[JTWNews] Standing on the Side of Love & Peace
Susan Leslie
SLeslie at uua.org
Thu May 25 12:50:12 EDT 2006
**********************************
JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS (JTW) NEWS
**********************************
Dear JTW-News Readers:
Spring has finally come to Boston and I can feel the spirit rising,
espcially as I witness our community of faith come together in hope and
solidarity for justice. This issue of JTW-News brings you a report of
UU leadership to advocate against the federal marriage amendment. The
Washington Office for Advocacy brought in UU ministers from around the
country to meet with federal representatives. This is a first for our
association and points to the national leadership we bring to the civil
rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Please
note that there is a short call-in advocacy briefing this afternoon and
on Monday evening by UUA staff for UUs planning to contact or do
in-district meetings with their representatives. See below for details.
The federal vote is expected to take place sometime during the first
week of June.
Our efforts for an open debate on Iraq in Congress continue. The major
coalition we participate in, Win Without War, reports that bi-partisan
support continues to grow with more House members adding their names to
the discharge petition. See below to find out if your representatives
have signed and how to contact them.
The Social Justice team at First Unitarian Church of Oakland CA are
working to put forward an Action of Immediate Witness on Ending the Iraq
War at this year's General Assembly. See below for more information and
how to contact them directly.
Many UU congregations have planned Memorial Day services and actions to
witness for an end to the war. We will be including these in the next
edition of http://www.uuworld.org/ and SAC-News. Please send me your
stories and digital photos.
Next week I will send out a Social Justice at General Assembly special
issue but want to again remind you that Advocacy & Witness is hosting a
--
SPECIAL PRE-GA SOCIAL JUSTICE GATHERING for social action and
anti-racism committees on anti-oppressive justice-making that is
effective and accountable to oppressed communities. Hold the date:
WED., JUNE 21st, 2-5 p.m. (more ls below).
In faith,
Susan
**********************************************************
UU MINISTERS TRAVEL TO DC TO ADVOCATE AGAINST DISCRIMINATION IN THE
CONSTITUTION
When the Revs. Mel Hoover and Rose Edington, co-ministers of the
Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Charleston, WV, sat down with
their Senator's staff to lobby against the federal marriage amendment,
they started by telling their own story. An interracial couple, Hoover
and Edington had a unique perspective to communicate to Senator Robert
Byrd (D-WV). "I might not be here if there had been a popular vote about
my rights," said Hoover, an African American and a former director of
the UUA's Department of Faith in Action. "When we got married in 1970,
the last miscegenation laws were still on the books. Those laws remained
in place until 1973. My wife and I would hear the same arguments used
around interracial marriage that we're hearing now about same-sex
marriage. But the nation didn't collapse. Religion didn't collapse.
Marriage didn't collapse."
Hoover , Edington, and Kelly Kaufman, a Unitarian Universalist
seminarian finishing her coursework at Vanderbilt Divinity School and
the third member of the West Virginia delegation, were three of nine
Unitarian Universalists to participate in an interfaith "fly-in" lobby
day against the federal marriage amendment. The UU religious presence
was organized by the UUA's Washington Office for Advocacy in partnership
with other religious and secular groups that oppose the proposed federal
"Marriage Protection amendment."
See http://www.uua.org/news/freedomtomarry/060522_dc.html for the full
story.
*******************************************************
STANDING ON THE SIDE OF LOVE 2006: NO DISCRIMINATION IN THE CONSTITUTION
Phone Trainings for Lobbying Against the "Anti-Marriage" Amendment May
25 and 29
If you are planning (or considering) lobbying against the Federal
Anti-Marriage Amendment, this training is for you! Join UUA staff for a
conference call briefing (no more than one hour) in which we'll go
through the issue, the amendment, and basic lobbying skills. You'll
also hear from at least one UU minister who's come to Washington, DC, to
join other religious leaders in lobbying against the amendment.
We will provide a powerpoint presentation accessible from our website.
