Oklahoma Conference of Churches' gala will feature civil rights activist Cornel West

A statewide coalition of faith groups had to postpone its gala last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the event celebrating a milestone anniversary is finally coming up in November.

The Oklahoma Conference of Churches' "No Hate in the Heartland 50th Anniversary Gala" is set for 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Nov. 4 at the Skirvin Hilton, 1 Park Ave. The Rev. Shannon Fleck, the conference's executive director, said there are a limited amount of tickets still available for the event featuring civil rights activist, author and philosopher Cornel West as the guest speaker.

Speck said West was chosen because the conference of churches wanted a speaker with a presence and history of standing for social justice, especially through a faith lens.

"He has always been a voice for movement and justice, especially motivating faith communities towards action," she said. "You know, his famous quote is 'Justice is what love looks like in public.' and that's just at the heart of what we are trying to do."

She said West is a fitting speaker for an occasion marking the conference's 50th anniversary.

"It's been 50 years, and we've had this amazing experience," Fleck said. "Leading up to this, we've been going through our archives, and we have always been doing this work since the beginning. We just really want to bring it back to the heart of who we are as an organization ― that we're about connecting people of all faiths to one another so that we can love in public, so that we can bring people together in the spirit of openness and grace and acceptance."

She said the Nov. 4 event will also be a special moment because it has been three years since the coalition has held an annual gala. "In those three years, we feel like we have made significantly more connections to people across the state throughout what has been been the COVID experience and we really want to just be together," she said.

Meanwhile, the gala's theme "No Hate in the Heartland" shares the same name as a conference of churches' campaign that initially started out as a one-year initiative.

Fleck, an ordained Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister, said the campaign has resonated with so many people both inside and outside the conference of churches that it will become a part of the coalition's regular platform.

The campaign was launched in fall 2020, when the conference of churches released a theological statement condemning racism and discrimination.

"Although we anticipated there being a multitude of responses, what we've experienced, has been predominantly positive," Fleck said of the campaign. "It's communities of faith being thankful for an organization such as ours, being so upfront and forward about the ways in which hate is playing in our society, and the ways in which we, as moral leaders, need to step up and be voices against that."

The conference of churches was formed in 1972 to bring Christian denominations together for collaboration on a wide variety of programs and issues important to the Oklahoma faith community. It includes denominational groups like the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma, Oklahoma United Methodist Conference and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oklahoma.

Other denominations represented include: African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Cooperating Baptist Fellowship. Christian Methodist Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Mennonite Church, Presbyterian Church USA, Progressive Oklahoma Baptist State Convention, Reformed Church in America, Religious Society of Friends, United Church of Christ. Several individual churches and faith organizations are also part of the coalition as collaborating partners.

For tickets or more information about the gala, go to https://www.okchurches.org/.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Conference of Churches' 50th anniversary gala is set for Nov. 4