This Business Resolution passed unanimously at the 1977 Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly in Ithaca, New York….

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 caused considerable conflict among the Unitarians of Boston. The Fugitive Slave Law required that runaway slaves be returned to their so-called masters. It also criminalized anyone who aided or harbored runaways….

1967 Unitarian Universalist Committee on Goals conducts a survey on the beliefs about and attitudes toward homosexuality within the Association: over 80 percent of Unitarian Universalists believe that it should be discouraged….

This summary is based on information from God’s War by Christopher Tyerman (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006). In the 4th century BCE, the Greek philosopher Aristotle outlined what he considered to be acceptable categories of warfare….

Often, history is presented as a time line, highlighting the actions of extraordinary individuals and chronicling the events that shaped an era. However, not all change is effected in the same way. Even the most individualistic leader owes a debt to other people, communities, and ways of thinking.

James Luther Adams, quoted in the June, 1967 Playboy magazine article “Panel on Religion and the New Morality.” A significant number of college students are already developing what I would call a new ethos….

Benediction from Telling Our Stories, Celebrating Ourselves by the Women and Religion Task Force. Published by the Pacific Central District, UUA, 1998….

The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was established in 1938 as a special investigating committee of the House of Representatives, and after World War II became a standing committee of the House….

DATE and TIME Workshop 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16….

Unitarianism first developed as an institutional movement during the Protestant Reformation in Europe. Transylvania and Poland, the countries where Unitarianism initially appeared, were far from the power centers of both the Catholic Church and the Magisterial, or mainstream, Reformation. It was…

A sermon by Rev. Jack Mendelsohn, delivered October 22, 1967 at Arlington Street Church, Boston, full text. Used with permission. A hue and cry has arisen over the sixty young men who burned their draft cards in the chancel of Arlington Street Church. No matter that 280 young men took the more…

The involvement of Unitarian Universalist clergy and laypeople in the series of civil rights marches in and between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama in 1965 is often regarded as a high point in Unitarian Universalist social justice efforts. During this time, three people were killed by white…

Excerpts from “Albert D’Orlando: A Resume,” “The New Orleans Story,” and “The First Unitarian Church of New Orleans” by Rev. Albert D’Orlando. These documents are located in the “Albert D’Orlando” file at the Andover Harvard Library. ……

The history of Brook Farm (see Workshop 7) demonstrates the difficulty of creating a successful and lasting utopian community. However strong the desire to do so, the likelihood is small that a community can sustain itself when it is organized around values different from those of the dominant…

Whether implicitly or explicitly, much of radical political thought falls within established patterns of either utopian or apocalyptic thought. Utopian thinkers believe a better society can be created in a particular place and time….

Adin Ballou (1803-1890) was in varying turns both a Unitarian and a Universalist minister. He was actively involved in the movement to abolish slavery beginning in the late 1830s, until the abolition of slavery following the Civil War. He was also a leading theorist for the New England…

Abridged from “From Liberation to Health: The New UUA Sexuality Curriculum,” by Dan Kennedy, published in UU World Sept/Oct 1999. Copyright (C) 1999 by Dan Kennedy. All rights reserved. Used with permission….

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. — Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” In July of 1846, Henry David Thoreau was jailed for refusal to pay his taxes. Although he spent only one night in prison, this experience was the motivation…

The 1960s were a time of turbulent social change….

The exact meaning of the term “pacifism” can be difficult to pin down. It is used to refer to perspectives ranging from absolute rejection of violence of any kind to a principled refusal to engage in military activity and a belief that conflict among nations should never be resolved through war.

Books and Study Guides http://www.uuabookstore.org/The-Arc-of-the-Universe-Is-Long-P17039.aspx… Arc of the Universe is Long: Unitarian Universalists, Anti-Racism and the Journey from Calgary (Boston: Skinner House, 2009) by Rev. Leslie Takahashi Morris, Rev. James (Chip) Roush, and Leon Spencer…

Paragraph 32. DECLARATION OF LOYALTY UPON CLAIMING EXEMPTION: EFFECT OF FAILURE TO DECLARE LOYALTY Any statement, return, or other document in which is claimed any exemption, other than the householder’s exemption, any property tax imposed by this State, or and county, city, or county, city,…

From the minutes of an annual meeting of The First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans, date unknown (sometime after 1966). This financial information was provided to the congregation at an annual meeting, in order to explain the need to refinance the mortgage on the building….

