One of the things you learn when you hang out with religious professionals is that no matter the religious affiliation, denomination, or theological stripe of the religious professional, the same kinds of situations pop up in congregations. [yes, I’m talking about congregationally-based religious professionals, not community-based ones]

So….I talked to a friend of mine earlier today about something that happened at a retreat with their vestry/worship committee/worship associates to plot out their year. Things were going well until the group hit THAT Sunday. You know what Sunday if you really think about it. That’s right….things went well until they came up on MLK Jr. Sunday. Soon as my friend told me what Sunday, I had to take a deep breath because I have heard this same story multiple times.

“We need to find somebody black to preach on MLK Sunday.” Many vestrys/worship committees/worship associates have said the same thing.

Here’s the question: Why?

Why did part of this group feel that they HAD to have somebody of African descent be the guest speaker on that Sunday? Why not have a Black speaker on the third Sunday of April? Why MLK Sunday?

And for those of us who have a little more planning room when it comes to worship, why is the only time there is some diversity in the readings on special Sundays  [MLK, Pride, etc.]?

Shallow diversity is not diversity at all, my friends. It’s tokenism. And no member of a marginalized community wants to be a token.

To quote my friend who told me the age-old story today, “for those who think it might be a great idea to “find a black person to preach on MLK Sunday,” but never think to diversify their list of guest preachers otherwise, we pray.”

Lord, hear our prayer.

“Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged.” The immortal poet Rumi says that, and in so doing, he is at one with our Unitarian Universalist heart. He is at one with our history. In 1568, the first and only Unitarian King in history—King John Sigismund—declared, “In every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel, each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well; if not, no one shall compel them, for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the Superintendents (Bishops) or others shall annoy or abuse the preachers on account of their religion, … or allow any to be imprisoned or punished by removal from his post on account of his teachings, for faith is the gift of God.” A person’s faith is their secret way of being with the mystery, and it cannot be compelled by any external force, it can’t even be compelled by the person in question gritting their teeth and trying to force themselves to believe. It comes from a place within that’s deeper than trying, it comes from the soul, it comes from God.

For almost 500 years, this has been our tradition. Tolerance is synonymous with who we are.

But it’s nevertheless complicated. It’s confusing.

At times, it’s tolerance that leads us to allow bad behavior in our congregations. We don’t hold offenders accountable, because tolerance. A few years back, on a UU minister’s email chat, there was a thread on this topic, and one story had to do with a congregant who regularly laced the social hour beverage with LSD and the leadership tolerated it for almost an entire year. Another story had to do with a congregant who was known by a few folks as a sexual violator and he began preying on women in the congregation and leadership did nothing. Yet another story—all sorts of stories, actually—about individuals who would berate others viciously in person and by email and people sort of sighed and tolerated it.

Is this truly what tolerance requires of us?

Confusion can also hound us as we consider ideas and convictions. The Rev. Kathleen Korb says, “I once got in serious trouble with a fellow UU for what she considered my intolerance in religion. How dared I say that Unitarian Universalism is better in any way than other religions? Our truth is just as partial as that of others — as indeed, of course, it is. All I could legitimately say, she felt, is that Unitarian Universalism is better for me than other religions are.” But then Rev. Korb goes on to say, “It always seems strange to me that after saying this with all sincerity we get so upset when our children grow up and choose to become Roman Catholics or fundamentalist born-again Christians, or Scientologists….” Would this truly make King John Sigismund proud? No one disagreeing because disagreement feels too judgy? No one debating ideas about religion and human nature and politics because the whole idea of progress from error towards greater truth feels threatening?

What would our ancestors, who gave their very lives in service to their/our faith, say?

And what would they say about times we’ve been silent in the face of oppression? Offensiveness is one thing—offensiveness can be the atrocious table manners of kids, or that person who keeps on checking text messages while talking to you. Offensiveness makes you feel uncomfortable, hurts your feelings. But oppression reinforces the status of marginalized folks. Oppression is when someone tells a racist or sexist joke, and it’s not just about hurt feelings. It’s political. The humor acts like a drug on bystanders, it releases inhibitions, it makes it ok to go along with the discrimination, it solidifies it even further. It solidifies injustice.

Does tolerance extend even to such things? Might we even measure the degree of our virtue by how hard we work to shut up and say nothing and do nothing when, for example, he-who-shall-not-be-named recently told his supporters at a rally in North Carolina that “Second Amendment people” could deal with she-who-shall-not-be-named in case she’s elected President? Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. That little assassination joke.

Does tolerance demand that we pretend nothing happened?

Now, I know I’m asking a lot of rhetorical questions, and some of the answers might seem obvious. But when we try to hold folks accountable for their bad behavior, we really can get called out as intolerant. When we stand up for what we believe, we really can get called out. We can even call ourselves out. We can fall into anxious hand-wringing when, for example, we sense our disgust and anger towards conservative evangelical Christians who condemn GLBTQ people as morally perverse and straight on the way to hell. We sense the disgust and anger in ourselves, which flows out of the very correct insight that conservative evangelical Christians reinforce larger cultural prejudices and give covert permission to those who are inclined to take their prejudices and translate them into violence. But when we sense that disgust and anger, we call ourselves out! We wring our hands and beat our chests! We say, “We need to be more tolerant!”

And you better believe, we get called out by conservatives. One popular meme goes, “I’m a tolerant liberal. Agree with me OR ELSE, you racist, sexist, homophobic, islamophobic, inbred, redneck, bible-thumping, NASCAR loving, gun-toting, America-loving bigots!” We are charged with liberal hypocrisy, and we may well wonder—are they right?

We seem so far away from the sweet pure insight of Rumi, according to which each of us has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged. We seem so far away from our beautiful Unitarian King whose Edict on Toleration was a watershed moment in the history of the West.

We’re lost, and we need to find the way home, and that’s the outrageous intent of this sermon in our remaining time together….

It starts by thinking through the paradox of tolerance, which can be expressed simply as, “If tolerant folks express intolerance, how then can they claim to be tolerant?” The implication here is that we have a moral duty to allow what is morally wrong … but that can’t be right, right? But the paradox seems to drive us into that corner!

Let’s think this thing through. Imagine an obnoxious person who, when others disagree, rails at them, insults them, hounds them, taunts them, and, in the end, is the only person talking, because everyone else is too afraid to peep. What has happened here is the collapse of a space of toleration in which free meaningful speech thrives. Speech is meaningful and free when many people get to talk and what’s expressed has genuine informational content. Speech is NOT free when only one person gets to talk and all the others have been browbeaten into silence. Speech is NOT meaningful when it’s laced with rudeness and insult. And so: to preserve the space of toleration here, we must expel the obnoxious person if they intend to persist in their obnoxiousness. Yes, from a distance it can appear like we are being bullies. But we are up close to it; we know the truth of what’s going on. We’re saying no to the bully in order preserve a tolerant space of meaningful free speech for everyone willing to participate. If we don’t say no, then intolerance becomes absolute.

