Hello from Houston (International Convocation of UU Women)

Hello from Houston, where I have swapped my Minnesota boots for--no, not cowboy boots--sandals! As I talk to folks back home and learn they've been dumped with eight more inches of snow, each blooming rose here smells a little sweeter.

And nothing smells as sweet as a roomful of committed activists--okay, I will drop that metaphor right here. We are mostly UU, mostly women, mostly from the US, mostly white, mostly older, BUT around the edges of what is familiar, very interesting differences: Folks here from 20 countries, new voices in plenary with much to say and teach, women listening to one another carefully about the way that many of us have complex identities around international matters and commitments.

Here's my favorite line from one of the women who worked tirelessly for years to bring this event together: "It all started in the back row of a UU choir practice."

Here are some of the most interesting questions we have been asked, as we sit in plenary:
"How do we connect capital to community, and distribute it so that everyone can use it?" (from Rebecca Adamson, Cherokee Nation, from First Peoples Worldwide, who engages in amazing advocacy around indigenous people's rights, including shareholder advocacy.
"How else would we have learned to speak if it wasn't imitating the sounds of nature?" (Rebecca Adamson)
"What conditions bring out the worst in us? What brings out the best in us?" (Frances Moore Lappe)
"What if God is our baby to bear?" (Rebecca Parker, quoting Annie Dillard)
"What is the antidote to violence centered religion?" (Rebecca Parker)

I could go on and on, but I am late for morning worship and so will not. Look at www.uua.org for more info about what's going on here; Eric Cherry is writing about it. He and Orelia Busch will also be blogging about it.

Rev. Meg Riley

The Visitor

The fourth in a series of blog posts this week inspired by movies highlighted in Sunday's Oscars Awards ceremony. Today, Lisa Swanson, Legislative Assistant for Economic and Racial Justice, blogs about The Visitor, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.

* * * * *

Jail Officer: He's been removed.

Prof. Walter Vale: Removed to where?

JO: Deported.

Vale: Deported? When?

JO: He was deported this morning.

Vale: How can that be? No, he - Um, sir, is there any way that I could contact him?

JO: I don't think so.

Vale: You don't think so? What kind of an answer is that?

JO: I'm sorry, sir. That's all the information that I have. Now, please step away from the window. You can contact I.C.E. if you have any further questions. The number's on the wall. Sir? Step away from the window, please. Sir. For the last time, step away... from the window.

Vale: You can't just take people away like that. Do you hear me? He was a good man, a good person. It's not fair! We are not just helpless children! He had a life! Do you hear me? I mean, do YOU hear ME? What's the matter with you?

--The Visitor, 2007. Photo of Richard Jenkins, who plays Professor Walter Vale, and Haaz Sleiman, who plays Tarek Khalil, taken by icmags, Creative Commons.

Over the winter holiday I bought a used copy of The Visitor and watched it with my parents. After having heard colleagues talk about the film for several months, it was interesting to finally see it.

The movie is about a college professor, Walter Vale, who finds a young couple squatting in his New York City apartment. Just as Walter's friendship with Tarek and Zainab is growing, Tarek is arrested for jumping a metro turnstile, and then detained for being undocumented.

Distressed, Tarek's mother arrives in the city to be near her son, in spite of the fact that she can't go to see him without putting herself in danger of being detained as well. Walter realizes that, as a citizen, he is the only person close to Tarek who is able to visit him safely. As he goes to see Tarek in the detention center over the next few weeks, his attachment to Tarek and his mother grows stronger--but so does the viewer's certainty that U.S. immigration policy will soon bring those relationships to an end.

As serious as the movie was, it was refreshing to see a movie that featured undocumented immigrants. Too often immigration issues are relegated to documentaries, which, in spite of being excellent, don't have a very wide appeal for mainstream audiences. That makes The Visitor an extremely valuable tool for introducing the issue of immigrant rights and immigration reform to folks who might not be tuned into the issue, but enjoy a good film.

The story itself was well-acted and visually lovely. Best of all, the film's makers are aware that the story of detainment and deportation isn't just fodder for a good drama, it's also a social justice issue. They've put together a good website - http://takepart.com/thevisitor/ - which offers a discussion guide, information about supporting detainees, and information about relevant legislation.

On the Path to Socially Responsible Investing

Julie Skye is a member of All Souls Tulsa and is a Registered Investment Advisor. She acts as a Family Back Office to 85 families and helps them organize, manage and co-ordinate all aspects of their financial lives including tax, estate and retirement planning. She has been doing pro-bono work with Foundations and non-profits for two decades and sees the connection between SRI and Social / Racial Justice. Passionate in her belief that we can do well, while we do good, she is Vice Chair of the All Souls Endowment Committee and offers seminars at the Sunday Emerson Forum titled “The Free Church Financial Forum.”

October 10th 2008: I arrive home Sunday night to learn I’ve been appointed to the UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing. I’ve been doing work in the areas of SRI, Social Justice, and Racial Justice for two decades, but I had never made it an integral part of my client’s portfolios. I’d held seminars on the topic and included a few SRI funds for clients, but in the back of my mind I knew that once I was fully committed to SRI there could be no turning back

Putting it into practice at All Souls in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I hadn’t realized how much work there was to do, although I knew our congregation had not embraced the concept of putting our social values and ethical beliefs first. It’s understandable when they hear pundits say things like, “Index Funds outperform actively managed funds” and “Index Funds outperform those lack-luster socially conscious funds.” Yet why would someone want to be a Unitarian and not align their social values with their financial decisions?

November 12th, 2008: Emails from Boston start coming in. The official appointment. Tim Brennan’s “Welcome.”

The first thing I do is Google “Unitarian Socially Responsible Investing.” I click my way to the Board Appointed Committees and print off the last three year’s worth of meeting minutes so I can see what work has been done. Pretty impressive…we are having dialogs with the big dogs. These are real companies…real people, real issues. Is there anyone NOT affected by what big business does? How do we affect change? Can we make a difference?

Then I search for Socially Responsible Investing and find there are 5,350,000 results, each with a different definition, focus, or slant. Obviously there are many different ways of looking at SRI. The Social Investment Forum states, “As a result of its investing strategies, SRI also works to enhance the bottom lines of the companies in question and, in so doing, delivers more long-term wealth to shareholders. In addition, SRI investors seek to build wealth in underserved communities worldwide. With SRI, investors can put their money to work to build a more sustainable world while earning competitive returns both today and over time.”

Wikipedia defines SRI as: “also known as sustainable investing or ethical investing, describes a strategy which seeks to maximize both financial return and social good.” Who could say that isn’t something worth striving for? Why wouldn’t every company want to maximize returns and the social good?

Once again I go back to the UUA site to see what other congregations are doing, and I find the Congregational Socially Responsible Investing - Spectrum of Involvement.

The purpose of this spectrum is to help congregations identify where they
stand along the path to socially responsible investing and financial practices.
This will allow them to better identify the steps required to reach the goals
they set for investing their congregation’s funds in a socially responsible
manner.

Stage I: Rising Awareness and Request for Transparency
Stage II: Opening Doors to Active Investing
Stage III: Strategic Alignment/ Implementation
Stage IV: On-Going Oversight: Keep Walking the Talk

After going through the Spectrum Worksheet, I realize that even though All Souls Tulsa is one of the largest Unitarian congregations in the world, we don’t have even a rising awareness for Socially Responsible Investing. I’m feeling pretty discouraged…what is it going to take to raise the awareness of our congregation? What will it take for our Board of Directors and the Endowment Committee to begin integrating SRI into our investments? Will battle lines be drawn over entrenched views? Will open minds come to the table because so much is at stake?

I share my sense of futility with my attorney friend Ron who sends me his thoughts. I’m encouraged that it seems so simple…his email shows me how he sizes up SRI. He shows me that SRI simply makes sense:

"The thirst for individual profiteering is difficult to overcome for those that have been feeding on the entitlement mill. I understand profit, efficiency, barriers to entry, and the concept (completely unworkable in its purest form where corruption, oligopolies, and monopolies exist) of free markets. I do not think those concepts incompatible with social responsibility."