By Donald E. Skinner. Previously published in UU World magazine, June 2, 2006. Used with permission. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations marked a milestone in its support for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people this week as a Georgia church become the 500th UU…

Excerpted with the author’s permission from the article “Thirty Years of Feminist Transformation” by Kimberly French, which originally appeared in UU World, Summer 2007. Copyright (C) Kimberly French, 2007….

From a 2006 unpublished paper, “A Financial Picture of the Empowerment Era” by Julia Hamilton and Megan Lynes. July, 1963 — Establishment of the Commission on Religion and Race March, 1965 — Many Unitarian Universalist ministers respond to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to join the March…

Resolutions adopted at the 1967 and 1968 UUA General Assemblies. Draft Reform and Conscientious Objection Resolution passed at the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly, May 5, 1967. Adopted by greater than a two-thirds majority vote….

Frances Dana Barker Gage (1808-1884) was a Universalist, a lecturer, activist, novelist and journalist who was passionate about rights for women and for the abolition of slavery….

By the Rev. Dr. Mark Morrison-Reed. Used with permission. The following are characteristics of congregations that have successfully opened their doors to and attracted substantial numbers of African Americans. They are all in urban areas — New York, Chicago, D.C., Philadelphia, and Prince George…

As a movement that touches my life, deeply, humanly, profoundly, the women’s movement has to do with FREEDOM—freedom to become, to grow, to create, freedom to come to the following realizations: 1. I’m not a BODY, but a PERSON. I don’t have to use my body to sell me, to anyone for any reason. 2….

The 2006-2010 Study/Action Issue for the Unitarian Universalist Association asks the question: “Should the Unitarian Universalist Association reject the use of any and all kinds of violence and war to resolve disputes between peoples and nations and adopt a principle of seeking just peace through…

PRESS ADVISORY — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: From: (your congregation’s name) Contact: (name, title, and phone number) Heading: Text:…

Currently the UUA has two main ways to address issues of social witness: Congregational Study/Action Issues (CSAI) Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW) These are presented each year at General Assembly and are voted up or down by the delegates present at the convention. Congregational Study/Action…

Excerpted and edited from a presentation by the Rev. Gordon D. Gibson under auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Historical Society at the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, June 23, 2000, Nashville, Tennessee. Used with permission. What was it like to be a Unitarian…

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword: His truth is marching on. (Chorus) Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory,…

Excerpted from the article “Embattled Faith,” by Neil Shister, which appeared in the July/August 2003 issue of UU World. Used with the author’s permission….

From the sermon “Loving Our Whole Lives,” preached at the Unitarian Church of Montreal by the Rev. Diane Rollert, March 1, 2009. Used with permission. (Rollert describes her experience in an Our Whole Lives facilitators training.) … Many of us had come of age during the sexual revolution of the…

You will present a mock debate between two great Unitarian figures from the 20th century, William Howard Taft and John Haynes Holmes. Both men were passionate orators and spoke eloquently for their positions. Review their arguments, read the online materials on Taft and Holmes, and get ready to…

Excerpted from more than 10 hours of testimony given by Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam of the Methodist Church. Transcript published in U.S. News and World Report. August 7, 1953 and … in full on the Internet Archive website. Rep. Velde of Illinois (chairman of the Committee) Mr. Kunzig (prosecutor for…

By Meredith Tax, from the Arlington Street Church Women’s Caucus worship service. Used with permission. In the Women’s Caucus worship service, lines 5 and 43 of the text read, “…live to serve others.“ At the author’s request, we have restored her original phrase, “…live to serve…

The following letters were exchanged among a pair of members of Arlington Street Church (Boston), the board of the congregation (Prudential Committee), and the congregation’s minister, the Rev. Jack Mendelsohn….

Song lyrics from a poem written by James Oppenheim, published in The American Magazine, 1911….