work?
- What does multiculturalism mean to you?
- Can a country be both strongly multicultural and strongly united—or do those pull in opposite directions?
- What role do things like language, religion, education, and economic opportunity play in how easily newcomers integrate into American life?
- What do you think newcomers should learn or adopt in order to fully belong in American civic life?
- What do you think a community needs to offer to immigrants to help them assimilate?
- If you could design one policy or civic practice to strengthen American unity, what would it be?
Some useful links:
- Putting Clan Over Country Will Ruin America by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- The Impact of Immigration on American Society by Charles Hirschman
- Melting Pots and Salad Bowls by Hoover Institution
- Immigrants to the United States still assimilate by the National Academy of Sciences
Join the Crossing Party Lines discussion and have a voice in our nation’s conversation! People of all views are welcomed, appreciated, and heard.
7 attendees
Past events
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