Today our country is facing challenges that are formidable: every day I am surrounded by three screens of charts, financial news, and performance reports. Never has it been clearer: maximizing shareholder wealth is not simply a matter of making money in the short-term. Many stock prices are lower today than they were ten years ago.

For those who say that SRI just doesn’t perform as well as traditional investments, we suggest that the data does NOT support that statement. And that they ask: “Where are those excess profits and returns today? Are the companies who put profits before providing a quality environment for their employees still in business? And were the CEOs who found angles to maximize their salary also maximizing shareholder wealth or leaving companies in ruins after their short sighted business plans short circuited?

Americans want ethics and morals to return to the boardroom. We want to know we will leave our children with a healthy world that sustains them and our grandchildren. We have many change agents in place; now each of us needs to take action and voice that now is the time for Wall Street, Washington, and Main Street to come together and rebuild Corporate America.

February 10th 2009: I spent the week in Boston for my first face-to-face meeting with the other members of the UUA SRI Committee. We also sat in on the UUA Investment Committee meeting for the year end report on the UUA endowment. I am so impressed with the education, experience and commitment that each member of the various committees brought to the table.

Next time: We are presenting the first “draft” of our work to All Souls Tulsa’s Emerson Forum on March 8th…a presentation that the SRI Committee has been working on for much of the last year. Our goal? For the first “test drive” of the material we hope to turn into a workbook: a presentation that helps other congregations integrate their values, social justice work and corporate activism into their investing decisions.

Sign petition to hold Sheriff Arpaio accountable before this Saturday's rally

Community members of Phoenix, Arizona, and allies across the country are speaking out to hold local Sheriff Joe Arpaio accountable for racial profiling and mistreatment of immigrants. Watch the video below for more information about Sheriff Joe, and then sign the petition for a federal investigation. Below the video, learn more about how UUs have responded and what you can do.

SIGN THE PETITION - www.SheriffJoeMustGo.com

Find more ways to support Phoenix and get involved in your own community by visiting the 287(g)/Arpaio Action Page.

How Unitarian Universalists have been involved . . . .

• Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix wrote a Call to Action inviting UUs in Phoenix and across the country to support the campaign in Phoenix and find ways to get involved in their own communities.
• More than one hundred and ten UUs (and probably many more we don't know about) signed the petition for a federal investigation.
  
• The Washington Office published a front page article on UUA.org called, Honor Thy Neighbor: Speak Out Against Sheriff Arpaio and 287(g) Agreements, which describes Sheriff Arpaio's abuse of his authority and what people can do to support communities speaking out in Phoenix.
  
• Five Arizona UU ministers, including Rev. Diane Dowgiert of Tucson, Rev. Dr. Walter F. Wieder, lay minister Thomas A. Thode, Pacific Southwest District Executive Rev. Dr. Ken Brown, and Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray signed a letter to Napolitano calling for the rescindment of the 287(g) agreement that empowers Arpaio. The Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix, the Social Action Committee of Arlington Street Church in Boston, and the Latin America Taskforce Network of River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland, also signed.
  
• UU blogger David Neiwert posted an alert on his blog Orcinus as did the Unitarian Universalist Peace Ministry Network.
• Many Arizona UUs and others plan to participate in the rally to hold Sheriff Arpaio accountable in Phoenix this Saturday. If traveling to Phoenix from outside of Phoenix, email George Paul at gpauk [at] earthlink [dot] net to connect with area UUs. If you attend, please share your pictures and stories with us!
• This is hardly an exhaustive list. If your congregation has done something to stand in solidarity with Phoenix that you don't see on this list, please let us know so we can add it by sending an email to la_racialjustice [at] uua [dot] org.
  

Batman and Counter-Terrorism

The third in a series of blog posts this week inspired by movies highlighted in Sunday's Oscars Awards ceremony. Today, Alex Winnett, Program Associate for Peacemaking, discusses The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight won two awards--one for Best Supporting Actor and another for Best Sound Editing.

I was thrilled to hear that the late Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor at this year's Academy Awards. Not only was this an excellent tribute to an amazing actor we lost far too early in his career, it is also a recognition of his best performance ever.

Ledger won for his portrayal of Batman's arch-nemesis, The Joker, in the film adaptation of Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight. Ledger joined the ranks of such acting greats as Cesar Romero, Mark Hamill, and Jack Nicholson who took on the role of The Joker. But whereas Romero, Hamill and Nicholson played The Joker with a tongue-in-cheek campy insanity; Ledger's portrayal was dark, sinister and homicidal.

Ledger's Joker was the worst of every boogey man in our culture, a terrorist who understood the true power of terror: the ability to make an enemy an ally.

Last month, The National Review Online named The Dark Knight as the 12th Best Conservative Film of the last 25 years. One pundit made connections between Batman and Former President George W. Bush saying:

In his fight against the terrorist Joker, Batman has to devise new means of surveillance, push the limits of the law, and accept the hatred of the press and public.

But what the NRO forgets is that Batman fell into to the trap of the Joker's genius. The Joker was able to pull Batman down to his level and turn him into a fellow terrorist. Watching the movie again, I can't but notice the most heroic moments are not when Batman breaks the law, puts civilians in danger, or invalidates civil liberties; instead, we champion the moment when Batman's techy assistant, Lucius Fox, destroys a surveillance computer that would make the NSA drool. We mourn the loss of the white knight District Attorney, Harvey Dent, as he goes insane. And cheer when two ferries full of civilians and convicts respectively--when faced with a high stakes example of the prisoner's dilemma-- each decides to sacrifice themselves instead of the other--thus saving every one.

While the political right would like every one to make the connection that George W. Bush and his band of neo-cons are heroic Batman-esque figures, not every one sees it that way. When faced with destroying the principles your are attempting to save, it seems like Gen. Petraeus' principles of counterinsurgency hold true: the more force you use, the less effective it can be; tactical success guarantees nothing; and if you lose moral legitimacy, you lose the war.

Furthermore, we want to make every terrorist The Joker. We want to believe that every single person out there wanting to destroy the American system--from the Middle East to the Midwest--are all single minded homicidal maniacs who want nothing more than to kill, pilliage and destroy. But as Eboo Patel and Max Abrahms point out, the average terrorist is not Osama Bin Laden or Ayman al-Zahariri; but, rather a lost young adult who seeks refuge in a community of supporters. It is striking to see that all the 9/11 hijackers were no more than eight years older than myself. Some were even younger than I am now. Timothy McVeigh was only 23 when he blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Building in 1995.

While Commissioner Gordon announces, in a puritanical fashion, that Batman is the hero we deserve (in a world of fear and pain), but he is not the hero we want (one who will inspire us and give us hope), we are forced to ask if we should receive the hero we want or the one we deserve. If it is a choice between one who falls easily to the trappings of terrorism, or one who rises above it, I believe we should get the hero we want rather the one we deserve.

The first immigration raid of the Obama administration

"Immigration raids are ineffective: . . . immigration raids . . . have placed all the burdens of a broken system onto immigrant families." -- from the Obama-Biden Campaign website

Yesterday in Bellingham, Washington, the first immigration raid of the Obama administration took place at an engine remanufacturing company. 28 persons--about one third of the company's entire workforce--were arrested, with three women later released on humanitarian grounds (probably related to having children).

It would be a mixed metaphor to say that my heart fell--like combining "my face fell" with "my heart was heavy"--but that's exactly how I felt when I saw the headline. It has been painful to see comprehensive immigration reform take a backseat to other issues lately. Fixing health care, the economy, the environment, and education are extremely important. But as long we can't be passing comprehensive immigration reform, we should abstain in the meantime from raids that persecute hard workers whose sole crime is trying to secure a better life for their family.

Please call the White House at 202-456-1414 and tell President Barack Obama:

• The raid in Washington state is unacceptable, and hurts all of our communities.
• If you identify as a UU and feel comfortable using this language, we suggest saying: "I am a Unitarian Universalist--a person of faith/conscience--and my religious/ethical calling tells me to affirm the inherent worth and dignity of all people."
  