This is what New York Times writer David Brooks is addressing in his fantastic article entitled “The Governing Cancer of Our Time,” where he’s grappling with the rising phenomenon of people who are “against politics.” He writes, “We live in a big, diverse society. There are essentially two ways to maintain order and get things done in such a society — politics or some form of dictatorship.” David Brooks goes on to define “politics” in pretty much the same way I’ve defined the “space of tolerance that allows for free speech.” He says, “Politics is an activity in which you recognize the simultaneous existence of different groups, interests and opinions. You try to find some way to balance or reconcile or compromise those interests, or at least a majority of them. […] The downside of politics is that people never really get everything they want. It’s messy, limited and no issue is ever really settled. […] Disappointment is normal. But that’s sort of the beauty of politics, too. It involves an endless conversation in which we learn about other people and see things from their vantage point and try to balance their needs against our own.”

But then David Brooks says, “Over the past generation we have seen the rise of a group of people who are against politics. These groups — best exemplified by the Tea Party but not exclusive to the right — want to elect people who have no political experience. They want ‘outsiders.’ They delegitimize compromise and deal-making. They’re willing to trample the customs and rules that give legitimacy to legislative decision-making if it helps them gain power. Ultimately, they don’t recognize other people. They suffer from a form of political narcissism, in which they don’t accept the legitimacy of other interests and opinions. They don’t recognize restraints. They want total victories for themselves and their doctrine.”

That’s David Brooks, exploring a very real collision of two mutually exclusive ways of being. We feel this collision every day in America. And we can’t allow the paradox of toleration to confuse us. It’s just the way it is: to preserve politics, to preserve the space of toleration that enables meaningful and free speech for everyone who wants to participate, we must say no to the bully.

We must be gentle/angry people.

Which takes us to a second insight that can help clear up the confusion around tolerance and bring us home: disentangling from moments when we’re standing up to the bully, we’re being gentle/angry people, and the bully responds with outrage. With pushback. He invokes “liberal hypocrisy.” Or, better yet, he invokes “political correctness.”

Alyssa Rosenberg, in the Washington Post, offers something quite trenchant in a recent article entitled, ‘”Politically incorrect’ ideas are mostly rude, not brave.” She writes, “When Donald Trump took the podium in Cleveland at the Republican National Convention last month, he promised voters that ‘I will present the facts plainly and honestly. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.’” She goes on to acknowledge that, indeed, Trump “claimed the Republican nomination by exploiting a preexisting sense that important truths were going unspoken in American public life and positioning himself as the only person daring enough to say them.” But now Alyssa Rosenberg gets to the heart of it: “But what if the things people have held themselves back from saying for fear of social censure aren’t inherently meaningful? The sad thing about so much supposed truth-telling is that their supposed transgressions aren’t remotely risky. They’re just rude. Presenting commonplace unpleasantness as an act of moral courage is a nifty bit of reframing. This formulation allows its practitioners to treat their own laziness, meanness and self-indulgence as ethically and politically meaningful, when in fact they’re anything but.”

In other words, when a bully charges others with being PC, they’re throwing down a red herring, they’re trying to get things off track. They don’t like how things are changing in the world, they don’t like the feeling of losing power, they don’t like how people who haven’t had very much power are starting to gain some. So they claim PC and make it sound like they’re the ones being victimized! “Important truths are going unspoken,” they warn in apocalyptic tones; but the only unspoken truth here—the only one—is the shameful truth of the bully’s sense of entitlement to keep on bullying. That’s all.

Saying no to the bully is just a good kind of intolerance, which is justice.

This is the final thing that needs to be said, and we are home. Not all kinds of intolerance are alike. It’s analogous to the situation with cholesterol. One kind is indeed bad, the LDL kind. But there’s another kind, called HDL, that’s actually good for you. The more, the better. Same thing goes for the body politic. There’s a certain kind of intolerance that strengthens the heart of the body politic, makes it healthier.

The justice kind.

Justice says no to LSD in the Sunday morning coffee and to all other bad behavior in congregations and elsewhere.

Justice says no to all the jokes that make bystanders think oppression is OK.

Justice says no to assassination jokes.

Justice calls conservative evangelical Christians out for their complicity in helping sustain a culture of violence towards GLBTQ people.

Justice doesn’t allow people who are against politics to have their way.

Justice doesn’t feel ashamed of itself when PC is invoked.

Justice says no to the bully.

Once we get clear on this, then, and only then, can we get clear on what tolerance truly asks of us.

Tolerance asks us to create spaces where people don’t have to think alike to love alike. It says, “Have opinions. Believe what you believe. Hold on to the faith that comes to you from a place within that’s deeper than trying. You really can tell another person, ‘I disagree.’ But be respectful. Be kind. If your faith is a gift of God, so is theirs. And be open to the possibility that they may have a piece of the truth you lack. Try walking in their shoes for a time, see what happens. See what you find.”

That’s what tolerance asks for, and it also asks this: to be supremely, resolutely clear on how terribly fragile it is, how easily overwhelmed by bullies of all kind.

Justice is the precondition of tolerance.

If there is no King John Sigismund, there is no Edict of Toleration.

Sustain justice. Do that, and the Christian and the Jew and the Muslim and the shaman and the Zoroastrian and the Unitarian Universalist and the stone, the ground, the mountain, the river, can each have its secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged.

Sustain justice, and history will not have to record, as Dr. King has said, “that the greatest tragedy … was not the strident clamor of the bad people but the appalling silence of the good people.”

Be gentle/angry people!

AMEN

I have the domain Unitarianchurch.info for sale. Please send me a note if you’re interested in buying it.

With all that’s been going on, I’m feeling the need to read (and in some cases re-read)  a lot of books related to race and its intersections with theology, sociology, and history. So I thought I would invite readers of the blog to join me if they want to.

I’m developing a growing list that will move and change depending on what strikes my fancy. I might also add other areas of intersection (like education), but I’m going to stay in the lanes that I move in the most often. And there will be some fiction thrown in (especially if we’re talking about race and history).

The first two books that I will read are going to be “Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God” by theologian Kelly Brown Douglas and “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf” by Ntozake Shange [this will be a re-read for me]

I’ll start reading on Sept. 1. And write as I go along. You are welcome to join me.

Reheat some Puritan attitudes towards food, add a dash of cultural imperialism, and mix in some newly burgeoning domestic science and you have the recipe for Unitarian pie. On this episode of The Pamphlet, we explore the role of science in Unitarian Universalism through beloved Unitarian businesswoman and culinary innovator Fannie Farmer. Ever wondered if Jello or Marshmallows had a Unitarian connection? Wonder no more.

A full transcript of this episode can be downloaded at pamphletpodcast.org/leveled-measures. Download the transcript.

