Honoring heroes, melding science and religion, and more
Still righteous
The Rev. Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, and his wife Martha Sharp spent six years helping Jewish and other refugees escape from the Nazi regime; more recently they've spent time in the news after being posthumously named “righteous among the nations” by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance authority. The couple, who also helped organize the Unitarian Service Committee in 1940, have been profiled in several publications over the last two months, including this recent story in the Providence Journal. (Providence Journal - Providence, RI 1.29.06 subscription)
See also: "Church celebrates members' World War II heroism" (uuworld.org - 12.19.05) and "UUSC founders honored for saving Jews from Holocaust" (uuworld.org, UUs in the Media - 12.19.05)
In awe of evolution
The Rev. Michael Dowd spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis on new ways of thinking about evolution, the universe, and humanity's place in the world. Dowd and his wife have traveled the country for the last four years speaking to audiences, including more than 170 UU congregations. Their message centers on evolution's part in a "14-billion-year, sacred story," melding science and religion and creating a common ground for people of differing beliefs. (The California Aggie Online - Davis, CA 1.30.06)
(Watch for the cover story on Dowd and Barlow in the Spring 2006 issue of UU World, in mailboxes later in February.)
Maryland bill lights up fiery debate
Supporters and opponents of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions in Maryland faced off on January 28 as the controversy continued to heat up. Civil rights advocates, some clergy, and constitutional law professors warned a House of Delegates committee that the measure would codify discrimination. The Rev. John Crestwell of Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Camp Springs, Maryland, who opposes the amendment, said, "When you mix the word of God with partisan zeal, it's disastrous and that's what's going on here." (Baltimore Sun - Baltimore, MD 2.1.06)
Travel rituals
The Rev. Renee Waun, minister of the East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, has a travel journal for every trip she's taken since she was a 19-year-old living in Switzerland. The long-standing tradition is just one example of the many travel rituals people have. For Waun, 61, the journals aren't just a diary about what she did and where she went, but "insights I have discovered about myself and the world." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Pittsburgh, PA 1.22.06)
Coretta Scott King remembered
Coretta Scott King, "first lady of the civil rights movement," who carried on the work of her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., after his death, died in her sleep Tuesday at age 78. The Rev. Roger Bertschausen of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton, Wisconsin, who "always admired her dignity and grace," said the next generation of civil rights activists "has to start picking up the torch." (Postcrescent.com - Appleton, WI 2.1.06)
See also: "Coretta Scott King kept MLK's 'dream alive'" (The Enterprise - Brockton, MA 2.2.06)
The Rev. Waitstill Sharp, a Unitarian minister, and his wife Martha Sharp spent six years helping Jewish and other refugees escape from the Nazi regime; more recently they've spent time in the news after being posthumously named “righteous among the nations” by Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance authority. The couple, who also helped organize the Unitarian Service Committee in 1940, have been profiled in several publications over the last two months, including this recent story in the Providence Journal. (Providence Journal - Providence, RI 1.29.06 subscription)
See also: "Church celebrates members' World War II heroism" (uuworld.org - 12.19.05) and "UUSC founders honored for saving Jews from Holocaust" (uuworld.org, UUs in the Media - 12.19.05)
In awe of evolution
The Rev. Michael Dowd spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis on new ways of thinking about evolution, the universe, and humanity's place in the world. Dowd and his wife have traveled the country for the last four years speaking to audiences, including more than 170 UU congregations. Their message centers on evolution's part in a "14-billion-year, sacred story," melding science and religion and creating a common ground for people of differing beliefs. (The California Aggie Online - Davis, CA 1.30.06)
(Watch for the cover story on Dowd and Barlow in the Spring 2006 issue of UU World, in mailboxes later in February.)
Maryland bill lights up fiery debate
Supporters and opponents of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions in Maryland faced off on January 28 as the controversy continued to heat up. Civil rights advocates, some clergy, and constitutional law professors warned a House of Delegates committee that the measure would codify discrimination. The Rev. John Crestwell of Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church in Camp Springs, Maryland, who opposes the amendment, said, "When you mix the word of God with partisan zeal, it's disastrous and that's what's going on here." (Baltimore Sun - Baltimore, MD 2.1.06)
Travel rituals
The Rev. Renee Waun, minister of the East Suburban Unitarian Universalist Church in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, has a travel journal for every trip she's taken since she was a 19-year-old living in Switzerland. The long-standing tradition is just one example of the many travel rituals people have. For Waun, 61, the journals aren't just a diary about what she did and where she went, but "insights I have discovered about myself and the world." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Pittsburgh, PA 1.22.06)
Coretta Scott King remembered
Coretta Scott King, "first lady of the civil rights movement," who carried on the work of her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., after his death, died in her sleep Tuesday at age 78. The Rev. Roger Bertschausen of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton, Wisconsin, who "always admired her dignity and grace," said the next generation of civil rights activists "has to start picking up the torch." (Postcrescent.com - Appleton, WI 2.1.06)
See also: "Coretta Scott King kept MLK's 'dream alive'" (The Enterprise - Brockton, MA 2.2.06)
posted by Sonja L. Cohen at
11:16 AM