• The Unitarian Universalist Association passed an Action of Immediate Witness in 2007 calling for a moratorium on raids.
  
• Obama must stop unjust raids, and we must pass humane comprehensive immigration reform.

For news coverage of the raid, see:

• Immigration Officials Raid Bellingham Plant
• Raid in Washington State: A Call to Action!
  

Slumdog Millionaire

The second in a series of blog posts this week inspired by movies highlighted in Sunday's Oscars Awards ceremony. Today, Kathy Sreedhar, the director of the UUA Holdeen India Program, talks about the movie, Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog won eight academy awards, including best adapted screenplay, best director and best picture.

I have to confess, I loved Slumdog Millionaire. But then I love uplifting, entertaining films, especially fairy tales. A guy gets his girl in the end, overcoming huge obstacles and having the luck to know just the right answers to the game show questions.

However, the movie does not begin to address the basic structural and systemic problems of 836 million people in India who live on less than fifty cents a day. Nor does it show any courageous, committed leaders and groups who are organizing people to become aware of and demand their rights.

. . .Maybe next time.


Luckily for me, while I get to go to good movies in my spare time, I spend the bulk of my time with the UUA Holdeen India Program, engaged in the kind of system work that truly provides happy endings.

Chennai Unitarian Christian Church

Reprinted with permission from The Inquirer (The Voice of British and Irish Unitarians and Free Christians)

The new building of the Chennai Unitarian Christian Church was opened on 25 January amid scenes of joyful celebration. Warm messages of greeting and fellowship were received by the church from its Unitarian friends across the globe. The ceremony was attended by Rev Carleywell Lyngdoh, Executive Secretary of the Indian Council of Unitarian Churches, representatives from Unitarian churches in Meghalaya, Hyderabad, Assam, and Erode, and Jon Bagust and Mike West from the Edinburgh Unitarian church.

Contributions to the funding of the new building came from Chennai’s partner churches in Glasgow and Edinburgh, from congregations and friends across the United Kingdom, from Unitarian Universalists in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe and from fellow Unitarian friends in Meghalaya. In the UK some 29 Unitarian churches and 4 district associations responded to the appeal launched in 2006, and a large number of Unitarian individuals and friends contributed, either directly, or through their churches.

It was clear that the appeal funds sent to the Chennai congregation for the new building (a total of £27,100) had been put to exceptionally good use. The building programme had been managed very capably indeed and the result was a beautiful modern church and first floor hall with many fine features.

On opening the new church Edinburgh Unitarian Jon Bagust reflected on the worst monsoon weather in living memory in December 2005 which had accelerated the deterioration of their 200 year old building and led to the launch of an appeal in 2006. He noted that the Chennai church might be the loneliest on the planet, but that it had an abundance of well wishers across the globe who admired the Chennai church for its outreach work in the Chennai community and its support for the children at the night school in the rural village Ammanambakkam. He quoted the words of the Tamil poet Tiru Valluvar, who said “There is nothing more glorious than to persist in the advance of the community” Jon expressed his special admiration for the speedy and successful way in which the Rev Harrison Kingsley had organised and managed the rebuilding of their church.

The Chennai church expressed their deep gratitude to all those who had given donations, and also thanked personally the builders, masons, carpenters and other tradesmen who attended the opening ceremony. Their visitors were splendidly entertained by a programme of Indian dance and song followed by a celebratory meal.

Reflections on MILK

This is the first in a series of blog posts this week, inspired by movies high-lighted in last night's Oscars Awards ceremony. Today, the director of our Advocacy & Witness staff group, Meg Riley, talks about the movie, Milk. Sean Penn won an Oscar for his portrayal of Harvey Milk.

Harvey Milk was murdered the year I came out, 1978. At that time in my life, I ate, drank, worked, volunteered, danced, slept, read, listen, processed and otherwise lived lesbian. Yet I don’t remember hearing a word about Milk's murder until New Year's Eve, 1979, when Holly Near and Meg Christian came from California to Minnesota to perform at A Woman's CoffeeHouse, and I first heard the song, We are a Gentle, Angry People. At that point, Near described the tense scene of thousands of angry people in the streets, and how this song was created to focus and channel their energy nonviolently.

Watching the movie, Milk, it is completely clear why a 24/7 young dyke wouldn’t have heard about Milk and his death. At that point, at least in my neck of the woods, gays were men and lesbians were feminists. My community was much more about processing the relationships between heterosexual women and lesbians, or about white women and women of color, than it was about processing those between gay men and lesbians. Indeed, in my own life and in the life of BGLT culture, it took the AIDS epidemic to really bring lesbians and gay men together in significant ways.

Still, having watched the 1984 documentary The Life and Times of Harvey Milk, I noticed that even the tiny bit of lesbian/gay solidarity that Milk embodied had been edited out of this most recent version of his story. With the exception of the motorcycle riding dyke who was Milk's campaign manager and longtime assistant, there are no women at all in the story. When Milk grabs the mike and lists groups with whom gay men need to be in solidarity, women are nowhere mentioned.

Having said all that, I loved this movie and was thrilled that Sean Penn got Best Actor for his work, because I thought he was fantastic. Penn moved into a level of comfort with straight-acting-gay work that included kissing and touch—light years ahead of Tom Hanks, who was not allowed to kiss his partner in the movie Philadelphia, for which he also won an Oscar.

Mostly I'm thrilled when I think of the young kids in the middle of adolescent angst about emerging sexual preference who now have a role model for coming out proud, as well as some information about how BGLT rights have evolved to the point where they have. I hope that this movie is tonic for self-hate and for fear, not only for white gay men but for everyone who feels scared and marginalized in this world. May we each imagine shouting fearlessly into a bullhorn, on behalf of those who have no voice, "I’m here to recruit you!"

The UUA offers a study guide to the movie, Milk.

25 things about the UUA's International Resources Office

The International Resources Office also put a "25 things about..." note on our Facebook page.

1. A corner of the IRO office is dedicated as a memorial to Rev. Dr. Homer Jack!

2. When people walk into the office and see the bust of Albert Schweizer on our bookshelf, they usually mistakenly think it’s Stalin.

3. Our office has a collection of international hymnals.

4. The UUA has a strong Japan connection! For example, the Tsubaki Grand Shrine Scholarship is available to Unitarian Universalist seminarians (in candidate status) attending non-UU theological Schools who have an interest in international and interfaith engagement.

5. The UUA’s largest congregation (besides CLF) is outside the United States - the UU Church of the Philippines.

6. The International Resources Office (IRO) contains a number of gifts from the Unitarian Union of North East India, including a small model of "Khasi Tools and Implements."

7. The UUA has three international ambassadors: Rev. John Gibbons (Ambassador to the Transylvanian Unitarian Church), Rev. Fred Muir (Ambassador to the UU Church of the Philippines) and Rev. Abhi Janamanchi (Ambassador to North East India).

8. You can learn all about the UUA’s history of international engagement by viewing this three-part PowerPoint presentation!

9. The Faith Without Borders program was originally introduced and launched in June 2008 at General Assembly.

10. The IRO profiles congregations that shine in the arena of international engagement.

11. The IRO’s intern, Erik Resley, grew up in Germany and currently attends Harvard Divinity School.

12. The IRO offers an “International Engagement Workshop,” which is designed for congregations to develop or redesign their international engagement.

13. Experienced Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) ministers are invited to consider applying to spend 3-4 months of a sabbatical with the UUCP providing skill development in a variety of areas.

14. For more than a decade the UU Partner Church Council (UUPCC) Pilgrimage Service has helped to cement the bonds between North American UUs and their partners overseas. There are year-round opportunities to attend pilgrimages in Transylvania and the Philippines!

15. The IRO's Administrative Assistant, Nicole McConvery, also works with The Goethe-Institut Boston.

16. One of the windows at the IRO directly overlooks the Massachusetts State House.

17. The IRO's bi-monthly e-newsletter is called "i-news".

18. The IRO has reports, blogposts, slide-shows, and a variety of other materials from UUA President Sinkford's November 2008 Pilgrimage to Africa.

