[JTWNews] Let Justice Roll-Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

[Susan Leslie]

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Journey Toward Wholeness (JTW)  News

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Dear JTW -News Readers:

A belated Happy New Year to you all and a Happy Martin Luther King, Jr.Holiday. I find Dr. King's legacy to be very sustaining in these difficult times.  His understanding of struggling against what he called the three evils -
poverty, racism, and militarism - and how they are all linked certainly still rings true today.  I came across a wonderful website about his life and work, with lots of terrific photos and quotes that you may find inspiring too.  See The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/.

As you know, the UUA and the UUSC have been working with the Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign which is supporting hundreds of Let Justice Roll Martin Luther King, Jr. Living Wage Day worship services and events.  I have heard from dozens of UU congregations that are holding services and events this weekend or on the alternate date of the UUSC sponsored UU Justice Sunday on March 26.  See http://www.uua.org/news/congpacket/jan2006/LJR-LivingWage.pdf.  If you are sponsoring an event please let us know!

United First Parish Church Unitarian of Quincy MA is hosting an event on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, Monday, Jan. 16, that will feature Senator Edward Kennedy speaking for increasing the federal minimum wage. The event will also include Robert Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches and local interfaith, labor, and community
leades and testimonials from low-wage workers.  Look for coverage about this event and UU efforts for living wage initiatives on the home page of uua.org at http://www.uua.org/.  And see http://www.uua.org/programs/justice/ for more
information about the event and the Let Justice Roll campaign.

UUA President William Sinkford is preaching is preaching this Sunday, Jan. 15th at First UU Church of San Diego's Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday Service. on the need for a living wage and Dr. King's understanding of how the struggles for racial justice and economic justice are inextricably linked.  He often points out that Dr. King was assassinated while supporting striking sanitation workers in Memphis TN.  Let us continue Dr. King's quest for justice.

In faith, Susan

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In this Issue:

(1) From the UUA SRI Committee -- Free 1 Hour Teleconference Workshops
(2) From the UU Ministry for Earth -- Comments Due on Global Warming SOC
(3) From the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy -- Action Alert on Alito Hearings

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(1) SRI TELECONFERENCE WORKSHOPS IN FEB  & MARCH

The UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing is proud to present three free one hour learning sessions to be enjoyed in the comfort of your own community or home - no travel required. The theme is "Making a Difference with Ideals, Impact and Involvement." Each session will teach one of the key strategies of the socially responsible investing
movement. You'll learn concrete steps to get strategies implemented in your personal life or within your congregation.

Impact - Community Investing

Saturday, February 4th, 1pm EST

Ideals - Investment Screening

Saturday, February 18th, 1pm EST

Involvement -- Shareholder Activism

Saturday, March 4th, 1pm EST

Details for all calls are on the flyer posted at http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/SRI-TeleConference-Flyer.pdf


Please join us for one or all of these.

You may want to gather around a speaker phone in your congregation with
your finance, investment, and social action committee members.

Visit our website for news and resources at http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/ .

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(2) FROM UU MINISTRY FOR EARTH ON GLOBAL WARMING SOC

This year at General Assembly UUs will be asked to vote on a Statement of Conscience (SOC) on "The Threat of Global Warming". Such statements are a congregation's most direct way to determine the position of our denomination on vital issues of social and environmental justice.

In an effort to encourage record-breaking congregational response to this critical issue and to make the SOC as scientifically current and as powerful and persuasive a religious document as possible, UU Ministry for Earth (formerly the Seventh Principle Project) has created a response to the UUA Draft Statement of Conscience.

The aims of this effort by UU Ministry for Earth are: 

* to provide congregations with updated information on the science of
global warming
* to encourage a deeper articulation of the moral, ethical, and justice
issues related to global warming,
* to encourage a stronger statement of why global warming is a faith
issue,
* to include a call for denominational as well as congregational and
individual action,
* and to more concretely focus on the actions which are necessary to
halt the warming of Earth's climate.

The UU Ministry for Earth document may be downloaded from their website:

http://uuministryforearth.org/globalwarming/SOC.pdf
or may be obtained by emailing office at uuministryforearth.org or calling
301-588-0944.

UU Ministry for Earth suggests that as congregations prepare their comments, they compare each section of both the UUMFE and the UUA documents, drawing on the preferred text from both documents for their own congregational response. You may freely use any language from the UUMFE document that you wish.

