With recent plans of Louisiana to post the Ten Commandments in all classrooms in the state, and similar attempts in other parts of the country, the line between church and state in the US is being tested. Setting aside the First Amendment issue, how do we think of such plans to incorporate religious values into secular education, and the overlap of religious, moral, and political values?
Rev. Dave Hunter is a mostly retired UU minister and a retired voting rights lawyer, who served in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for 25 years. Dave is a graduate of Princeton University, Harvard Law School, and Wesley Theological Seminary. Dave and his wife, Rev. Kerry Mueller, live at White Horse Village.
As we move into the second season of UCWC Youth Group’s ongoing DnD campaign, it’s worth asking: can UU values be expressed through the game? What values do we see the teens show? And did it help, or hinder, community-building? We’ll look at some things we did (and didn’t) expect over the course of the season.
Dr Brené Brown defines Wholehearted Living as — living is engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness, means the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is undone, I am enough. Its going to bed at night thinking, Yes I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid but that doesn’t change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging. We will explore more of how we live into this way of being in our service.
The Reverend Doctor Richard Speck is the retired District Executive for the Joseph Priestley District (JPD) of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Previously, he served nine years as minister to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Vero Beach, FL, before coming to the JPD in 2000 as Acting District Executive. In his last two years in Florida he also served as the music director for the church. He graduated from Meadville/Lombard Theological School with a Doctorate in Ministry in 1990. He was hired as the regular District Executive in 2001. He served fourteen years as DE before retiring from full time ministry in 2014.
Why is it that songs of sadness and heartbreak have always been so popular? What is it about human nature that makes us drawn to hearing tales of suffering? In certain respects, dealing with suffering is a foundational element of Buddhism, which clearly is valued by it 520 million followers worldwide. For our August 18th service UCWC members, Jake Michel and Kathy Beatty, will consider suffering through an exploration of the music of 1960s Motown and the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, two very different cultural elements that both rather converge when it come to how to address suffering. Come and sing along!
For those interested in finding out the latest information on what we can do to quell the national epidemic of gun violence in this country, please contact Tom Buglio by email at gun-safety