Attached media: https://media.blubrry.com/pamphlet/content.blubrry.com/pamphlet/episode6v1.mp3

@SideofLove #BlackLivesMatter in #HoCoMD & everywhere @UUApic.twitter.com/uKCh2loIVD

A month after I was divorced from my wife of almost 22 years, I was visiting with friends in Houston and we were at a very cool farm-to-table restaurant and the waitress came by and I saw the tattoo on her forearm: “In the end, everything will be ok. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end.” The moment was lit up by something that felt transcendent.

How did the Universe know I needed to hear that, at that precise time?

These moments happen first-hand but can also happen upon the mere hearing of a story. Here’s one I ran into just a few days ago. Comes from a Mrs. Margie Anderson, from Abeline, Texas. She writes, “When my granddaughter Bethany was four years old, she visited my home for a few days. I gave her some crayons and pictures for coloring. When I looked down, I saw she had used a crayon to draw purple marks all over her legs. ‘Bethany,’ I asked, ‘what are you doing?’ ‘Why Grandma, you have such pretty purple lines up and down your legs, and I wanted mine to look just like yours.’ Since then, I’ve worn my varicose veins with pride, and they get prettier each year.”

Stories like this light us up. It feels like there’s more possibility in the world rather than less. Stories like

• The Little Engine That Could—about an underdog who never gives up
• Horton Hears a Who—about standing up for what you know even if others around you don’t believe
• The Ugly Ducking—about being deeply mistaken about who you are, and coming to learn the beautiful truth

You just feel lit up.

But some stories are too large to be captured in 50 words or a picture book. In particular I’m thinking about our collective Unitarian Universalist story which is 500+ years long, and which formally started in Transylvania and Poland—although we would need to go back 2000 years to do it full justice.

In this big story: all sorts of Ugly Ducklings and Hortons Hearing Whos and Little Engines That Could. All sorts of personalities and situations and themes.

But this is why we have our Seven Principles. They serve to remind us of the smaller stories that combine to make up the BIG story:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Each one of these Principles could be illustrated by hundreds of smaller stories from our history. Each of these principles has been earned—blood, sweat, and tears behind every one….

As just one example, take the story of 19^th century reformer Susan B. Anthony, who, by the way, is to be featured on the back of America’s ten dollar bills come 2020. Not too shabby, huh? Her very last words were, “Failure Is Impossible.” She was a long-time member of the Unitarian Church in Rochester, New York and that congregation supported her in her work for women’s rights. In a time when women were not allowed to vote, she took matters into her own hands and, in 1872, went ahead and voted illegally in the presidential election. She was arrested as a criminal; she unsuccessfully fought the charges; she was fined $100; and she never paid.

We have “failure is impossible” in our blood; Susan B. Anthony is our spiritual kin. When you stand within our big 500+ year-long story, you stand with her and thousands like her.

But let’s see the degree to which she’s with us. Let me share a recent news item, about how the media is talking about female Olympians these days. I quote, from The Guardian:

The Chicago Tribune announced American trap shooter Corey Cogdell-Unrein’s medal win with the headline: “Wife of a Bears’ lineman wins a bronze medal today in Rio Olympics”, not even bothering to mention her name.

In the afterglow of Katinka Hosszu’s world-record-breaking swim, NBC sportscaster Dan Hicks pointed out Hosszu’s husband and gushed: “And there’s the man responsible.”

People Magazine called Simone Biles “the Michael Jordan of gymnastics”, as though we can’t possibly comprehend female greatness without a male proxy.

In a Twitter exchange that rapidly went viral, Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten lamented her injuries after a crash, inspiring some random man to explain to her how to ride a bike: “First lesson in bicycling, keep your bike steady … whether fast or slow.” [I think that’s what you would call “mansplaining,”right?]

Hearing all of this, can you feel the Susan B. Anthony inside you? Can you hear her? What is she saying?

This is the other thing we need to know about stories. They can fight each other. Our big 500+ year long Unitarian Universalist story fights others that push people out, dehumanize, degrade. Our story has power. Power to expose bias and hate. Power to liberate. Power to transform.

Susan B. Anthony’s jaw is set and squared, and she is saying, “Failure is impossible.”

Sexism is doomed. So are all the other –isms. It’s only a matter of time.

**

Why DO we gather in? Why DO we ingather?

The immediate reason is that school is back in session and summertime staycations and vacations are ending and we are beginning a new cycle of the seasons: fall to winter to spring to summer.

But the deeper reason is that we get to personally reconnect with and recommit to one of the greatest stories ever told, our 500+ year Unitarian Universalist story, which, says, ultimately:

Love is our one source.
Love is our one destiny.
No one left out.

Stand within our collective UU story, and power comes to you. Hands and hearts are joined across the years. A rich heritage is yours, and you are building a rich legacy for the future. You give, and you receive.

This is home. This is our spiritual home.

Let it light up our lives.

“Failure is impossible.”

This is why we gather in. This is why we ingather.

@SaucySisTah Moment of Silence today - 11:55 AM to 12:00 PM. @SideofLove @AttorneyCrump #BlackLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/vBeWo8G0SS

Back in 2008, I knocked together a Sunday-only calendar as a planning tool for church worship leaders. It has been evergreen at by old blog, Boy in the Bands. And so when I got a request to update it, I couldn’t do other than bring it up to date.

And so I’m crossposting it here. Enjoy.

You can also edit the OSD file in LibreOffice and (so it seems) newer versions of Microsoft Office. I included December 2016 and January 2018.

• 2017 Sunday-only calendar (PDF)
• 2017 Sunday-only calendar (ODS)

Ralph E. Conner (1869 – 1922)

Birth: 1869
New Hampshire, USA
Death: 1922

Ralph was the son of William R Conner and Juliette Pease. He was married to Blanche Peabody.

Family links

Spouse: Blanche Peabody Curtis (1870 – 1927)*

Children:
Roger Peabody Conner (1899 – 1899)*
Roger Conner (1899 – 1899)*

* Calculated relationship

Source: Find a Grave, Ralph E. Conner

Rev. Bowser at Hyde Park Unitarian Church 1916 – 1927

The Hyde Park Unitarian Church (The First Unitarian Society of Hyde Park, the Church of the Christian Fraternity) was organized June 3, 1868. The meeting house was dedicated February 18, 1875.

Ministers

1867-1868 – Trowbridge Brigham Forbush
1868-1869 – William Hamilton
1870-1879 – Francis Charles Williams
1880-1883 – Adoniram Judson Rich
1884-1890 – James Huxtable
1890-1894 – Edmund Quincey Sewall Orgood
1896-1899 – Arthur Gooding Pettingill
1900-1905 – William Henry Savage
1905-1908 – Samuel Louis Elberfeld
1909-1909 – Johannes A.C. Fagginger Auer
1910-1914 – Louis Clas Dethlefs
1915-1916 – Philip Slaney Thacher
1916-1927 – Alexander Thomas Bowser
1927-1935 – Forrester Alexander Macdonald
1936-1937 – Edward Allison Cahil

Source: First Unitarian Society (Hyde Park, Mass.) Records (bMS 6): Register, Andover-Harvard Theology Library

Descriptive Summary of Archive

Call No.: bMS 6
Title: First Unitarian Society (Hyde Park, Mass.) Records
Date(s): 1874-1948
Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School
45 Francis Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
Quantity: 1.4 Cubic Feet(4 boxes)
Abstract: Church constitution; membership lists and certificates; church correspondence; minister’s records; church financial records; miscellaneous church records.