19. You can reach the IRO's director, Eric Cherry, via Skype: Rev.Eric.Cherry.

20. The IRO is a member of the UUA's Advocacy and Witness Department and blogs at uuasocialjustice.blogspot.com.

21. The Unitarian Church of Transylvania recently elected a new Bishop, and celebrated the 440th anniversary of the Edict of Torda.

22. Six UU organizations involved in International Engagement are sharing a large booth at the UUA's General Assembly. Be sure to visit us.
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23. The IRO will be presenting workshops at the Pacific NW District, Ohio Meadville District, St. Lawrence District, Metro NY District, and Pacific SW District Annual Meetings this Spring.

24. The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists publishes a "Global Chalice Lighting" every month.

25. We're located at 25 Beacon Street, on the third floor. Come for a visit or visit us online at www.uua.org/international.

Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Where the Money Is Going

President Obama signed the $787 Billion Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law earlier this week. The law marks a monumental shift in how we choose to allocate our resources. We saw the Bush administration pass emergency spending measures to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghansitan time and time again. Then, in the face of the economic crisis, President Bush chose to bailout banks, financial institutions, and insurers. One month into the Obama Administration, his first emergency supplemental will save our schools, environment, and infrastructure, things that benefit every American. Here we take a look at how the bill impacts the UUA's Legislative Objectives for the 111th Congress. While it advanced many of our objectives, it must be noted that on some issues (immigration and reproductive health), we took some steps backwards. But on the whole, given our objectives, this law is cause for celebration!

Environmental Justice

In 2007, both the Green Jobs Act and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant were made law, but the necessary funding was not appropriated. Times have quickly changed and we see an unprecedented commitment towards green jobs and energy efficiency. The Economic Recovery bill invests $500 million in the Green Jobs Act, an increase of 400% of the original allocation. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant is getting $3.2 billion, an increase of over 50%. And the Weatherization Assistance Program is getting $5 billion. These investments will create green jobs, creating employment opportunities for unemployed and under-employed workers, as well as reduce the energy costs of low-income families.


Peace

Peacemaking means creating safe places for children everywhere - including the United States.

$54 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid to school districts, with up to $10 billion for school repair will allow children in the US to learn and grow in healthy and comfortable environments.


Gulf Coast Recovery

$375 million is going to the Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen Mississippi River levees.
$500,000 is going to create an ombudsman for FEMA to arbitrate Rita and Katrina related damages
$100,000 is going to support volunteer efforts for Gulf Coast Recovery through Dept of Labor (Americorps)


Violence Against Womens

The Economic Recovery bill includes $325 million in critical funding for the Violence Against Women Act and the Victims of Crime Act. This money will provide states with grants for doing work to combat domestic violence and help fund transitional housing for survivors of violence. $100 million of this money dedicated to the Victims of Crime Act will create and sustain thousands of jobs for victim advocates and specialized law enforcement officers.


Reproductive Health

However, funding that would have expanded Medicaid coverage to allow more women and families to obtain contraception and family planning services was one of the first things to be cut from the original stimulus package. Women living in poverty are four times more likely to have an unintended pregnancy and five times more likely to have an unintended birth than women who live above the poverty line. The family planning funding in the stimulus plan would have increased the reproductive freedom of thousands of women and saved money on health services due to the consequences of unintended pregnancy in the long run. (From the Claremont Port Side magazine). $87 billion over the course of two years was provided that will protect people who are currently eligible to receive family planning services through Medicaid comprehensive coverage.


Immigration

$720 million is going towards improving security at the border and ports of entry. A significant proportion of that money is going towards the continued construction on the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. This wall is opposed by a broad coalition of immigration activists, environmentalists, ranchers and other property owners, and local governments. Not only does it increase misery and risk of death for undocumented workers, but also for endangered wildlife. The wall should be torn down, not further funded.


For more information on the Recovery and Reinvestment Act and its impact, see the White House's new website devoted to providing full transparency on the recovery process: recovery.gov.

Changes in Darfur

This past Tuesday, the Sudanese government announced they made a peace agreement with one of the rebel groups in Darfur. In the agreement, members of the rebel organization Justice and Equity Movement (JEM) would be released from prison in return for a complete ceasefire from the JEM.

This is big news as the JEM was one of the many rebel organizations to be left out of a ceasefire agreement made by the Sudanese government last November.

This news comes quickly after an announcement made the International Criminal Court saying the Court had collected enough evidence to possibly try the Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir for crimes against humanity. President Al-Bashir has been implicated in a bloody and brutal six year-long anti-insurgency campaign against rebel groups such as JEM. This campaign has included public murders, rapes, and the displacement of entire villages. Many in the wider global community have said there is no way to characterize this conflict other than genocide. While no arrest warrant for Mr. Bashir has yet been issued, this has added considerable pressure on the Sudanese government to make a timely and sustainable peace agreement with the rebel groups.

Over the past six years, a conservative estimate of 300,000 people have been killed due to the conflict and another 2.7 million people have been displaced, primarily to Chad.

We encourage you to write a letter to President Obama asking him to uphold the commitment he made to Darfur during his presidential campaign. For more information please visit the UUA's Darfur Action Center.

25 Things--from the UUA Washington Office

Surely by now you've heard of the "25 Things" trend circulating on Facebook. We wrote one for the UUA Washington Office on our Advocacy & Witness Initiatives of the UUA Facebook profile, and decided to share it here for those of you aren't on Facebook.

1. Our acting director, Adam, begins emails to office staff with the phrase, “Dear Friends of Justice.”
   


2. On Adam’s first day as Acting Director, Lisa, Grace, and Alex stayed up all night filling his office with balloons.
   


3. The Washington Office for Advocacy is the largest UUA office located outside of Boston.
   


4. We drink two pots of fair trade coffee every day!!!!!!!
   


5. Over 4,500 people subscribe to our weekly Advocacy Newsletter, which keeps folks updated on federal legislation and other opportunities for action.
   


6. After the shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church this past fall, we folded dozens of paper cranes and mailed them to the affected congregations.
   


7. Some of the resources we’ve put out in the past year include Lisa’s Welcoming Our Neighbors: An Immigration Resource for Unitarian Universalists and Alex’s Unitarian Universalists and Islam: An Introduction to Interfaith Dialogue and Reading Group Guide.
   


8. Our director, Rob Keithan, is currently doing a ministerial internship at First UU Church of Portland, but will return in June to be our fearless leader again. Rob’s other religion is beer.
   


9. The Washington Office is located at 666 11th St. Sadly, the new building owners have decided to change our address to 1100 G Street, so we’ll no longer have the “Mark of the Beast” as a conversation piece.
   


10. We have fourteen legislative objectives for the 111th Congress.
    


11. To avoid implying rank of importance in lists, we alphabetize. That’s why we say “BGLT” instead of “GLBT” or “LGBT.”
    


12. The Washington Office is part of the Advocacy & Witness (A&W) staff group, directed by Rev. Meg Riley. Meg’s other religion is gardening.
    


13. We begin each A&W staff meeting with a quirky question to determine the order of the agenda. For example, what’s your favorite cartoon? Kat’s is the Power Puff Girls.
    


14. Along with Congregational Advocacy & Witness, we maintain the Social Justice pages of the UUA website.


15. We set aside time at every A&W staff meeting to celebrate the successes of the past week, from press conferences to lobby visits to a good tomato harvest in our gardens at home.
    


16. Lisa bakes vegan muffins for her Interfaith Immigration Coalition meetings and they are delicious.


17. Our annual Sexuality, Education, and Advocacy Training (SEAT) program is in its fifth year of bringing Unitarian Universalists, United Church of Christ members, and Reform Jews from across the country to lobby for comprehensive sexuality education.
    


18. While Alex is a life-long Unitarian Universalist, he’s been deeply influenced by his Quaker college, Earlham, and is our resident “listener.” His other religion is burritos.
    


19. Our staff blog Inspired Faith, Effective Action got the most traffic when we covered the Compassion Forum last fall and the Inauguration last month.
    
