Faith Curriculum Library: Tapestry of Faith: Resistance and Transformation: An Adult Program on Unitarian Universalist Social Justice History

Taking It Home: Taking Politics Public

Our religious teachers, ministers and lay-men alike—from Thomas Jefferson to William Ellery Channing to Adlai Stevenson—have urged us to honor always the primacy of conscience over any external authority which we believe to be immoral... Thus it is natural that some of our young men must regard military duty as a violation of their deepest commitment. And if for some reason their draft boards do not recognize them as having legal C.O. status, they are answerable primarily to their own conscience still. The Unitarian Universalist Association must support them in their moral stand and religious conviction. — Dana McLean Greeley, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1961-1969

If you lived through the Vietnam era, find some time to discuss your experiences with someone of a younger generation. Share the experiences you remember from that time, and, in particular, the political climate as you remember it. If you were a Unitarian Universalist then, this might be a good time to share with youth in your congregation what it was like for you at that time. Ask if they have had any similar experiences today. If you did not experience the Vietnam War era directly, ask your family, friends, or members of your congregation about their memories from that time. Did they participate in a religious community during the late 1960s and early 70s? Do they remember if their congregation took a stand about the war or the military draft, and how they felt about that?