Books, Journals, Pamphlets

Search Amazon.com or other book sellers.

• The Bible, its authority and use: Preached on Sunday, Feb’y 19, 1905
• The divine element in human nature: A sermon … preached on Sunday, Nov. 2, 1902
• Endless life: Preached on Sunday, March 18, 1906
• God in man; a twentieth century view of incarnation: Preached on Sunday, Dec. 10, 1905
• The Holy Spirit: Preached on Sunday, May 22, 1904
• Human nature: the body, the soul, the spirit: A series of sermons
• A rational use of prayer;: A sermon
• Unitarian belief and the teaching of Jesus: Preached on Sunday, Jan. 25, 1903

Alexander Thomas Bowser (1848 – 1933)

Family Links

Parents:
Robert Bowser (1811 – 1884)
Jane Kirk Bowser (1816 – 1889)

Spouse:
Adelaide Prescott Reed Bowser (1859 – 1933)

Children:
Alice Bowser (1885 – 1887)*
Henry Reed Bowser (1887 – 1982)*
Robert Bowser (1890 – 1975)*

Sibling:
Robert Bowser (1844 – 1886)*

Source: Find a Grave, Alexander Thomas Bowser

Short Bio of Rev. Glenn Owen Canfield

The information below is from the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in Syracuse, New York.

Rev. Glenn Owen Canfield ministry at May Memorial: 1946-1952

Rev. Canfield

Rev. Canfield was our seventh minister. He was born in Topeka, Kansas, in 1907. He was educated at Texas Christian University and then at the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He became a Presbyterian minister in Woodstock (IL), Tulsa (OK), and Hobbs (NM). He then sought a more free religion and became interested in social reform. He became a Unitarian minister in Clinton and Berlin (MA) in 1945. He became the minister at May Memorial in 1946. In 1951 he became Minister- at-Large in Atlanta, Georgia. He started a racially integrated United Liberal Church in Atlanta in 1954. He was minister of the First Unitarian Church Miami (FL) in 1956. He was Executive Secretary for UUA districts in New England and the Southwest from 1959 to 1969. He died in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1973.

Source: May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society

Rev. Canfield Sermon Style in Atlanta

In a newspaper article in the Atlanta Constitution on May 5, 1952, it was noted that Rev. Canfield brought to Atlanta a lively sermon style that was characterized by a two-hour sermon that included a discussion session, sometimes called a talk-back, with the congregation regarding the sermon topic.

The article also delineated a declaration of principles and that the church welcomes all who share the church’s principles.  Those principles are summarized as follows:

• We believe in freedom of research in the continual process of discovering life’s truths and values;
• in the possibility of growth toward maturity – mentally, emotionally and spiritually – as we learn to live in Spiritual Reality of the universe;
• in the relatedness of all mankind, and that happiness and security can be realized only in human relations based upon mutual understanding, co-operation and love.

Rev. Canfield added, “One of the distinctive reasons for the liberal church is people need to know how to live – truly how to live successfully and happily in this confused world.”  Rev. Canfield continued that liberals rely on a flexible set of principles and not on a set creed.  Freed from having to adhere to a set creed, liberals were not dependent on the Bible to define their religious beliefs.  Rather liberal can arrive at their own decision about the core of their religious truth.

Religious services where conducted in the Briarcliff Hotel.

Source: The Atlanta Constitution, Pastor’s Sermon Debated By New Congregation, May 5, 1952, Page 9

Meeting and Leaving Briarcliff Hotel

Candler Apartments AKA Briarcliff Hotel December 13th, 1956 Georgia State University Library

While services were being held at the Briarcliff Hotel, Rev. Canfield recalled that he had a discussion with the hotel manager regarding people entering the hotel for services.

Adults entered the meeting room directly from the street, but the children entered through the main lobby. Since services were integrated, Black children were entering the hotel via the main lobby.

Although the hotel manager was sympathetic, the manager indicated that the hotel was a public place. Even though there was no law forbidding Black children entering the main lobby, the manage shared that there were social and political pressures that had to be considered. He opined that the hotel could be vulnerable to attack by prejudiced people who were determined to preserve segregation and to “keep the nigger in his place.”

The hotel manager feared that if the hotel owner discovered the situation at the hotel that he could lose his job and possibly never find another job in the hotel industry.

Rev. Canfield said, “Well, then, it looks like we just can’t have them.”

The hotel manager relied, “I would not put it as blunt as that. I will say that I would rather they would not come.”

Canfield knowing a truly liberal church would not exclude Blacks from its services determined that it would be necessary to find alternate meeting space.

Source: Southern Witness: Unitarian and Universalists in the Civil Rights Era, by Gordon Davis Gibson, Published by Skinner House Books, copyright 2015, page 70

Alternate meeting location after Briarcliff hotel

United Liberal Church
605 Boulevard, NE

Rev. Canfield and others worked diligently to find an alternate meeting space. In October 1952, the Unitarians and Universalists began negotiations with the Latter-Day Saints to share their current worship space at 605 Boulevard, NE.

Negotiations intensive in In January 1953, when the Briarcliff Hotel informed Rev. Canfield that another tenant would occupy their current meeting space effective February 2.

Rev. Canfield, however, happily reported that, “The Liberals and Mormons have reached complete and amicable agreement! At least on some things.”

The Mormons were in the process of erecting a new building in the 1400 block of Ponce de Leon. While the building was under construction the worship space would be shared by the two denominations.

By April 1954, the Mormons had vacated their old worship space and the Unitarians and Universalists took control of both the worship space at 605 Boulevard, NE and the parsonage at 489 North Avenue, NE.

Source: Southern Witness: Unitarian and Universalists in the Civil Rights Era, by Gordon Davis Gibson, Published by Skinner House Books, copyright 2015, page 71

Source: The Atlanta Constitution, United Liberal Church Buys 2 Buildings, April 26, 1954, Page 22

Not saying that UU music is a “barren tradition” (nor was European romanticism, for that matter), but remembering that occasionally every tradition needs a little shaking up to keep things fresh.

So, on August 20, swarms of Esperantists all over North America will meet for day-long gatherings “enjoying each other’s company while taking part in a celebration of the international language.” (suggested press release language)

It’s called Paralela Universo, which even to non-Esperantists should easily read as “parallel universe.” Parallel to what? Diffrerent places at the same time, sure. But also keep in mind that Esperanto events (especially in Europe) are days-long affairs, bolstered no doubt by long vacations, short travel distances and a critical mass of Esperantists to organize such things. North American Esperantists have none of these; surely an alternative is called for, and so much better if it calls to mind the endless possibilities of science fiction, which I bet appeals to (other) Esperantists.