We're offering this briefing at two times:
Thursday, May 25, at 4:00 PM Eastern Time
Monday, May 29, at 8:00 PM Eastern Time
If you would like to participate, please send your name, email and UU
congregation to ebukey at uua.org. YOU MUST RSVP TO PARTICIPATE! Those who
RSVP will receive instructions via email on how to access the
presentation and dial-in. Again, please send your name, email and UU
congregation to ebukey at uua.org.
Please share this with other Unitarian Universalists who may be
interested!
********************************************************
OPEN DEBATE ON IRAQ
To date 117 members of the House of Representatives have signed
H.Res.543, a discharge petition that would allow H. J. Res. 55, a bill
that calls for the Administration to develop a troop withdrawal plan, be
brought to the House floor for debate. To succeed, the discharge
petition needs to gather a total of 218 signatures.
For a complete list of signatories, please visit the campaign website
(the new additions are bolded):
http://www.openiraqdebate.org/inner/roll-call.html
>From the Win Without War Coalition:
The Republican sponsors of H.Res.543 are still unclear as to when we
should expect the Republican-defined debate on the House floor. The
sponsors, however, have communicated to leadership their terms for a
debate: 1) an open-rule, allowing for any and all alternatives to be
considered and voted on; and 2) a substantial 17-hour debate. The only
way we can ensure the first honest and open debate on Iraq happens is to
bring it to the floor with H.Res.543, and we need your help in making it
happen. Please look through the list of the non-signers above and let
us know where you can help.
Thank you for your continued support... We've made amazing strides in
the grassroots effort to end the war, and it was due to your commitment
to this effort!
*******************************************************
ACTION OF IMMEDIATE WITNESS ON IRAQ WAR
ATTENTION UUA GA 2006 DELEGATES:
TIME LIMITED ACTION REQUEST ON IRAQ WAR
Dear GA 2006 Delegate,
As we have all witnessed, the war in Iraq is intensifying with more
carnage and chaos being created every day. Many of us have been
heartened to hear about a new movement started by many people of faith
that aims to bring the largest numbers of Americans together in order to
take positive, non-violent action to stop the war. This new campaign is
called, "The Declaration of Peace" (DOP). It is a campaign that will
include calling on members of Congress to support legislation that
brings the troops home, cuts off funding for the war, and includes a
pledge to engage in concerted non-violent action if a concrete
withdrawal plan is not established and begun by September 21, 2006 with
a commitment to continue acting until the US withdraws from Iraq.
We're looking for delegates going to this year's GA in St. Louis who are
as convinced as we are that our denomination belongs in this new
campaign to bring the Iraq war to a halt. We want to secure the
requisite number of delegate signatures to put an "Action of Immediate
Witness" (AIW) onto the GA agenda, a tool made just for such urgent
action. Can you commit to signing this AIW herein attached? Can you
help us find other delegates, especially delegates who would give us the
spread we need according to the AIW regulations: 150 minimum signers, 25
congregations, 5 districts?
We welcome your suggestions about the draft below.
IF YOU CAN COMMIT, PLEASE, TELL US BY SUBSCRIBING TO
WWW.UUADOP-SUBSCRIBE at LISTS.RISEUP.NET
OR WRITE TO: tomfluce at gmail.com
TELL US:
1. WHO YOU ARE,
2. FROM WHICH CONGREGATION/DISTRICT,
3. YOUR CONTACT PHONE AT GA,
4. IF YOU WILL HAVE E-MAIL AT GA.
This special listserve is intended to organize GA delegates for the
passage of the AIW. If you can find others, please share this message
and ask them also to subscribe to this listserve. We want our campaign
to win overwhelming approval of the GA.
Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Micky Duxbury, Sherry Larsen-Beville, Tom Luce - First Unitarian Church
Of Oakland
ACTION OF IMMEDIATE WITNESS (AIW)
UUA GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2006
"THE DECLARATION OF PEACE"
WHEREAS:
The US war and occupation in Iraq has resulted in more than 2300 US
deaths, more than 30,000 Iraqi deaths, and has consumed billions of
dollars of resources while greatly intensifying hostilities in the
Middle East; and
WHEREAS:
A growing national campaign, entitled "The Declaration of Peace" has
been called to end the US War in Iraq and is endorsed by the following
organizations: United for Peace and Justice; Clergy and Laity Concerned
About Iraq; The Global Call for Nonviolent Resistance to the War in
Iraq; Proyecto Guerrero Azteca por la Paz; The United Church of Christ;
Methodist Federation for Social Action; Code Pink; Episcopal Peace
Fellowship; Pax Christi USA; Iraq Pledge of Resistance; Global
Exchange; Voices for Creative Nonviolence; Peaceful Tomorrows;
Peaceworkers; Courage to Resist; The MK Gandhi Institute for
Nonviolence; Los Angeles Interfaith Council United for Justice and
Peace; Ecumenical Peace Institute/Clergy and Laity Concerned (Northern
California); Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service; and
WHEREAS:
"The Declaration of Peace" calls for establishing a concrete deadline
and timetable for a comprehensive withdrawal of US troops which will
include the following: a. closure of all US bases in Iraq, b. supporting
an Iraqi led peace process in the post-occupation transition, c. ending
US control of Iraqi oil and the political and economic life of Iraq d.
making reparations and supporting reconstruction to address the
destruction wreaked by the war e. giving increased support to US
veterans, f. prohibiting so-called "pre-emptive" war against other
nations; and
WHEREAS:
"The Declaration of Peace" is a campaign that will include calling on
all elected members of Congress to support legislation that brings the
troops home, cuts off funding for the war, and includes a pledge to
engage in concerted non-violent action if a concrete withdrawal plan is
not established and begun by September 23, 2006 with a commitment to
continue acting until the US withdraws from Iraq; and
WHEREAS:
The UUA joined in the Viet Nam Moratorium and has consistently joined
campaigns of peacemaking that promote reconciliation over war,
redistribution of wealth over proliferation of weaponry, and non-violent
resistance over acquiescence to militaristic government policies, and
WHEREAS:
Hundreds of thousands of US citizens have engaged in democratic
opposition to this war and have been met with its continued escalation;
Therefore,
Let our unified voices be heard, and LET IT BE RESOLVED that, the UUA
General Assembly of 2006 endorse "The Declaration of Peace", and urge
all Unitarian Universalist religious leaders at the international,
national, district, and congregational level to inform themselves about
this campaign and participate to end the US war against Iraq.
*******************************************************
SOCIAL JUSTICE GATHERING AT GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Come to General Assembly in St. Louis and meet other social justice
committee members and anti-racism/anti-oppression, diversity committee
folks and UUA staff to learn about and share effective social justice
practices and resources.
WHEN: WED., JUNE 21st, 2-5 PM
WHERE: RENAISSANCE GRAND HYATT
800 Washington Avenue
St. Louis, MO
Room: Hawthorne, 21st Floor
WHO: UU social justice committees and anti-racism committees
UUA Washington Office for Advocacy Director Rob Keithan
www.uua.org/uuawo/new/
UUA Office for Congregational Advocacy & Witness Director
Susan Leslie
www.uua.org/programs/justice/
UUA JUUST Change Consultant Paula Cole Jones
www.uua.org/programs/justice/antiracism/consultancy.html
Special Guest: Linda Stout, Executive Director of Spirit in
Action, and
featured Speaker at GA (Sat at 2:15 p.m. From the
Heart--Building a New
Democracy Movement www.spiritinaction.net/ezpublish/index.php
Please RSVP to Susan Leslie at sleslie at uua.org if you and other members
of your committee will be attending.
Susan Leslie
Director for Congregational Advocacy and Witness
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon Street, Boston MA 02108
(617) 948-4607; sleslie at uua.org
www.uua.org/justice
Subscribe to SAC-News, Advocacy-News, JTW-News & SRI-News at
www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo
More information about the JTWNews
mailing list