With the body of a fabulously bejeweled serpent and the rainbow wings of a dove, Soulforce’s serpentdove is an imaginary creature borne from Jesus’s call in Matthew 10:16, to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”.
We Soulforcers are people who are committed to ending spiritual violence and reclaiming our dignity in the face of spiritual violence. This work can be hard on our spirits and bodies, and requires us to call forth the best of our courage and brilliance. In comes the serpentdove, an emblem to remind us who we are: Queer people who commit to spiritual and political resistance.
From the serpent, we learn the perception, adaptability, and wisdom to see systems of oppression and spiritually violent narratives for the lies they are.
From the dove, we learn the courage, integrity, and hope we need to dream up new worlds where the rights, dignity, and equality of marginalized people are uncontestable.
Together, the serpentdove represents the power to imagine and create, and the will to act from our ethics and beliefs. It reminds us to be both spirit and politics, ferocious and loving, disruptive and constructive.
As marginalized people we often experience how Christianity gets used to justify oppression and discrimination against us and other people at the margins. We know that religion-based violence harms our bodies, minds, AND our spirits. So our response must be political, and spiritual!
At Soulforce, we build political and spiritual tools to address religion-based violence wherever it shows up. If we sharpen our power analysis and strengthen our spirits together, we can and will stop spiritual violence.