So far, there are twenty sites, and counting. And what’s noteworthy is that there is no central organizing body, and no tickets. You pay for your transportation to and from the gathering, and your meals. It’s an idea, a format and coordination by Facebook and a Google group. That’s all.

Mi okazos la Paralelan Universon ĉi tie.

Let this be an inspiration for other groups who could benefit by low-effort, low-cost ad-hoc gatherings.

The Black Lives of UU Organizing Collective issued two new statements this week in the first we formally endorsed the Movement for Black Lives #Vision4BlackLives Policy Platform. This visionary platform features a set of six demand categories including policy specific recommendations and actions.

To read the full #Vision4BlackLives endorsement statement CLICK HERE

In the second statement we address our concerns around Unitarian Universalist responses to recent killings around the country - we say in part:

We feel compelled to urge all Unitarian Universalists and other people of good conscience not to equate the system-wide killing of Black people by police with the killing of police by people unaffiliated with the Movement for Black Lives. Doing so makes life more dangerous for Black people who are already at great risk.

To read the full UU response to recent killings statement CLICK HERE

The Black Lives of UU Organizing Collective issued two new statements this week in the first we formally endorsed the Movement for Black Lives #Vision4BlackLives Policy Platform. This visionary platform features a set of six demand categories including policy specific recommendations and actions.

To read the full #Vision4BlackLives endorsement statement CLICK HERE

In the second statement we address our concerns around Unitarian Universalist responses to recent killings around the country - we say in part:

We feel compelled to urge all Unitarian Universalists and other people of good conscience not to equate the system-wide killing of Black people by police with the killing of police by people unaffiliated with the Movement for Black Lives. Doing so makes life more dangerous for Black people who are already at great risk.

To read the full UU response to recent killings statement CLICK HERE

For the past four decades, the Flaming Chalice has become the undisputed symbol of Unitarian Universalism. Yet its origin as the logo of the Unitarian Service Committee during its efforts to bring refugees out of occupied Europe obscures our vision of it’s history. The question remains, how did this very flat, very one-dimensional, logo become a very real, very three-dimensional, mainstay of our worship life? Hosts Susan Ritchie and Sean Neil-Barron head to Oxford, Ohio tracking down a lead in the first of a multipart series on the (real) history of the Flaming Chalice.

Read more about 0ur quest and participate in open source research project at: www.pamphletpodcast.org/chalicecapers.

A transcript of this episode can downloaded online at pamphletpodcast.org/vol-1. Download transcript.

Attached media: https://media.blubrry.com/pamphlet/content.blubrry.com/pamphlet/ChaliceCapersVol1.mp3

I’ve come to the end of the line for this blog – eleven years filled with 2,815 posts. It may be repurposed into something new, but this segment is over with this post.

Let’s look at the big picture – the tagline for the blog which never changed:

CAN A CREATIVE, HARD-WORKING FAMILY MAKE A LIVING WORKING WITH NATURE? JOIN US ON THE JOURNEY FROM IDEA TO PRACTICE AS WE REVIVE AN IOWA FARMSTEAD.

By any account, the farmstead is revived. Twenty years of updates and improvements to the house and outbuildings make it ready to face the beginning of its second century with a new growing family. Outbuildings on the line between restore or tear down, restored. Totally new infrastructure above and below ground. Electricity derived from nature itself. But most importantly, three children raised in an atmosphere of unsupervised wandering, creativity, and hard work, with the self-confidence to travel the wilderness, or live in Iceland or Australia without knowing a soul before traveling there.

So yes, the farm has been good to us, and us to it.

Can we just bask in the glow of one of the final sunsets on the farm?

Gaze one last time at the wide open spaces and spectacular skies?

I thought I’d look back to one of the first posts to see what I wrote. Following is the second blog post, Valentine’s day in 2005.

The kids couldn’t wait to go back in the pasture and check out the “pond.” All three came back with varying depths of soaked jeans, mudstreaked faces, and wet boots. The remaining snow and warmth (in the upper 40’s) has made a quagmire.

Completed an outdoor counter/drainer out of cast-off materials today. Part of a vintage 70’s harvest gold accent countertop from our kitchen remodel, a couple of metal old refrigerator shelves, and wood salvaged from the original farmhouse for the frame. The outdoor counter will be useful in washing and cleaning vegetables outdoors.

Also wrapped up some seed ordering. Lost my Peaceful Valley catalog, but was able to use their website www. groworganic.com to order some beneficial insect plant and pasture improvement mixes.

That seems a fitting end as well – it speaks to three of the biggest themes of our time here – raising kids, readying the house for the next century, and raising food.

I’ll leave you with a song. This one by Jimmy LaFave. It’s been a theme song of ours over the last four years as we readied to leave. But instead of the song being about a girl, it’s about leaving Iowa – at least in our heads. The chorus is below and a link to the recording follows.

There’s a car outside
And there’s a road
There’s a time to stay
And a time to rock and roll
You’ve been a real good friend
But I’m on my way
If I don’t see you real soon
I’ll see you down the road someday

See you down the road someday – maybe 1300 miles down the road in New Hampshire.

On Monday night, Michelle Obama gave her speech at the Democratic National Convention. I didn’t watch the speech, as I am not watching the convention. But I did see clips of it afterward.

The big point that has been talked about since that speech has been when Michelle pointed out that she lives in a house that slaves built.

Was this news to white people? Because there can be no other explanation for so many media outlets AND Smithsonian Magazine to “fact check” that line.

SLAVES BUILT THE WHITE HOUSE!

SLAVES BUILT MOST OF THE U.S. CAPITOL BUILDING!

SLAVES BUILT MOST OF WASHINGTON, D.C.!  (the old part of it)

How is this news?!!?!??!

In a country where 12 of the first 16 Presidents either OWNED slaves or had other, deep ties to slavery, why did media outlets feel the need to fact-check Michelle Obama’s statement of that? I do not understand this.

Were y’all always this clueless? Or is this yet another example willful ignorance?

I served First Unitarian of Saint Louis for five very good years.  Sadly, as I was getting ready to leave one member of my congregation was going through her last days.  It grieved me not only to hear that Mimi Hubert hd died, but also to know i would not be unable to lead the service in celebration of her life.  I was very glad that Mimi’s friend, the Rev. Margaret O’Neal could lead the service.  I was glad to write a short rememberance that Margaret could read to my fellow mourners.  I want to share those words here also, because they speak to the nature of our religion:
“When I Think of Mimi, I Smile”

Rev. Thomas Perchlik, July 2016

I every time that I saw Mimi Hubert, even when she was very ill, she smiled. Sometimes her smile was a simple gesture like the half-smile of the Buddha: compassionate and kind. She knew the pain and difficulty of relationships gone awry. Still, she smiled sweetly. Sometimes it was that big goofy grin, full of her humor and good will. She was willing to look for the good in any situation. 

