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UUs at Capital PRIDE

CSnavely — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:48:20 +0000

We Need You! Support the LGBT Community & Show Your UU Pride

Since June 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in NYC, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people gather once a year. All across the world now, Pride celebrations draw the LGBT community and its allies together to support one another and vividly demonstrate, with pride, their demand to be treated with dignity and respect. Given that we live in the Nation’s Capital, Washington, DC’s Capital Pride is an especially important event.

This year, UUs across the region are joining forces at Capital Pride on Saturday, June 9th and Sunday, June 10th to bear witness to our faith, which calls us to honor the inherent worth and dignity of all people. And, we plan to talk with LGBT and allied people looking for a welcoming spiritual home and encourage them to consider a UU Church. The ”Unitarian Universalists of DC, MD & VA and the Washington Ethical Society” will participate as one group in the Capital Pride festivities.

So join in the fun! Wear your rainbow garb and/or your Standing on the Side of Love t-shirt on Saturday and participate with dozens (maybe hundreds) of area UU’s in the Pride Parade (4:00pm-7:00pm including line-up) and/or volunteer to greet people and pass out information on Sunday at the Pride Festival (11:00am-6:00pm; setup at 10:00am; tear-down until 7:00pm – one or two hour shifts).

Showing of Documentary “Hidden Battles”

CSnavely — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:35:56 +0000

Monday, May 28, 2012, 6:30 pm – Potluck; 65-minute film at 7 pm. HIDDEN BATTLES is an intimate and powerful documentary about what it means to kill another human being during war, as told by five men and women who have pulled the trigger.

For soldiers there is no clean break between the past of war and the present, and each deals with killing in his or her own unique way. HIDDEN BATTLES shows five ways in which this act is integrated into five different lives. Ultimately these stories testify to the resilience of the human spirit and hopefulness for the future.

We present it on Memorial Day, a day of remembrance and recognition of Americans who died in war while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Discussion following the film will include reflections on the meaning of Memorial Day from peace advocacy, religious, and veterans’ perspectives—including yours.

Sponsored by Peace Action Montgomery, Veterans for Peace, and UUCR/Social Justice Committee. Web address here: http://peaceactionmc.org/2012/05/see-a-film-with-us-on-memorial-day/. Held at Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville, 100 Welsh Park Dr, Rockville, MD | Directions here: http://www.uucr.org/directions.php. FREE

Forum on HIV/AIDS

CSnavely — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:30:23 +0000

Whitman-Walker Health and 40 Community Co-Sponsors will host a forum on the current state of HIV/AIDS on Tuesday, July 24, at Lisner Auditorium, 730 21^st St., NW, at 7:00 pm. “Return to Lisner” will be held in the same venue as DC’s first HIV/AIDS forum on April 4, 1983.

Take Back the American Dream Conference

CSnavely — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:24:36 +0000

Thousands of progressives will converge on the nation’s capital June 18 to 20 for the “Take Back the American Dream” conference, a major event where progressives from across the country will gather to plan strategies and goals for the 2012 elections.

Click here to register for the three-day conference.

Health Care for America Now is joining with the conference sponsor, the Campaign for America’s Future, to welcome Paul Krugman, Van Jones, Melissa Harris-Perry, Sandra Fluke, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Katrina vanden Heuvel and Howard Dean to three days of progressive empowerment.

HCAN will be working to forge a progressive majority and doing whatever it takes to protect and expand the Affordable Care Act and ensure that you make your health care decisions, not the for-profit insurance companies.

Inspired by the Occupy movement, the 99% Spring and progressive action in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere, the “Take Back the American Dream” conference will mobilize all of us to help send a clear message to our elected officials. We will not allow the 1% to condemn us to ineffective austerity policies and undermine Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other programs that working and middle-class Americans need if they are to achieve the American Dream.

Click here to register for now for the “Take Back the American Dream” conference from June 18 to 20 in Washington, D.C.

Invitation to Clergy Conference on Social Justice from UU Service Committee

CSnavely — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:58:45 +0000

Please join me for this summer’s Star Island clergy conference: Faith, Justice, and Incarnation!