PLEASE NOTE that ALL comments MUST be submitted to the Commission on Social Witness using their comment form available at www.uua.org/csw. The deadline for comments on the UUA Draft Statement of Conscience is
March 1.


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ACTION ALERT FROM THE UUA WASHINGTON OFFICE FOR ADVOCACY

Contents:

***Intro
***Alito Confirmation

Dear Readers,

It's an unseasonably warm day here in DC--those members of the office who are from Minnesota question whether this can really be January. However, it must be the second week in January as the confirmation hearings for Judge Samuel Alito have begun in earnest.  As you know, the UUA has never before opposed a Supreme Court Nominee, and we have done so now because of his civil liberties record; furthermore, we were convinced that it is possible to stop Alito's confirmation.  For this,we need your help; it's our responsibility to ensure our Senators know where we stand on this issue. 

Thanks for all you do. 

In faith,

The UUA Washington Office

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URGE YOUR SENATORS TO OPPOSE THE CONFIRMATION OF JUDGE ALITO


As you know, the importance of a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court cannot be overstated. A Supreme Court Justice appointed today will have the opportunity to shape the Court for two or more generations. The Court, particularly as of late, has been marked by narrow 5-4 decisions on many issues, including those pertaining to reproductive choice,
separation of church and state, environmental protection, and worker rights, as well as other issues of great import to many Americans.


Judge Alito's 15 year judicial record is one that consistently favors a narrow interpretation that jeopardizes the values that we, as Unitarian Universalists, have long fought to secure and preserve.  According to the UUA's 2004 Statement of Conscience, we oppose Supreme Court nominees "...whose records demonstrate insensitivity to the protection of civil
liberties." That is why, on December 12th, the UUA decided to oppose Judge Alito's confirmation, based on concerns over civil liberties, including religious liberty, the right to privacy, and due process.  The UUA joins other religious and civil rights groups including the Union for Reform Judaism in opposing the nomination of Judge Alito.

***TAKE ACTION***


Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee began Judge Alito's confirmation hearings, after which the full Senate will vote. Please urge your Senators to vote against the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito Jr. Telephone calls and faxes from constituents are very important-especially when the respective legislation is being debated or voted upon. A constituent will rarely get through to a member of Congress on the telephone, but talking to or leaving a message for the
relevant staff person definitely has an impact. To reach your Senators call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121; to send an email or fax, visit our page for your Senators' contact information. For more information, please contact Legislative Assistant Elizabeth Bukey at ebukey at uua.org or 202.296.4672x22 or visit:

http://www.uua.org/news/2005/051212_alito/index.html  or www.supremecourtwatch.org .


**THE MESSAGE***


Some suggested message points are below; for more, visit http://www.uua.org/news/2005/051212_alito/index.html or
www.supremecourtwatch.org.


As Unitarian Universalists, we believe in justice, equity and compassion in human relations. While Judge Alito is a smart justice and lawyer, we believe that much of his record exhibits legal values that are not in line with those we hold as a faith community and concerned citizens, and are out of the mainstream, and inconsistent with our vision of a just,
equitable and compassionate society.


As UU individuals and congregations, we covenant to promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. Judge Alito has repeatedly shown that he does not legally value individual civil and human rights. We are not attacking Mr. Alito's character or personal beliefs, we are concerned with his judicial record, one that too often favors corporations and
police departments over individual citizens.

Our religious movement is committed to civil liberties and civil rights.  We believe that Judge Alito would not protect the rights and freedoms of all Americans and would not stand for the human and civil rights of immigrants and those seeking asylum.


Our faith tradition has a long history of supporting Women's Rights and Reproductive Freedom. We are concerned that Mr. Alito does not share this same respect in his judicial philosophy. He has expressed opinions that call for more restrictions on a woman's right to choose, including going further than any other American judge in stating that a woman
should be required to notify her husband, even an abusive husband,before access to an abortion will be granted. We are gravely concerned by this opinion and others that indicate that Mr. Alito does not necessarily see a married woman as a legal entity on her own, separate from her husband.


According to his written record, his views do not show a clear respect for judicial precedent, power of congress and rights of the individual, especially concerning civil liberties, civil rights and the rights of women. We ask senators to oppose the nomination of Mr. Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.


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Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations Washington Office for Advocacy



Susan Leslie
Director for Congregational Advocacy & Witness
UUA, 25 Beacon St., Boston MA 02108
617-948-4607; sleslie at uua.org
Visit www.uua.org/justice
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