When Mimi was the center of planning and organization for the huge RainbowCon, when a couple of hundred youth gathered in this church, she worked for months to put everything in order. It was serious work. As we arrived at that weekend the stress of the work was obvious in her face. And yet, often I saw her smiling, opening her arms wide to give anyone a hug, and enjoying the happy energy of all those fine young people growing in the garden she had prepared for them.  

Even in the hospital, recovering from difficult treatments and struggling with depression, she smiled, laughed, and showed immense kindness to others who were more ill than she was. When ever I think of Mimi, I smile

Situation #1

There was a memorial service for someone I knew at a UU congregation last Sunday. I knew the officiant for the service, and had emailed them earlier to let them know I was going to be at the service and if they needed anything to let me know. As I had made the offer, I arrived at the building an hour or so beforehand. After coming out of the restroom, another person of color (somebody I’ve known for a long time)  looked at me and started crying. She came over to me and said, “I’m so glad you’re here. You have no idea how hard it’s been coming to church these past two weeks.” When I asked her what she meant, she began to describe the conversations that had been going on in her congregation in the wake of the Sterling, Castile, and Dallas shootings and the Baton Rouge shooting that had happened just that morning. Being one of the few people of color in this congregation (it used to have more, but doesn’t now), she has been feeling as if she had to answer for the Dallas and Baton Rouge shootings, but nobody took time or seemed to care about how she might be feeling about the Sterling or Castile shootings. She’s now wondering how often she can go to her congregation.

Situation #2

Somebody who I admire greatly is a staff member at a UU congregation. Not long before GA, this person relayed a story of how they (and others involved in the congregation–lay and ordained) received a diatribe email that complained about the congregation being involved with anything related to BlackLivesMatter. The diatribe ended with the person who wrote it calling staff members “people of SOME color.” (emphasis mine)

I’ve been thinking about safety a lot for the past year, for many reasons. (some of you might have heard me talk about this at GA) These two situations bring those thoughts into much clearer focus.

In a denomination that is as white as Unitarian Universalism is, can people of color really be safe in our congregations?

What do we mean when we talk about “safe” congregations? [yes, I know that’s about sexual exploitation and abuse, but work with me here]

Several years ago, writer Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker shared the story of his four-year-old daughter’s imaginary friend. A very concerning story, because this was no usual childhood playmate who shares toys and dutifully takes orders. This childhood playmate, with the name of Charlie Ravioli, was always too busy to play. The parents would watch their little girl punch a number into her imaginary cell phone and put it to her ear and they’d hear her say, “Meet me at Starbucks in 25 minutes!” and then, after a few moments, see her crumple. “What happened, sweetie?” “He already had another appointment.”

Other times: “He cancelled lunch. Again.”

Still other times, his imaginary secretary Laurie would answer the imaginary phone, say, “He’s in a meeting.”

Charlie Ravioli was always too busy to play.

And this is how one four-year-old prepared herself for life in what journalist George Monbiot calls “The Age of Loneliness.” Down to the deepest part of her world—her imagination—she reconciled herself to being left out. She prepared herself to miss out on friendship and fun and also being known, being seen, being heard.

Because: people are too busy.

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

For the authors of The Lonely American, Jacqueline Olds, M.D. and Richard Schwartz, M.D., a significant part of the answer is that loneliness emerges, ultimately, out of a push-pull social dynamic. “The push,” they say, “is the frenetic, overscheduled, hypernetworked intensity of modern life. The pull is the American pantheon of self-reliant heroes who stand apart from the crowd. As a culture, we all romanticize standing apart and long to have a destiny in our own hands. But as individuals, each of us hates feeling left out.”

One reason we hate it is because the feeling is literally a matter of physical pain in our bodies. Experiments have shown that there’s a portion of the brain deep in the frontal cortex—part of a complex alarm system—called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Stub your toe and it activates, and that’s the source of the pain you feel. Catch your fingers in a drawer, and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex howls, “MAKE THIS HORRIBLE FEELING STOP.” But what’s truly amazing is that scientists have shown that the howling also happens when one feels excluded. Experiments were set up that involved no physical harm at all, just feelings of being left out. It turns out that our brains have evolved in such a way as to want to preserve a sense of belonging to a larger group, because over millions of years that’s proven to be crucial to our wellbeing. So when the feeling of belonging is threatened, you bet an alarm signal is going to go off, and that pain—the pain of loneliness—is the same as pain from a physical injury or illness.

We hate feeling left out, this much. But the push-pull dynamic has us in its grip. Americans make a virtue out of busyness, for reasons of capitalism and competitiveness and “God helps those who help themselves” Calvinism. Did you know that in 2005, American workers gave back, or didn’t take advantage of, 574 million vacation days? Olds and Schwartz say that “that’s the equivalent of more than twenty thousand lifetimes.” They go on to say, “Surveys done by Gallup and the Conference Board indicate that Americans, who already take fewer vacation days then workers in any other industrial nation in the world, are cutting back even further.

And then there’s that myth of rugged individualism, standing apart from the crowd, doing it yourself, owning all your own appliances and tools and instruments and never having to borrow, self-reliance. “If we begin to forget,” say Olds and Schwartz, “we get a regular reminder at least every four years, when we see politicians desperately reworking their life stories to protect themselves from that most damning of labels—the Washington insider.” Yet another reminder is simply the stigma that’s put upon loneliness. To admit you are lonely is to risk being heard as whiny and needy—even though being honest about our loneliness is absolutely the first step towards healing.

No wonder Charlie Ravioli is everywhere.

We have conflicting wishes. There’s ambivalence in the human heart. Being Charlie Ravioli makes us feel virtuous, and it’s our way of enacting self-reliance. But we end up doing exactly the sort of things that take us into unhappiness and bitterness and potentially addictions of all sorts, impaired health, increased aggression, increased rates of crime, decreased lifespans. That’s what happens to organisms in constant pain.

“Being neighborly used to mean visiting people. Now being nice to your neighbors means not bothering them” (Olds and Schwartz).

No wonder it is the Age of Loneliness.

But we can do something about this. Stop giving all our life energy to busyness and lone rangerism. Redirect some of that energy so that life becomes more balanced. “In our advice to the lonely,” say Olds and Schwartz,” we often emphasize a time-honored approach: try to engineer into our life regular contact and shared projects with potentially interesting people. It’s the old ‘join a church choir’ strategy.” That’s the quote, and I assure you I am not making that last part up. The church choir part is literally in there. But I would add, equally, get involved in Religious Exploration. Get involved in this Beloved Community, in some way. Especially join a Covenant Group. These are groups of 6-10 or so folks who meet regularly, for the purpose of people being deeply valued and known, for fun and friendship, for learning and connection. UUCA currently has 13 of them, and we are starting SEVEN more, so now is the time to join. Get in on the ground floor!