    
20. The Washington Office uses 100% post-consumer recycled paper for our daily printing needs.


21. The newest member of our office, Orelia, recently returned from two years of Peace Corps service in Burkina Faso.
    


22. Every Wednesday morning, our office members meet for Theological Reflection (TR) with our office minister, Alida DeCoster, to help keep our work always grounded in our faith. On the Wednesday following the presidential election, we held TR outside the White House.
    
    
23. Our current Action of the Month for February is Speak Up for BGLT Equality.


24. All members of the Washington Office walk, bike or take public transportation to and from work.


25. The Washington Office shares space with Taquiena Boston, the director of the UUA’s Identity-Based Ministries (IDBM), and will share a booth with IDBM at General Assembly. Come by and visit us!

The Freedom to Marry - For Free

Rev. Elizabeth 'Kit' Ketcham has been serving the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island since 2003. She leads worship services there approximately twice a month, and her efforts have included assisting the congregation in becoming a Welcoming Congregation, open and welcoming to sexual minorities. She also provides pastoral care, consultation to committees and individuals, and rites of passage ceremonies. You can read her blog: Miss Kitty's Saloon and Road Show.

Beaming at me before our worship service that Sunday, Maggie and Andrea (not their real names) confided their good news: they were engaged and planning to be married next summer. And, by the way, would I perform the ceremony for them?

"Congratulations!" was my immediate response and "Of course I'll perform your ceremony! It will be an honor."

When these two radiant young women lighted a candle that morning at Joys and Concerns to announce their engagement and upcoming marriage, the delight on the faces of our Whidbey Island congregation was clear. In the short time they'd been attending our services, they had won the hearts of all who had gotten to know them.

Of course, civil marriage is not yet a civil right in Washington State, though our legislature has enacted increasingly protective domestic partnership laws. To complicate matters further, one of these young women is in the Navy, stationed in Oak Harbor on the north end of the island. She risks her career if she even registers as a domestic partner.

After church, I got to thinking. At present, I serve this congregation part-time and must charge a fee for extra services such as weddings and memorials.

But I didn't want to charge Maggie and Andrea. I wanted them to use our beautiful new sanctuary for their wedding and as members of the congregation, they would have that benefit. I wanted their wedding ceremony to be a gift as well.

And then an idea popped into my head: what if we as a congregation offered the use of our new sanctuary and my services as officiant for any Whidbey Island same sex couples who wanted to celebrate their marriage of the heart, as a gift during the year 2009, and as a way to offset some of the heartache and distress caused by the passage of Prop 8 in California and similar measures around the country?

So I started vetting the idea with colleagues and friends, garnering in the process a lot of good will and good feedback about how to make it successful. After pulling together all the ideas and getting the approval of our board of trustees and the enthusiasm of the congregation, I wrote a press release and an op ed essay for our local newspaper.

When the editor of the South Whidbey Record received the information, he sent out a reporter and placed the news story on the front page of our twice-weekly paper, with the op ed essay and press release in a later edition.

We expected to have some blowback, but it has virtually all been positive. Even an online criticism was polite, not hostile. Instead of hostility or vandalism or outrage, our attendance at worship immediately jumped. People stopped me at the gym and wanted to know more. Local merchants have offered discounts---20% off a wedding cake for same sex couples getting married; a local caterer has added our information to his website; and a local photographer has offered her services for wedding photos.

In addition, a few UU colleagues are considering how they might use this idea in their own communities and some of my local colleagues, pastors who don't have the same freedom granted by their denominational governing bodies, have expressed their support and their desire to be helpful if possible.

Offering this gift of acceptance and honor for relationships between people who love and are committed to one another has been a great boon for us as a congregation and has demonstrated to the larger community that we are standing on the side of love.

Click here to see the article in the South Whidbey Record. The op-ed piece written by Rev. Ketcham, as well as the press release detailing the congregation's offer were published in the print version of the paper.

Freedom to Marry - A Wave of Action

All over the country, people have been speaking out for marriage equality and Unitarian Universalists have been overwhelmingly showing the nation that we stand firmly on the side of love and equal rights for all. Same sex couples from Hawaii to New York have been applying for marriage licenses, marching, and speaking outside of city halls.

Read and listen to the words of Rev. Bryan Jessup of the UU Church of Fresno.

See photos of the Freedom to Marry protest in Dallas, Texas from the Dallas Voice.

Learn more about how you can support marriage equality and what others are doing nationwide at Join the Impact, and Tell-three.org.

And if you haven't seen it yet, please watch this video that was put together by the Courage Campaign, and share it with your friends and loved ones. Marriage equality is about love and justice for so many families in this country.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Freedom to be a Family

Zach Walls is a senior at West High in Iowa City, Iowa. When he graduates this spring, Zach plans to spend a year in Germany with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange before attending the University of Iowa. You can read about him in this article from his local paper, the Iowa Press-Citizen.

I remember it pretty clearly. I was playing with a friend at my house, I was four or so, and I burst into my mom’s room screaming, “Mommy! Mommy! Where’s Daddy?” I was sooo confused.

She sat me down and explained in-vitro fertilization to me, but I didn’t really understand until I was in my later elementary school years. Through seventh grade I lied about having a dad. I told people that he took me skiing and the like every so often. Complete fabrication. I’ve never met Donor 1033 and probably never will.

It wasn’t until my eighth grade year that I began to hear about the problems that certain people had with my family structure. I remember watching the 2004 Republican National Convention at school and listening to all these straight white men bash homosexuals and their families. I took notes on all the things that these people said, compiled a list of flaws in their arguments and presented them in class when the convention was finally finished. My notes were filled with words of immense hatred directed at the gay community: that same-sex marriage is un-American, that it threatens the sanctity of marriage (but Britney Spears doesn’t?), that it's unethical, that it will lead to polygamy, that it will lead to bestiality, that it's harmful to kids.

I took personal offense at the last one. Mom, my biological mother, and Jackie, her partner of twelve years, are damn good parents. Of course our family isn’t perfect: my sister and mom fight like mothers and daughters will; Jackie incessantly reminds me to do my chores; the dog barks at other dogs.

To argue that same-sex couples can't raise children who go on to become productive members of society seemed simply ridiculous. In the eighth grade I thought I was really smart. I was twelve. I had taken accelerated classes in elementary school. I knew everything. For these people who had never met me, who didn’t know me and didn’t want to know me, to insult me and my family, was outrageous. It made me angry and I took up the traditional liberal line of resenting and opposing intolerance.

It wasn’t until a few years down the road that I began to think I might have it wrong. Sure, there are people who hate me (a straight, white, male, for the record), hate my family and hate everything we are. But that’s their prerogative.

I can't truly understand why they feel the way they do, but I can see how they would potentially arrive there. We are often afraid of what we do not understand and if we are unwilling to make an attempt at understanding, there is little hope for reconciliation. I remember the words and wisdom of Yoda, who was way smarter than he is given credit for. He counsels, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

My anger has ebbed. I still fight for the advancement of civil rights for homosexuals and will gladly debate an opponent when the issue is raised, but I have come to understand that I cannot hate somebody for simply holding a particular belief. It is as Dr. King once said, “Darkness cannot extinguish darkness. Only light can do that.”

So I’m going to let my light shine and work and fight, but I will not succumb to the hate and anger that people may try to bait me into. That’s the easy way out. It is much more difficult to try to understand and love and resolve differences. But it’s worth it. It is most assuredly worth it.

Freedom to Marry - Our Faith Demands It

Rev. Keith Kron is the Director of the Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Concerns at the UUA. A graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry, he spent nine years as an elementary school teacher in Lexington, KY. He collects children's books and plays tennis.

I grew up pretty much like a lot of folks. I was repeatedly reminded to tuck in my shirt, or at the very least, untuck all of it. I went to church. I anxiously awaited my new copy of Sports Illustrated in every Friday’s mail. I vegged out by watching M*A*S*H* and way too many reruns of Gilligan’s Island. I was taken care of by parents who assured me I could grow up to be anything I wanted to be and would some day fall in love and get married.

