Students of different ages, nationalities, ethnicities and beliefs explore what moral courage means for their lives and how they can develop it for the betterment of their own communities.

The course covers a wide array of texts written by morally courageous icons: Martin Luther King Jr., Christian reformer Anne Hutchinson, U.S. revolutionary Thomas Paine, Nobel literature laureate Doris Lessing, Senator Robert F. Kennedy and many others. But the point is not merely to study leaders; it is to produce leaders. Students are challenged to question their own convictions without falling prey to relativism, the doctrine of “anything goes.”

You can find the course syllabus here. You can also watch some of the students — and Prof. Manji herself — in action:

Class video 1: How to get the most from this class

Class video 2: Taking A Stand

Class video 3: Identity Versus Integrity

Class video 4: Why Have Progressives Turned Their Backs On Universal Human Rights?

Class video 5: My Head Hurts

Part of the mission of the Moral Courage Project is to encourage and promote the free exchange of ideas. Because this is so important to us we have created the following list of “tips” for new bloggers with the hope that more readers will take the plunge and start using blogs such as ours as a platform for critical thought and self-expression.

Practicing expressing yourself online is the perfect way to obtain more self confidence and be morally courageous in all aspects of life! We hope this will be a helpful resource and welcome any feedback on what MCP can do to help new bloggers.

Tips for new bloggers

1) Where do I leave my comments?

Click here for easy to follow instructions on responding to posts on www.moralcourage.com.

2) Start small.

The best way to get used to blogging is to join, or start a conversation by leaving a comment on one of our posts. MCP offers a safe, supportive place to express yourself. The more you practice by sharing conversations the easier and more fun it will become.

“I leave comments on blogs to correct any mis-information I feel needs to be challenged, to educate people on topics that I feel I have a good amount of knowledge about, to bring up other related but neglected issues, and to test my theories and stances on things by making them public and allowing other people who care about the issue to criticize me and bring new ideas to light that I may have never thought about. It’s all about having an open mind and the pursuit of the truth whether convenient or not. The pursuit of truth is, or should be, the holy grail of the blogosphere!”–AnthonyNYC

3) Don’t post and run

Readers don’t like bloggers who don’t respond to comments. You don’t have to respond to each comment individually, but you should be engaging your readers.

4) Be brave, support each other. Blogging can be tough, because people often act more aggressively online than they would in person. If you are feeling nervous about sharing your opinions, take the plunge!

An open mind is a terrible thing to waste. All you have to lose are your misconceptions.

“I’m not much of a blogger so I was hesitant to post anything on the Moral Courage website at first. Although I do consider myself a writer, I was strangely intimidated by the thought of posting my opinion on there. After posting my first reply, however, I felt very comfortable expressing myself on the site. I encourage anyone who feels they have something to say about any of the topics listed, to go ahead and post your opinion no matter how strange, random or irrelevant it may seem to you, lol. After the first post, it gets easier.” GenesisBe

5) Prime the pump

Oftentimes, readers don’t comment on a site because they are waiting to see what the culture of that blog is like, or see what other people have to say first. But there is a kind of herd mentality – people will sit back and wait for someone else to make a comment first. We can support one another’s writing by priming the pump and leaving comments on one another’s posts.

6) Shorter=better. Really!

Short posts and comments receive more views and prompt more responses because they are easier to read. If you have a lot to say about a topic, consider writing a blog post about it, or breaking one post into several. Be creative; consider writing a “series” of posts related to the same topic.

If you have a lot to say when responding to a post or comment, save some of your thoughts and spread them over the length of the conversation. Remember, the goal is to facilitate dialog, if you have a lot to say you don’t have to say it all at once.

7) Use specific headlines. If writing a blog post, use a title that is creative and specific as possible. Readers want to know what a post is about before they will start to read.

If you are responding to a post, consider using a creative title to attract people to your comment and solicit a response.

Share a conversation, start a global dialog.

Get started today!

Thank you to Serena Freewomyn for help with the blogging tips!