I mean, don’t the folks around you look “potentially interesting”?

Let’s pick up the rest of the quote: “Shared commitments, shared obligations, continue to be the most reliable paths to friendship and sometimes more. In earlier times, […] there was no need to engineer social obligations into one’s life. It was there waiting, uninvited. People had to take care of one another, and social connections followed. Whether it was the burial societies of new immigrant groups who wished to avoid paupers’ graves or the quilting bees of women who merged necessary labor with socializing, a reliable social fabric was very hard to avoid.” That’s what Olds and Schwartz say, and it’s an important perspective to keep in mind. We have to be more intentional today, in our Age of Loneliness and push-pull, or else, we become Charlie Raviolis to each other, it just happens, and there’s never any opportunity to play, and it’s heart killing, it’s painful in a literal sense.

We’ve got to turn loneliness around.

But there’s another dimension to this that current events require us to address. Sometimes loneliness is not so much a matter of being left out as being forced out. You are forced out so often, and so completely, that the words of Langston Hughes’ poem about what happens to a dream deferred come true:

You dry up like a raisin in the sun.
You fester like a sore—and then run.
You stink like rotten meat.
You crust and sugar over.
You just sag.
Or you explode.

In this regard, today’s reading comes to mind, about a person of color coping in a space that is white-dominated. Having to put on a mask. “Instead of talking black,” says Camille Jackson, “I speak the Queen’s English. I don’t drop verb endings. I speak slowly, enunciate. I am extra clear. I don’t use the full range of facial expressions black folks rely on for meaning because my white co-workers won’t get it. I surprise myself with how well I wear it. Without it, I would have been fired many times over. I’m resentful. It hides my frustration at fearing that my white bosses think I never work hard or long enough.”

Now we all know the loneliness of feeling like you have to wear a mask. But the degree of loneliness is intensified astronomically when racism is at play. When you know that you are not being seen as an individual but as a representative of an entire race, and all the stereotypes are at play, and it’s a thing if you fit the stereotype, and it’s a thing if you don’t fit the stereotype, and you can never win.

This is not about Charlie Ravioli. This is about drying up like a raisin in the sun, or festering, or sagging, because you get so damn tired.

Or it’s about exploding. The “feeling forced out” kind of loneliness can leads to this, too.

Philosopher Hannah Arendt puts her finger on it precisely. In her book The Life of the Mind, she writes that profound loneliness (which she defines as “the experience of being abandoned by everyone, including one’s own self”) hardens a person, makes them shut down, and they can’t receive any new information, they can’t think rationally, so that finally, they are in the clutches of some tightly-wound ideology, and they are willing to commit acts of terror in its name.

The profound loneliness of African Americans these days, to see video after video of young black men doing nothing gunned down by police. Around three weeks ago: the death of Alton Sterling, who was the 184^th black person killed by police just this year; the death of Philando Castile, number 185. And then, on July 7: more deaths. Five police officers killed in Dallas by Micah Johnson, an ex-military African American. The Dallas police chief, David O. Brown, said, “He was upset about Black Lives Matter” and “about the recent police shootings” and “was upset at white people” and “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”

Soon afterwards ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani went on the offensive and said the cause was the whole Black Lives Matter movement. Which is ridiculous. A red herring if I ever saw one. Divisive. We need to talk about what happens to a dream deferred instead—deferred and deferred and deferred, until the resulting anguished loneliness leads to explosions.

Says New York Times writer Charles Blow, Since people have camera phones, we are actually seeing these deaths, live and in living color. Now a terrorist with a racist worldview has taken it upon himself to co-opt a cause and mow down innocent officers.

This is a time when communities, institutions, movements and even nations are tested. Will the people of moral clarity, good character and righteous cause be able to drown out the chorus of voices that seek to use each dead body as a societal wedge?

Will the people who see both the protests over police killings and the killings of police officers as fundamentally about the value of life rise above those who see political opportunity in this arms race of atrocities?

These are very serious questions—soul-of-a nation questions—that we dare not ignore.

Charles Blow is right. We dare not ignore them.

This is the time of testing.

Soul-of-a-nation questions.

And we are people who aspire to be of moral clarity, good character and righteous cause.

The “feeling forced out” kind of loneliness: we have to turn that around, and how it happens is through intentional and strategic acts of love and justice. It happens by engineering into our lives shared projects that dismantle racism, dismantle poverty, dismantle divisiveness, reject violence.

Don’t let hate motivate.

Don’t feed the fears.

Don’t build a wall. Build the opposite of a wall.

No one left out. That’s what we Unitarian Universalists believe. No one forced out of their fair share, their just due, what they deserve by virtue of simply being human. No one experiencing that profoundest kind of loneliness, which causes a dream to dry up or fester or stink or crust and sugar over or sag—or explode.

No one left out.

AMEN

I know today is the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, equal-to-the-apostles, but you’ll forgive me if Iook back two days to St. Margaret of Antioch, a fourth century virgin-martyr who is reputed to have been disengorged by Satan, in the form of a dragon, or said to have beaten a devil (lye can variety) with hammer.

A hammer.

Nothing says "feast day of St Margaret of Antioch" quite like fighting a demon with a hammer. #stop #hammertime pic.twitter.com/izIshAJ1iW

— All About History (@AboutHistoryMag) July 20, 2016

I hadn’t known much about her until I saw a number of tweets, and was too distracted by the fortieth anniversary of the Viking landing on Mars to make anything of then.

To repeat. Disengorged by a Satan-dragon. Beat a demon with a hammer. And people have problems with women being Ghostbusters.

We are so excited to announce the expansion of the Lead Organizing Team with the addition of Takiyah Nur Amin & CDR Royce W. James. After showing great leadership in their home congregations and communities, these two Black UU rock stars join the BLUU Collective with vibrant ideas & energy.

The will both begin their work with the collective immediately on upcoming projects including planning the first Black Lives of UU Convening, #BLUUGA17 and more.

Full information about both Takiyah & Royce can be found below:

Takiyah Nur Amin is a native of Buffalo, NY and the daughter of Karima and the late Abdul Jalil Amin. 

She is an alumna of the UUA's Multicultural Leadership School for Youth and Young Adults of Color (known today as THRIVE) and a former RE Assistant.
An intellectual by training and tradition, Takiyah earned a PhD in Dance and Cultural Studies (with certificates in Women's Studies and Teaching in Higher Education) from Temple University in 2011. She is an active member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, an advocacy organization on behalf of Black women and girls. A lover of reading, podcasts, shopping and travel, Takiyah is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance Studies. 

CDR Royce W. James, Ph.D. served with AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) as a Team Leader then graduated from USCG Boot Camp in 1996.  Royce attended New Mexico State University and served with the Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering, & Mathematics for persons with Disabilities through AAAS before graduating in 1999.  He graduated from Officer Candidate School in 2000.  He earned a Master’s of Science Degree from Columbia University, and began teaching at the academy in 2004.  Royce completed his Doctorate in Plasma Physics through Columbia’s Plasma Physics Lab at Steven’s Institute of Technology in December 2008.  