My parents, like so many, did not know they were lying. Like most people they assumed I would fall in love with a woman and get married. At 14, it would be my subscription to Sports Illustrated that would be the awakening of a different reality.

Sitting on my grandmother’s couch, looking at the pictures of the Boston Red Sox’s two star outfielders, Jim Rice and Fred Lynn, it hit me. This wasn’t just admiration, it was a crush. And there went my parents’ promise out the window. At the time I didn’t worry about whether or not I could get married, but whether or not I could keep quiet about my sexual orientation and avoid harassment, violence, institutionalization and deprogramming until my adulthood. Then perhaps I could find my center fielder and live a quiet life with my “best friend.” That seemed the best I could hope for in 1975 in Kentucky.

Now, I hope for more. Youth still get harassed, attacked, institutionalized, and “deprogrammed”, but there are also role models of couples who’ve gotten married in several states and Canada, gay characters on television and in the movies, and a far greater acceptance than I might have thought would ever be possible at fourteen.

It’s progress. But progress is not equality. And it won’t happen until full marriage is welcomed for same-sex couples.

The current marriage debate hinges for me on two arguments:

1) Marriage is about love.
2) People should be treated equally and fairly.

The first statement is a newer thing. Shakespeare was way ahead of his time. Throughout most of human history, marriage was an arrangement between families, often as much about how many goats a family might get through an arranged marriage (or whatever might make families more prosperous) and rarely about love. In these times, which still exist in parts of the world, sexual orientation really didn’t matter. You weren’t marrying because someone caught the glimmer of your eye and stole your heart. You married because it was arranged. In some places where it wasn’t about money, people didn’t even bother to get married.

But somewhere along the line, marriage became about the heart—and not just the Disney kind, but the kind where a person agreed to be with someone over time, to take care of the other person, to be a constant. That’s been a common belief here in the United States for over 100 years.

The second statement is also a newer thing. Even our constitution says “All Men are created equal.” It’s only recently that many of us have begun believing in the value of treating all people equally because we are inherently equal. Women, people of color, people with disabilities and many others still face inequality.

Yet if you believe that this is the goal and if you believe that marriage is about love, then how can you not support marriage for same-sex couples?

When I realized my crush as a 14 year old, one of the leading arguments against equal rights for women was that it would permit same-sex couples to marry. But Unitarian Universalism was already coming from a different place. In 1975, our faith had created, funded, and staffed a small office to do work on homophobia. We had passed a resolution supporting nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and had included the issue in our sexuality education for youth. Now some 34 years later, we see the results of this in our congregations and in our lives. Actually, some of our ministers even began performing ceremonies for same sex couples before 1975.

A current look at what 34 years of work on homophobia has reaped. We have many valued openly b/g/l/t ministers, welcome families with same sex parents, over 60% of our congregations explicitly welcome b/g/l/t members, and they were instrumental in helping to legalize same sex marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Our congregations have grown and prospered. Our children are not only unharmed by this, but now they understand that children can grow up in families with all kinds of parents. As one UU college student put it, after being asked why she was supporting the rights of b/g/l/t people, “I grew up a UU. It’s my religion.”

The sky has yet to fall, not only in Unitarian Universalism but also in Massachusetts. The only difference one can see in Massachusetts since the 2004 beginning of same-sex marriages is that my beloved Boston Red Sox have won not one but two World Series. (The Patriots and Celtics also have championships since 2004.)

In fact, our families seem to be strengthened by having same-sex couples and b/g/l/t people in our midst, where children can talk about loving their two dads or their Aunts Jane and Lisa. Our youth are less anxious about sex and sexual orientation and more likely to talk about loving someone, and our adults are advocating for full equality for all people.

During Freedom to Marry Week, each of us can speak out in conversations with neighbors and friends, at work and with our families about marriage being about love and equal rights for all people—working toward a day when we can truthfully tell all our children that they will some day grow up, fall in love, become a responsible adult, and get married.

It’s our religion.

Why Legal Marriage Matters

Audra Friend (front) is the Program Coordinator at the Unitarian Universalist Association Office for Congregational Advocacy and Witness. She lives in Boston with her wife, Audrey Fergason.

I have a wide range of pins and buttons decorating the corkboard in my office. My walls are dotted with posters and signs. Even my water bottle is collaged with slogans and logos: Freedom to Marry Coalition, Amnesty OUTfront!, Equal Marriage NOW, and Human Rights Campaign.

But my favorite token of support for marriage equality is the silver wedding ring on my left hand.

As of today, I've been married for four months. If you had asked me four months ago if a legal marriage would change anything for me, I would have said no. My wife and I were committed to each other; our families supported us; my work and her school were welcoming communities. Legal marriage seemed momentous to be sure, but I was confident my life wouldn't change.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Moments after my boss, Susan Leslie, who was solemnized for the day to perform our wedding, signed the marriage license, my world changed. My mother cried and hugged my wife – her new daughter-in-law – and my wife's teenaged cousins crowed that we were now legally connected. My younger brother – who married before me – joked that I was officially a big girl. Surrounded by our friends and family, all who had the benefit of legal marriage, my wife and I found that our relationship had changed in their minds.

Audrey and I feel quite blessed to be in a state where we can be legally married, a sentiment driven home to us when we traveled to New York and North Carolina in January. Even though we happily had no problems, we both realized that despite our wedding rings, our commitment, our families, and our legal marriage, we had no protections as a couple outside of Massachusetts. It was a sobering reminder of how important the fight for marriage equality is and how so many couples in the United States are not as lucky as we are.

All relationships deserve to be treated equally. This week, consider having a conversation with someone about marriage equality. Freedom to Marry offers some conversation starters. If you are married, consider your ring as your token of support for marriage equality and lift up your voice with ours.

Correspondence from an Australian Unitarian

Dear Unitarian Friends,

Australia is in a state of shock as the toll from devastation from the Victorian bush-fires slowly unfolds. It is expected that the death toll will be in excess of 200 with many in hospitals and others still unaccounted for and missing. The bushland around the fire area was truly beautiful, abounding with wildlife and a paradise for those who lived there. Now there is a blackened empty expanse of death and smouldering ashes for hundreds of thousands of acres.

I have just picked up a colleague from the airport who was at his home in Maryville (the town with greatest death toll) on Sunday. He said that on Sunday the radio reported that the fire-front was 10kms away so he got up on the roof to put the sprinklers on. By the time he got down, embers were falling 3 kms away, so he packed his wife, dog and two elderly neighbours in his car and drove 1/2 hr away to safety with minutes to spare. His house was totally destroyed. Only 2 cars got out on his access road. It is hard to imagine the terror that everyone experienced that day.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army are running appeals to provide emergency provisions and assistance for the survivors. Many businesses and community groups are pulling together to give financial support for ongoing care. For those folk who live in Victoria almost everyone knows someone affected by the tragedy. The community compassion expressed puts all other spoken of "tragedies" (such as the financial crisis) in a different perspective. Some people really know what it is to lose everything.

Our prayers, acts of kindness and generosity are summoned to give what support is possible.

Thank you for your thoughts,
Pauline

Pauline Rooney is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (representing ANZUUA), and a member of the Unitarian Church of South Australia (Adelaide)

Capturing Transylvania through the Lens

Stephen Spinder, an American professional photographer who has been living and working in Budapest, Hungary for the last twelve years, held a discussion and book-signing event at the Coop Bookstore in Harvard Square, MA on February 9, 2009. Driven by his interest in Hungarian folk music and dancing, Spinder eventually found himself in the former-Hungarian, now-Romanian province of Transylvania, capturing the daily lives and customs of the region’s inhabitants through his photographic lens. Whereas snapshots merely record a scene, photographs seek to create a scene. Indeed, it was precisely such a secret knowledge of place – the genius loci of Roman mythology – that inspired and sustained Spinder’s artistic journey.

