Westminster Town Hall Forum: An Inspired Idea

By Barbara Mauk, Town Hall Forum board

The Town Hall Forum has been a Westminster institution for 31 remarkable years. From its first speaker, Archibald Cox, to its most recent, Tom Brokaw, the Forum has reached audiences in all parts of Minnesota and beyond. It was founded in 1980 by the Rev. Donald Meisel and Westminster members Dianne and Paul Neimann. In a reminiscence presented to TGOF in 2004, Dr. Meisel recalled those early days when the idea of a forum was taking shape:

"In the winter of 1980, parishioners Diane and Paul Neimann were having dinner with Eleanor and me at the manse on East Lake Harriet Parkway. They knew that Westminster had come up with a new mission statement with a commitment to be A Telling Presence in the City, and they wanted to do their part to make this happen.

During our conversation over the dinner table, an idea emerged. Paul remembered the Noon-day forums he attended while a student at the University of Pittsburgh. Why not a forum like that at Westminster? It seemed a splendid fit, given the church’s location on the Nicollet Mall in the heart of the city and given a Presbyterian heritage that calls people to be responsible to and for the society around them. A few days later, Diane came to my office, and we formulated the overarching rubric for this endeavor - Voices of Conscience: Key Issues in Ethical Perspective.

We also made a decision to follow the National Press Club format with a 30-minute speaker’s presentation followed by a half-hour of questions and answers. Minnesota Public Radio championed the forums from the beginning, and with rare exception, they have broadcast each presentation. While the Forum does not receive funds from Westminster's operating budget — an agreement made with Session when the idea was first proposed to them —support comes from individual church members and from friends in the community and co-sponsoring organizations.”

At the conclusion of his remarks, Dr. Meisel offered a comment from one of the Forum’s most distinguished speakers, Elie Wiesel, who summed up the power of the Westminster Town Hall Forum in his 1983 address:

“I admire you for what you are doing here. To break up the day in the lives of so many people, to bring them out of their doors and away from their endeavors, and to say to them, ‘Come and meditate together with us for one hour.’ I wish this could be imitated all over the world — simply to stop for an hour and think.”

And that’s the blessing of the Westminster Town Hall Forum.