During the week of Saturday, August 4, to Friday, August 10, 2012, I and other staff from UUSC will be leading programs on theologies of social justice and strategies for successfully mobilizing congregations.

I am excited to be presenting two sessions:

—How Social Change Happens

—The Theological Bases for Social Justice

Additional workshop leaders and topics:

—Martha Thompson, manager of UUSC’s Rights in Humanitarian Crises Program
Incarnating Our Values in the Face of Humanitarian Crises

—Patricia Jones, manager of UUSC’s Environmental Justice Program
Incarnating Our Values for Environmental Justice

—Rev. Brock Leach, UUSC vice president for mission, strategy, and innovation
Incarnating Our Values for Economic Justice

—Rev. Brock Leach and Rev. John Gibbons, UUSC’s 2009–2011 board chair
Bringing It Home: How Ministers and Congregations Can Be Effective Advocates for Social Justice

—Rev. John Gibbons
UUSC’s Ministerial Leadership Group

These programs have been designed specifically for ministers, to support you in your work. We’re looking forward to nourishing a community of justice-minded ministers during this week together. To be part of this experience, register today.

Star Island is an ideal place for reflection, renewal, and relationship building. I hope you will join us there in August.

Sincerely,

Bill Schulz
President and CEO

Help Make Anti-Torture Movie

CSnavely — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:17:29 +0000

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) is promoting a variety of resources and activities for congregations and people of faith to use during Torture Awareness Month (June). The theme for June — “2012 – Confronting the Culture of Torture” — highlights the degree to which torture has taken root in American culture and consciousness.

One creative and powerful way to confront the culture of torture is to help Hollywood producer Doug Liman make a documentary film that will feature people like you and members of your congregation reading from some of the documents that reveal the details of our nation’s decision to engage in torture. Join NRCAT supporters across the country in using this opportunity to give visibility to the diversity of religious traditions opposed to the use of torture. Click here to learn how you and your congregation can participate.

Help make the Reckoning With Torture movie!

Open Meeting of Advocacy Group Against Slavery and Human Trafficking Howard County, MD

CSnavely — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:55:37 +0000

Howard County AGAST (Advocacy Group Against Slavery & Trafficking) will be holding an open meeting on Tuesday, June 5 at 7pm at our Owen Brown Interfaith Center to further develop their initiatives for making a difference in the fight against Human Trafficking of Sex and Labor victims in Howard County and the State of Maryland. AGAST’s goals are to better educate the public, protect our young, work with law enforcement and help develop and lobby for better laws to protect victims and punish the criminals.

Faith, Mountains and the Economy: A Trip of Perspective to Wise County Virginia

CSnavely — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:49:55 +0000

July 11-15

Why come? Awareness-to learn about and witness the devastating effects of Mountain top removal strip mining on Wise County communities of Central Appalachia-dismantle stereotypes, build relationships

Lifestyles—make the connection between our energy demands and the earth’s limited resources.

Action- becoming a part of the solution personally and politically

We will learn from, and be inspired by individuals and groups who are bringing creative solutions to this environmental injustice.

For more information about this trip or to receive a trip application, please contact Mike Little at (202) 469-8512 or mike(at)faithandmoneynetwork.org. Deadline for applications: June 15th 2012 Scholarships’ are available.

Faith Speaking to the Economy

CSnavely — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:36:24 +0000

Wednesday, June 13 7:30pm-8:45pm

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, Nourse Hall
3001 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

RVSP or for more information, click here.

This event is sponsored by Interfaith Center’s Center for Advancing Justice. An InterFaith Forum on national and local economic trends and how faith informs our views and response With panelists: Hays Gorey, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax and Jenny Reed, DC Fiscal Policy Institute

June is Torture Awareness Month

CSnavely — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:09:46 +0000

June 26th is United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims. Several years ago, religious and human rights organizations in the United States declared the month of June to be Torture Awareness Month as a way to provide greater visibility to this issue and provide an opportunity for coordinated efforts across the country.

http://www.nrcat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=298&Itemid=219