In his recent publication entitled “Ten Years in Transylvania,” Spinder collects images of Hungarian villages in Transylvania, home to Unitarian congregations since Francis Davíd preached there in 1566. Today, Unitarianism remains a dynamic force in the region. Inverting the popular proverb, Spinder maintains that “every story tells a picture.” Besides presenting an insider view of village life in the area, Spinder’s work raises important theological issues for Unitarian Universalists in the United States: what stories do we tell about the legacy and role of Transylvanian Unitarianism in our faith?

"What Would You Do?" explores racism against day laborers

In January, ABC News ran an episode of What Would You Do? that explored racism against Spanish-speaking day laborers.

What Would You Do? explores ethics by secretly filming bystanders' reactions to staged incidents of behavior such as shoplifting and sexual harassment. The Confronting Racism episode that aired on January 7 examined how customers reacted when a deli worker--a paid actor--refused to serve two Latino day laborers--also paid actors. The (pretend) deli worker referred to the (pretend) day laborers as "illegal" and made a number of racially and ethnically charged remarks, such as, "We don't speak Mexican here," in front of (not pretend!) customers.

Over two days, eighty-eight people came into the store while What Would You Do? ran its experiment. Of that number, forty-nine chose not to get involved in the situation.

Nine customers sided with the deli worker--one even offered to remove the day laborers from the store himself. That man later changed his mind after watching from the sidelines as the experiment repeated itself.

On the other end of the spectrum, thirty individuals stood up and spoke out against the deli worker's racist actions. Some offered to buy the day laborers' meals, and others asked to speak to the deli worker's manager. Several vowed not to return to the store.

The fifteen minute video is a powerful and moving conversation starter for how people of faith can honor the inherent worth and dignity of immigrants. For me, it drove home the point that although our opinions about policy and laws are important, when we interact with one another, our faith calls us to regard each other first and foremost as fellow human beings.

As the show's host John Quinoñes said,

"It’s a highly charged, volatile subject with emotions running high on both sides over legal and illegal immigrants and whether they have a right to be here. But when it comes to something as simple as being served a cup of coffee, why should any of that matter?"

Check it out: view What Would You Do?: Confronting Racism in America.

Sign the Marriage Resolution

Rev. Ricky Hoyt is a Unitarian Universalist minister, author, and spiritual director serving a congregation in the Los Angeles area. You can read his blog and find out more about his ministry on his website. He is pictured below with his husband, Peleg Top.

I'm not the type to sign online petitions. I don't add my name to open letters, at least not very often. I don't forward "this important message" to all of my friends. I seldom call the governor's office and punch numbers on the automated phone system to register my support or outrage about some crucial issue. I've almost never written a letter to my congressional representatives, except in those cases where someone at the social justice table at church has made it ridiculously easy for me.

Spiritually I just don't want to get that worked up. I have a limited amount of passion and resources, and I don't want to squander them by keeping myself anxious about everything day after day, week after week. Spiritually I'd rather take a walk outside, enjoy the sunshine, or the rain. I'd rather think about theology than legislation. I'd rather read the newspaper than the latest emotional plea from a non-profit, social justice, advocacy group in my inbox. The truth is I'd rather take a nap than go stand on a street corner with a sign. I'd rather stay at home, sitting on the couch, watching Grey's Anatomy with my husband.

So I understand people's reluctance to get involved in the marriage equality movement. It happens to be an issue close to my heart (see the above reference to sitting on the couch with my husband) but I hardly expect the same issue has risen to the top of every person's social justice agenda. But I've also learned something concerning this issue that makes for very effective social justice action and that fits very well with my reluctance to add my name to lists and forward petitions and contact my elected officials.

I'm absolutely convinced that the greatest contribution I have made to the marriage equality movement is that I have been openly gay, openly partnered, and openly in support of this issue. I've shown people who know me: my family, friends, people at the church, even sometimes people I barely know at Starbucks and the gym and the barbershop, that I'm a person who knows about this issue and cares about this issue in a personal way because it's actually about my life, not some abstract principle. I have also, on this issue, taken more deliberative and pointed actions in support of marriage equality. But more effective than any of that, I've simply lived my life as a married gay man (sitting on the couch watching Grey's Anatomy and so on) and whenever it was natural and appropriate I wouldn't be shy about letting people know about me and see that side of my life.

It's a lot easier to be against "gay marriage" than it is to know me and be against "Ricky's marriage." It's hard to match any of the rhetorical arguments against marriage equality with the actual experience of knowing me and my husband and who we are and how we live our lives. So I don't sign online petitions but I do have a website for my ministry where you wouldn't have to search too long to discover I'm a married gay man, and I'm happy to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. I don't sign open letters or forward emails to all my friends, but I am who I am on my facebook page and when I send an email to my friends and it mentions my husband they know who that is and why our marriage is important and worth protecting. I don't call the Governor very often but I call my folks every week and I ask about their marriage and they ask about mine.

I hope a lot of people are spending this week writing and calling and speaking out and marching or sitting and forwarding and adding their names and so on. God bless you. If you're the type, here's a link to an online resolution that the Freedom to Marry folks are encouraging everyone to sign and email to their friends. Do it. I did. It wasn't too hard and I didn't have to get too worked up about it.

But also consider outing yourself as a marriage equality supporter and using all the regular places that you call and write and stand and speak out to announce your position on this issue. Don't shove it down anybody's throat but find a way to bring it up. "You know I actually know a gay couple who got married last summer." "I can't for the life of me imagine how anyone could object to my friend's marriage." "My church married a lesbian couple last month and it was beautiful." Update your face book status to say, "... is celebrating Freedom to Marry week." Write a blog post about the lesbian couple who lived down the street from you when you were a kid. Get a new bumper sticker supporting marriage equality and stick it over that John Kerry bumper sticker that won't come off.

Then go watch Grey's Anatomy.

Rev. Cain Publishes Letter Supporting Stimulus Package

Rev. Cynthia Cain, minister of the UU Church of Lexington, published a letter-to-the-editor in the Lexington Herald-Leader on Saturday calling on the Senate to pass the economic stimulus package. She used some of the statistics within the Washington Office's letter to the Senate calling on them to Right our Moral Balance.

The stimulus package is expected to be voted on today or tomorrow. Once voted upon, it will go to a conference committee made up of leaders from the Senate and the House of Representatives. That committee will reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill. The reconciled bill that emerges from that committee has to be approved by the full House and Senate before going to President Obama for his signature.

Congress returns to their home districts this Friday for a week long in-district work period. It is essential that they complete this work before Friday!

Now is a crucial time to write letters to your local paper calling for your members of Congress to finish work on the stimulus package so that America can get back to work. The Washington Office for Advocacy has a resource offering many useful tips on writing a letter-to-the-editor.

Join us in supporting the stimulus package to save and create jobs, improve our shared infrastructure, develop safe and modern learning environments, and meet the sustainable energy needs of the future.

Freedom to Marry - freedom from fear

Today's post is written by the Rev. Dr. Matt Tittle, minister of the Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston, Texas. He is also a retired naval officer, former university professor, marathon runner, and triathlete. Matt and his wife Gail have two children, Alex (16) and Andy (11).

On Valentines Day, as I have done for several years, I will again co-officiate Houston's Freedom to Marry wedding ceremony where as many as fifty gay and lesbian couples will get married. Every time I participate in this ceremony, or conduct an individual wedding ceremony for a same-sex couple, I am brought back to the holy in a unique way. Of course, the holy is present at every wedding. To facilitate the public profession of the sacred bond of love between two people is a deep honor and privilege. But to marry a couple whose profession is most often ignored and rejected by society at large comes with additional responsibility and accountability--responsibility to work tirelessly for the day when discrimination is neither legislated by the government nor perpetuated by ignorance--accountability to God and to humanity that all souls are able to live with equal freedoms and without fear.

Whenever I perform same-sex wedding, I say the following:

Although the State of Texas does not yet recognize marriage between same-sex couples, this is in no way diminishes the union we celebrate today. This couple is formalizing their commitment today not before the laws of the state, but before the loving witness of each other, of their families and friends, and before that which is holy and sacred to them in their love for one another. All love is holy. The bonds of marriage are unique that two people, who began their lives apart, find one another and recognize the joy they experience in one another. In our society, the romantic bond of love between two women or between two men is usually received with misunderstanding, fear, and constant discrimination. Love in the face of such obstacles is tested unlike that of most couples. This love has to be even stronger in the face of adversity, this is indeed a sacred bond of a very special love.

