Please visit the IARF Website:
And for further information:
"The IARF is the oldest international interfaith organization and currently has 70 member groups in 25 countries and representatives at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva. The IARF assists its members in developing strategies in their own communities to foster interfaith understanding and cooperation, support for human rights, and respect for religious differences."
Please visit the IARF Website:
And for further information:
I attended an IARF conference in Palo Alto a few years back; I know active members. I have seen the faces of the IARF, heard their voices. The brevity of the description above does not do justice to the breadth and importance of their work. I need mention no more than Ireland, Israel/Palestine and Bosnia to demonstrate the need for religious tolerance in this world. The IARF seeks, in the spirit of understanding and compassion, to mediate and save lives. What nobler work is there?
"Founded in 1969 and are located next to Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek, the Mount Diablo Peace Center works to build a more just and peaceful world through personal citizen involvement. The Peace Center strives to end violence by nurturing peace on all levels, between nations, communities, individuals, and within ourselves."
Visit the Mt. Diablo Peace Center Website, the
For more information:
Our family first met MDPC founder Andy Baltzo in 1976 and we've been walking together ever since. I believe, as Andy says, that "we all do the best we can" as an affirmation of the positive side of our nature, and we believe strongly in the growth of humankind's goodness. Carol and the Peace Center, with Andy's spiritual guidance, continue and embrace the constant task of living up to that ideal.
"Our historical roots are in the Jewish and Christian traditions; our foundation is freedom of religious thought and worship. We keep an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places, and believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. And we are a "Welcoming Congregation" to persons of all sexual orientations."
Please visit the MDUUC Website:
For more information:
This church is my home and these people are my family. I am proud of our voice of reason and of compassion in and our outreach to the greater community. Freedom of religious worship has been our bedrock since our birth in the mid-sixteenth century and the ideals of Universalism and of Unitarianism as expressed in the Declaration of Independence by one of our forefathers continue to illuminate, inspire and urge to action.
"Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion born of the Jewish and Christian traditions. We keep our minds open to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places, believing that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion. We put religious insights to the test of our hearts and minds and will not be bound by a statement of belief. We believe that religious wisdom is ever changing, celebrating unfolding truths known to teachers, prophets and sages throughout the ages. We affirm the worth of all women and men and seek to act as a moral force in the world, believing that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion. Each Unitarian Universalist congregation is the fulfillment of a long heritage that goes back hundreds of years to courageous people who struggled for freedom in thought and faith. Today a warm welcome awaits you."
Visit our UUA Website:
For more information:
You may obtain information on the UUA Campus Ministries by writing Donna Discuillo
I'm sure you can feel my regard for the UUA by the way I speak of her
children & myriad kin.
Within the UUA I mention the UU's Campus
Ministry Outreach in particular as, among other things, it teaches kids that
going to church needn't mean checking their brains at the door. And as I feel
that social action is best informed by a personal theology, this program vitally
informs the voices of our future.
"UUMN is a continental organization founded in 1983 to support our denomination's musicians, professional and volunteer, and welcomes all musicians, ministers, music committee members and others who are want to make a "joyful noise." UUMN members are music directors, conductors, singers, instrumentalists, composers, ministers, music committee members, and members of congregations. We are amatuers and professionals, ranging from highly experienced to novice. Our membership also includes congregations who support the UUMN's work and purposes."
Visit the UUMN Website:
For more information:
Our former (and Hugely missed!) music director at MDUUC, the Angel Michaels, is a member of the U.U. Musicians Network. If you wish to network with liberal religious musicians, this is the resource.
UUSC has a long history of human rights work. The Unitarian Universalist
Service Committee was founded in 1939 to help women, men and children escape
Nazi tyranny and oppression in Europe. The work of the Service Committee
continues to be motivated by the conviction that all people are endowed with
basic human rights that transcend divisions of class, race, nationality, sexual
orientation, ethnicity, religion or gender. Over the past half-century, UUSC has
put this belief into action in more than 50 countries.
Today, UUSC
continues to confront injustice by combining human rights education and advocacy
in the United States with direct support for grassroots initiatives in other
countries. Grounded in Unitarian Universalist principles that affirm the worth,
dignity and human rights of every person, and the interdependence of all life,
the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is a voluntary, independent
non-sectarian organization working to advance justice throughout the world.
UUSC is an associate member of the Unitarian Universalist Association, but
receives no general financial support from the UUA."
Grounded in
Unitarian Universalist principles that affirm the worth, dignity and human
rights of every person, and the interdependence of all life, the Unitarian
Universalist Service Committee is a voluntary, tax-exempt (501C3), independent
non-sectarian organization working to advance justice throughout the world.
UUSC is an associate member of the Unitarian Universalist Association, but
receives no general financial support from the UUA."
You are invited to visit the
Website.
As a Unitarian family for many years (since way before the Universalists merged with us), we have long been supportive of the UUSC. I gave a bit more space than others in the description above, though it is one worthy among many worthies. Perhaps the shade of my Unitarian minister grandfather was prompting me.
"The Purposes of Young Religious Unitarian Universalists:
"Young Religious Unitarian Universalists shall serve its members for the
purposes of fostering spiritual depth, creating a peaceful community on earth
and peace within us, and clarifying both individual and universal religious
values as part of our growth process. Our purposes are to provide and manifest a
greater understanding of Unitarian Universalism, and to encourage the flow of
communication between youth and adults.
"In doing so, we shall
nurture the freedom and integrity of the questioning mind, and embrace all
persons of diverse backgrounds. We shall encourage the development of a spirit
of independence and responsibility.
"We shall strive to support
our members and member groups with educational resources, a communications
network, and with love.
"These purposes shall assist us in
developing an effective system for social action, and serve to raise our levels
of mutual respect, communication, and community consciousness."
So hey, check it out on the Web!
& for more info:
Any UU who's been there will understand what I mean when I say I've become a GA junkie. One of the reasons was the vast representation of our UU youth one summer in Indianapolis, home of my grandfather, the Rev. Dr. Frank Scott Corey Wicks' church, All Souls. I just want to see more and more young people there until I feel really old! Then I'll be almost satisfied. Please support our young people. And don't you just love the acronym, YRUU!
