With our culture wars at a full rolling boil, apparently all it takes to send our enmity over the edge is…a good old-fashioned country song?

The furor over Jason Aldean’s “Try That in A Small Town” (and then there’s Oliver Anthony’s “Rich Men North of Richmond”) is reminiscent of the old furor over The Dixie Chicks—only the “sides” have switched up.

As The Village Square embarks on a pluralism project to build a hometown where everyone belongs, it’s possible that “round here we take care of our own” is a value we should all seek to restore to American civic life, but does it really need to come with all the guns?

We’ll bring The God Squad into this musical fracas (they dove right into this one in our planning meeting), so that they can do their usual thing and go high instead of the usual low. Can we find a place where perhaps we can tolerate each other and just SING? (Dolly Parton has something to say on that front…)

Joining us for this God Squad are Father Tim Holeda of St. Thomas More Co-Cathedral, Josh Hall of First Baptist Church, Joseph Davis Jr. of Truth Gatherers Community Church, and Rabbi Paul Sidlofsky of Temple Israel. Stefanie Posner of Temple Israel will be facilitating.

Please note: Lunch will not be available for this God Squad, but why not grab lunch with your God Squad-loving friends before or after the program.

***Note that food items brought into Temple Israel must follow Jewish dietary laws, so we ask you to not bring your own lunch to this event.***