And yet, I am saddened every time I say these words because I shouldn't have to. I am saddened that fear and disdain of the other perpetuates such discrimination. Human beings are naturally afraid of what they don't understand. Most heterosexuals don't understand what it means to be gay. I always recommend asking a gay or lesbian person about their lives. If you think you don't know anyone, think again. They are in your neighborhood, at work, at school, in line at the grocery store with their families, and sitting next to you in church. Most of them will tell you that they are afraid too. They are afraid of losing their jobs, their children, their homes, their extended families and friends, or worse. They are afraid of being the victims of violent hate crimes. Sadly, there is more than enough evidence to support all of their fears. Ironically, there isn't a shred of evidence to support being afraid of homosexuality or what might happen if marriage was a universal right between two loving people.

I can't understand why anyone would deny same-sex couples the right to marry. Because they can't procreate together? Neither can many heterosexual couples, but we allow them to marry. Because homosexuality is a sin? Even if it was, all of us have sinned, and should think twice before throwing stones. But homosexuality is not a sin. It is not a choice. It is not a lifestyle. If you don't understand this, think about when you decided to be heterosexual. Chances are you never decided. Being heterosexual is simply who you are. Everyone falls in love and everyone should have the same right to solemnize and legalize their loving, healthy, and monogamous relationship. Should we deny same-sex marriage because it threatens traditional marriage? No. Honoring lifelong love and commitment between two people does not weaken, but strengthens, the institution of marriage regardless of whether they are man and woman, man and man, or woman and woman.

Freedom to marry for all loving couples is not only a step toward building a beloved community--it is a step away from the fear that grips our lives.

For those who will respond to this post with their own disdain, using as absolute authority either scripture or research to deny marriage equality (as folks always do when I have the audacity to promote the virtue of love and equality), I ask you to try something different this time. Here are some suggestions:

• Come to the ceremony on Valentines Day (or go to one in your area if you are not in Houston).
• Talk deeply with your gay family member or friend (you do have one) about their lives.
• Go see the movie "Milk."
• Rent or buy the documentary, "For the Bible Tells Me So."

In short, do anything that is an authentic step toward loving your neighbor and loving your enemy as yourself and learning about someone who is different than you before you see fit to condemn them.

Blessings,

Rev. Matt

This entry was reprinted from Rev. Dr. Matt Tittle's blog "Keep The Faith," which is hosted by the Houston Chronicle.

Freedom to Marry Week

We are officially kicking off Freedom to Marry Week, February 8th through 14th! “7 Conversations in 7 Days,” sponsored by Freedom to Marry, focuses on the reality that having a conversation with another individual, with your faith community, with your legislator, helps effectively promote marriage equality in your community and nationwide.

From February 8th through 14th, the UUA will celebrate Freedom to Marry Week by posting stories and essays written by prominent Unitarian Universalist ministers and marriage equality activists. If you haven't already, we invite you to visit the UUA’s Action of the Month website and pledge to take action, including lobbying your elected representatives to promote BGLT equality.

There are so many ways for you to be involved in this event! Visit the Freedom to Marry website for videos about marriage equality, conversation starters, and ideas on how you can make a difference. Start conversations about marriage equality at home or at church, write about marriage equality in your own blog or post your own short video on youtube. Donate your facebook status for the day or week to marriage equality, and invite your friends on facebook to participate in Freedom to Marry Week.

"Standing on the Side of Love," a video produced by the Unitarian Universalist Association, makes clear that we as people of faith support marriage equality. This video uses images, gathered from Unitarian Universalists across North America who have advocated for marriage equality, been joined in equal marriage, and/or had their marriage officated by Unitarian Universalist clergy.

Check out the video below and please share it with others! The conversations we start this week can create a spiral of influence -- encouraging everyone who is touched to stand on the side of love.

Is Unitarian Universalism a Prophetic Church?

Any Facebook friends who've paid attention to my "status" will know that the recent Convocation on Theology of Justice and Ministries has been on my mind for the last two weeks. Last week, my status worried that I might not make it to a session due to winter ice. This week, I've spent more time pondering what came out of the discussions, such as wondering "whether Unitarian Universalism can preach to both the comfortable and the afflicted in the same congregation(s)." From talking with others who attended, I know that I am not alone in being deeply impacted by the experience. Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, the president of Starr King School for Ministry and a presenter at the Convocation, even mentions the Convocation (and our blog) in her e-newsletter to the seminary.

At a meeting of the First UU Church of Second Life last night, I asked fellow UUs there whether they consider Unitarian Universalism to be a "prophetic church." This question, of course, raised other questions: what does it mean to be a prophetic church? After making clear that I did not mean a church that predicts the future, but rather a church that speaks the truth of justice to unjust power structures, we moved on to other questions. Have we been a prophetic church in the past? Are we now? Will we be in the future?

Due to logistics, the Convocation was not open to everyone, but these discussions are not meant to be limited to attendees. Essays were submitted, presentations were filmed, and a book and a DVD will come out of this for others to have the same chance for reflection. In addition, this will be taken up at the social justice track of UU University at General Assembly in Salt Lake City.

But in the mean time, I am asking our readers what I asked the UUs of Second Life: Is Unitarian Universalism a prophetic church? Do you want it to be, and if so in what way?

Join the UUA Washington Office's Call for Senators to Pass Stimulus Package

Yesterday, the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy sent every Senator a letter calling for passage of the economic stimulus package and a document comparing spending components of the stimulus package with the ten largest military contracts from 2008.

Now is the time to tell your Senators to pass this important legislation. We are getting word that Senate offices are hearing far more from constituents who oppose the package. Read our document and then call both your Senators using the capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Tell them to act quickly and pass the economic stimulus plan!

Statement of Conscience to Be Sent to General Assembly

The UUA Bylaws requires a 25% quorum of congregations to send a Statement of Conscience--a comment on where the UU community stands on a social justice issue--to General Assembly--the annual business meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association. On Monday, February 2^nd, the congregational poll asking whether or not the Statement on Peacemaking should be voted upon at GA closed. A record total of 81% of congregations participated in this poll! The resolution to send the Statement on Peacemaking to General Assembly overwhelmingly passed with over 40% of all congregations approving of the measure compared to the less than 1% who voted it down.

This is a huge success. In the past, less than 10% of congregations have participated in the congregational poll for a Statement of Conscience. Congregations decided how they would vote in the poll in a myriad of ways. Many congregations held congregational meetings to discuss and vote on the measure. Other congregations empowered their social justice teams or ministers to speak on behalf of the congregation.

Feedback was also collected by congregations and delivered to the Commission on Social Witness.
The Commission on Social Witness (the committee that is in charge of the UUA's social justice statements) will take the results and feedback and edit the draft Statement of Conscience in early March. That draft will be sent to congregations in preparation for the vote at General Assembly.

Statements of Conscience require a 2/3 majority vote to be passed at General Assembly. With almost 40% of congregations supporting the discussion of peacemaking at GA of 2009, this makes the passage of a Statement of Conscience on Peacemaking a real possibility.

If your congregation is not participating in the peacemaking study action issue, it is not too late to begin. You can get more information at uua.org/peacemaking or by emailing peacemaking @ uua.org

International Resources Office Now on Facebook

The latest pervasive, must-have technology since the invention of the cell phone, Facebook is everywhere. And it's growing.

Combining the best features of email, MySpace, and other Web 2.0 technology, 374,000 people join Facebook each day to connect, reconnect, and interact.

So, it's about time the International Resources Office joined the (page) ranks of the Facebook-o-sphere (or maybe it's Facebook-o-verse?)!

The versatility of the Facebook layout allows for our office resources to be neatly listed and easily navigable. You can find out about upcoming events, learn more about the Faith Without Borders program, and hear announcements about new resources available at our uua.org home.

Staying connected has never been easier.
If you're already on Facebook, come find us!