I sit at my desk and hear the bells of the church across the street chime. To me, my office is a lot like America as a whole. We're here, doing political work, and the church is right across the street. We admire the church's beauty and we enjoy the bells, but we rarely, if ever, engage. We're respectfully distant, with us doing our political work and them doing their religious stuff. N'er the two shall meet.

Noticing this, and not particularly enjoying it, I've decided to be one in a movement to break down the barrier. I'm in my last week in Washington DC, where I've spent the quarter working, taking classes, and enjoying all that the city has to offer. While I'm sure I'll return to this city eventually (it's inevitable for us poli sci majors), I'm looking forward to taking all I have experienced here and engaging with the material back at home. That's the end goal for a lot of what happens in Washington — engagement. Working with faith and politics, I've gathered even more tools that enable me to more actively engage in social justice issues and engage in my personal faith.

How do you justify politics and religion? I have struggled with this question since high school. In elementary school I knew I wanted to study politics. Call it unusual, but after a history lesson in the 5th grade I knew what I wanted to do. I followed my political path through high school, and at the same time I was developing my sense of faith. I had always attended church, but with the formation of a youth group and attendance at national church events I began to realize what an important role faith played in my life. This lead to the question of how I was going to combine my passion for politics with my call to faith.

The more I heard about political issues, the more that I began to understand that most political issues have a faith component. Whether the faith component is centric to the issue or not varies, but faith can define a person, and a person votes and makes decisions. And so I began to discuss the two together. It wasn't just "pro-choice" but it was a deeper issue of whether or not I value independent thought. I've never thrust my religious opinions on anyone. I engage in dialogue, not debate, when it comes to religious issues. Because of this I didn't see any reason to thrust my opinions about choice on anyone. I wanted to engage in the dialogue, but keep track of my faithful self.

I learned not to be afraid of the issues. I know some well, and some not at all. I am open to changing opinions. I don't criticize "flip floppers" because I know that if you are a truly open person then you are opinion to having your opinions changed. I engage people on specific issues, and allow them to educate me on others. I don't initially tell people about Progressive Christianity, but I let the conversation lead to where it will and as they get to know me they get to know about the faith values I hold dear to my heart. I have allowed myself to be defined by my thoughts and my passions and to feel no shame for where I am in life. I appreciate knowing myself so well that I believe I can stand up to any critic. It is liberating.

As I leave after my quarter in Washington, DC, I look forward to continuing the dialogue. This city is full of people who believe they can change the world. People come here thinking of all they can change, and they see all that has been done. I look forward to taking the education I have attained and passing my knowledge onto others. I crave the challenge that the quarter has set before me, and I look forward to the future of religion and politics.

A political science major at the University of California, Davis, Meredith Jackson is a member of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Santa Rosa, California.