Hoosiers United for Separation of Church and State:
We didn’t start out to be a not-for-profit organization. Hoosiers United for Separation of Church and State began one Sunday morning when one of the founders approached five other members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Wayne asking if they would be interested in forming a “group of five” study group regarding Christian Nationalism. Creating groups of five is a strategy that this UU congregation uses to begin new initiatives. Some of them last for a few days, some a few weeks, others months, or even years. The founders of this one probably expected the duration to be months. Little did they know that the spark would quickly turn into a flame.
The group originally called themselves Countering Christian Nationalism, and met a few times to discuss books they had read and articles that had begun to surface. After digging into The Flag and the Cross by Philip S. Gorski, Star Spangled Jesus by April Ajoy, and The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart, the five began to grow more members. Coincidentally, two members of Beacon Heights Church of the Brethren visited the UU congregation on a wintery Sunday and quickly became engaged in conversation about Christian nationalism. They had been occasional visitors and had recently met one of the co-founders at a rally. Luckily they visited on a day very close to the showing of a powerful film about Christian nationalism. They were invited to join the group and the collaboration between the two congregations began in earnest.
As the winter progressed, what started out as a study group quickly became a community group when they decided to show the film Bad Faith. A generous donation from a co-founder allowed them to purchase the rights for two showings, so they screened the film at both congregations’ sites. They began to collect contact information from interested parties, decided to meet regularly to keep the momentum going, began to organize themselves into something more than a temporary group, and chose a new name. Just a year later, Hoosiers United for Separation of Church and State emerged as a 501c3, complete with its own tax ID, bank account, email list of nearly 400, and website.