Now a member of the Academy's permanent command teaching staff, Royce is the current Chair of Physics.  He is the founder and Principle Investigator of the Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL), Department Equity Officer, Co-founder/Director for CGA’s Science Partnership for Innovation in Learning (Project SPIL), Genesis & Spectrum Council Advisor (CGA’s Black and Gay Student Unions) and the Science Department Diversity & Inclusion Officer.  He was a member of the team that was instrumental in the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and more recently worked to facilitate the military's change in policy to allow transgendered persons to openly serve.

Royce is co-founder of the former New London Freedom School, active with the youth of All Souls UU Congregation, member of the #Blacklivesmatter South Eastern CT,  member of the Science Technology and Mathematics Magnet School Advisory Board, and Member of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council for the state of CT.  Dr. James lives in New London, CT with his wife Jessica (a Graduate Student of Divinity at Andover Newton Theological School) and their four children: Isis, Yemaya, Olorun and Sati.

We are so excited to announce the expansion of the Lead Organizing Team with the addition of Takiyah Nur Amin & CDR Royce W. James. After showing great leadership in their home congregations and communities, these two Black UU rock stars join the BLUU Collective with vibrant ideas & energy.

The will both begin their work with the collective immediately on upcoming projects including planning the first Black Lives of UU Convening, #BLUUGA17 and more.

Full information about both Takiyah & Royce can be found below:

Takiyah Nur Amin is a native of Buffalo, NY and the daughter of Karima and the late Abdul Jalil Amin. 

She is an alumna of the UUA's Multicultural Leadership School for Youth and Young Adults of Color (known today as THRIVE) and a former RE Assistant.
An intellectual by training and tradition, Takiyah earned a PhD in Dance and Cultural Studies (with certificates in Women's Studies and Teaching in Higher Education) from Temple University in 2011. She is an active member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, an advocacy organization on behalf of Black women and girls. A lover of reading, podcasts, shopping and travel, Takiyah is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance Studies. 

CDR Royce W. James, Ph.D. served with AmeriCorps*National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) as a Team Leader then graduated from USCG Boot Camp in 1996.  Royce attended New Mexico State University and served with the Regional Alliance for Science, Engineering, & Mathematics for persons with Disabilities through AAAS before graduating in 1999.  He graduated from Officer Candidate School in 2000.  He earned a Master’s of Science Degree from Columbia University, and began teaching at the academy in 2004.  Royce completed his Doctorate in Plasma Physics through Columbia’s Plasma Physics Lab at Steven’s Institute of Technology in December 2008.  

Now a member of the Academy's permanent command teaching staff, Royce is the current Chair of Physics.  He is the founder and Principle Investigator of the Coast Guard Academy Plasma Lab (CGAPL), Department Equity Officer, Co-founder/Director for CGA’s Science Partnership for Innovation in Learning (Project SPIL), Genesis & Spectrum Council Advisor (CGA’s Black and Gay Student Unions) and the Science Department Diversity & Inclusion Officer.  He was a member of the team that was instrumental in the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and more recently worked to facilitate the military's change in policy to allow transgendered persons to openly serve.

Royce is co-founder of the former New London Freedom School, active with the youth of All Souls UU Congregation, member of the #Blacklivesmatter South Eastern CT,  member of the Science Technology and Mathematics Magnet School Advisory Board, and Member of the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council for the state of CT.  Dr. James lives in New London, CT with his wife Jessica (a Graduate Student of Divinity at Andover Newton Theological School) and their four children: Isis, Yemaya, Olorun and Sati.

UUs were accused of being Communists or Pinkos in the ’50s? *Yawn* What could be less surprising than that? But what if you found out that the head of the Unitarian Service Committee had been secretly passing information to the KGB? What if you heard rumours that the editor of the main Unitarian magazine and the head of the UU youth movement (LRY) turned out to be a Soviet sympathiser who was using his position to advance a pro-Moscow line? Join Pamphlet regulars Sean Neil-Barron and Susan Ritchie as they interview amateur UU historian Joshua Leach about the history of UUs and Communism. UUs were some of the first victims of the wave of paranoia and red-baiting that swept across America during the early Cold War. To what extent were they merely innocent victims of this Red Scare. And to what extent were there actually some, well, ‘Scary Reds’ among the leadership at the time? The investigation and debate continue….

A transcript for this episode is available for download on our website at http://www.pamphletpodcast.org/the-red-scare/

Attached media: https://media.blubrry.com/pamphlet/content.blubrry.com/pamphlet/episode4.mp3

I’m so excited about the soft launch of the Universalist Christian Initiative, and if you’re interested and haven’t yet signed up for the newsletter please follow this link.

I publish an update twice a month, and promise not to spam you. And I would appreciate you spreading the word to interested.

In every interview I’ve seen with her, the FIRST question Philando Castile’s mother gets asked is about Dallas. Nobody in Dallas gets asked about Philando Castile or Alton Sterling first.

But the events of the last week has the white political and commentary classes now saying that we need to have a “national conversation on race [or about race relations]”.

I’ll skip this conversation, thanks. I have better things to do. Like bite my nails and flip through the Woman Within catalog that arrived in the mail Monday.

listen up my white, liberal friends. America has been having a “national conversation on race” for 397 years now. And black humanity is STILL up for debate.  There is no conversation to be had while my–and my people’s–humanity is up for debate; at least not for me.

As long as Philando Castile’s mother is asked about Dallas first when nobody in Dallas is asked about Philando Castile first, miss me with talk of a national conversation.

As long as Dr. King is trotted out to get black people to shut up and stop complaining, miss me with talk of a national conversation.

As long as so many white people continue to search for some reason to say that [Eric Garner/Mike Brown/Tamir Rice/John Crawford/Walter Scott/Freddie Gray/Sandra Bland/Alton Sterling/Philando Castile] did something to deserve the fate they met, miss me with talk of a national conversation.

As long as the “it’s class, not race” people continue to ignore the fact that poor whites are not policed the same as middle-class blacks, miss me with talk of a national conversation.

I have better things to do.

@UUColumbia is on the #sideoflove for #BlackLivesMatter in #HoCoMD @SideofLove @UUApic.twitter.com/j0Re1EuJpv

I’m spending part of my summer clearing out books. Duplicates. Those I’ll never read, or never read again. Those that hae a marginal interest to me but might mean more to others.

If you read this blog, and live in the U.S., drop me a note through the contact form stating that you’d like to browse the list of books I’m offering, once it’s done. Note if you’re a seminarian (and where) — I’ll give you first dibs.

Attached media: https://scontent-frx5-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/9b8c1a604e212e4a01c0812e165434d8/5C5A1FC9/t51.2885-15/e35/13658417_506603112868629_1924400090_n.jpg