Activity time: 10 minutes Description of Activity Share this scenario: You are a chaperone on a middle school youth group trip. As the bus passes through an economically depressed section of town, one of the youth comments on a teen walking down the street, saying that this teen's look is "so...

Materials for Activity Newsprint, markers, and tape Literature about the social justice organizations with which your congregation partners Preparation for Activity Pick one or more social justice organization(s) with which your congregation partners and learn more about them: What is that...

Activity time: 3 minutes Materials for Activity Worship table or designated space Chalice, candle, and lighter, or LED/battery-operated candle Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook Preparation for Activity Arrange the worship table or designated space. Description of...

Materials for Activity Sign-in sheet and pen or pencil Pocket folder, pen/pencil, and paper for each participant Name tags, single-use or durable Newsprint, markers, and tape Optional: Refreshments Preparation for Activity Using the Workshop-at-a-Glance as a guide, create and post the agenda on...

On July 27, 2008, people gathered in the sanctuary of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville to watch the children and youth of the congregation present the musical Annie Jr. Suddenly, a shot rang out. At first, many thought the noise was part of the musical, but they...

Activity time: 30 minutes Description of Activity Use these questions to deepen the discussion about the story of the Knoxville shooting. Are there circumstances under which people have a right to use arms in order to make a political, philosophical, or religious statement?...

Activity time: 30 minutes Materials for Activity Journals or notebooks, one for each participant Variety of writing and drawing materials, including paper, pens, pencils, fine point color markers, and color pencils Several articles on current events that illuminate questions about legal, natural,...

Activity time: 10 minutes Description of Activity Invite participants to reflect on the challenge of making day-to-day ethical decisions with a rights-based framework. Use these questions to guide the discussion: In the past, how have you made decisions about which rights to affirm and promote in...

Activity time: 10 minutes Description of Activity Share this scenario: You are on the Investment Committee of your congregation....

Activity time: 2 minutes Materials for Activity Worship table or designated space Chalice, candle, and lighter, or LED/battery-operated candle Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook Preparation for Activity Arrange the worship table or designated space. Description of...

Materials for Activity Sign-in sheet and pen or pencil Pocket folder, pen/pencil, and paper for each participant Name tags, single-use or durable Newsprint, markers, and tape Optional: Refreshments Preparation for Activity Using the Workshop-at-a-Glance as a guide, create and post the agenda on...

Originally published in Stirring the Nation's Heart: Eighteen Stories of Prophetic Unitarians and Universalists of the Nineteenth Century (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 2010). In the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the year 1858, a young woman entered a...

Mahatma Gandhi is among the many great leaders who placed virtuous living at the center of their lives. Gandhi was a spiritual leader and nationalist in the struggle for Indian independence from Britain. While widely considered a deeply spiritual, self-sacrificing, visionary leader, Gandhi was...

Activity time: 30 minutes Materials for Activity Copies of Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook, for all participants Optional: Copies of Singing the Journey, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook supplement, for all participants Optional: Recordings of peacemaking or...

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint, markers, and tape Preparation for Activity Write on newsprint, and post: Can civil disobedience be undertaken as a mean between extremes, a middle path? If so, how do you recognize the middle path? If not, why not? How is the practice of...

Activity time: 15 minutes Materials for Activity Newsprint, markers, and tape Description of Activity Introduce the activity with these or similar words: What we view as virtuous is frequently driven by context. The virtuous action in one situation may be different from the virtuous action given...

Activity time: 15 minutes Preparation for Activity This activity offers a choice of two scenarios. Consider carefully whether the first scenario can be safely discussed in the group....

Activity time: 2 minutes Materials for Activity Worship table or designated space Chalice, candle, and lighter, or LED/battery-operated candle Singing the Living Tradition, the Unitarian Universalist hymnbook Preparation for Activity Arrange the worship table or designated space. Description of...

Materials for Activity Sign-in sheet and pen or pencil Pocket folder, pen/pencil, and paper for each participant Name tags, single-use or durable Newsprint, markers, and tape Optional: Refreshments Preparation for Activity Using the Workshop-at-a-Glance as a guide, create and post the agenda on...

Transgender individuals face much discrimination in the United States, in part because their struggles and their journeys are not well understood. In the spring of 2007, a public battle arose in Largo, Florida, around the struggle of one transgender person. Susan Stanton, then known as Steve, had...