Category: Social Justice

Please join us on Sunday (22 February 2015) at 9:30 AM as we look at the issues Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith are working on locally, at the state level, and at the federal level:

• The proposed open burn at Camp Minden, and the upcoming rally on Monday (23 February 2015, 7:00 PM) at the Minden Civic Center / City Hall with Lt. Gen. Russel L. Honoré.
• Seeking payday lending reform through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and how you can help.
• Seeking funding for the Healthy Food Retail Act to help bring whole, nutritious food to “food deserts” throughout our state.
• Looking at remedies to the problem of mass incarceration in our state and — specifically — at our overtaxed, underfunded Public Defender system.

Next Week — Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic by Matthew Stewart.  We resume our discussion with Chapter 7 –“The Empire of Reason.”

We still have one hard copy of the book at church and it is available for both the Nook and Kindle.

If you choose to order the hard copy or Kindle version through Amazon, please remember to go through the Amazon window on the All Souls website.

Please join us on Sunday (8 February 2015) at 9:30 AM for our Adult Religious Education Class.

This Sunday, we will have a discussion session on the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Congregational Study Action Issue on Escalating Inequality.

The Issue: Upward mobility-the American Dream-has become a myth. Concentration of wealth and power has skyrocketed. Dr. King’s dream of justice and equality has fractured. Half of all Americans are impoverished or struggling, as the middle class shrinks and billionaires take the profits. Where’s our commitment to the Common Good?

Its Grounding in Unitarian Universalism: Our Unitarian Universalist tradition places its faith in people to create a more loving community for all, guided by “justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.” Challenging extreme inequality has now become a moral imperative, just as prior generations have led movements from abolition to civil rights and marriage equality.

Our congregation is asked to submit comments on the issue as part of the ongoing effort to raise awareness, facilitate congregational activism, and eventually to create a draft Statement of Conscience on the issue by November 2016.

Next week, we resume our discussion of Nature’s God with Chapter 6, “The Pursuit of Happiness.” We still have one hard copy of the book at church, and it is available on both the NOOK and Kindle platforms. If you choose to order either the hard copy or Kindle version through Amazon, please remember to go through the Amazon window on the All Souls website.

Please join us on Sunday (1 February 2015) as we resume our discussion of Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic by  Matthew Stewart.

We will be covering Chapter 5 (“Self-Evident Truths”).  We will explore the philosophical and religious roots behind the “self-evident truths” cited by Jefferson in the Declaration and the people who crafted the American Revolution.

We still have one last hard copy of the book available at the church.

The book is also available on both the NOOK and Kindle e-reader platforms.

If you choose to order either the hard copy or Kindle version through Amazon, please remember to go through the Amazon window on the All Souls website.

Also, just a reminder that if you have not yet read the UUA Statement of Conscience on Reproductive Justice, our deadline for comments is Sunday (1 February 2015).

Send your comments to Melissa Gibson and be sure to include the line number that you are commenting on.

Please join us on Sunday (25 January 2015) at 9:30 AM for our adult religious education class.

This week, we are taking a break from our Nature’s God study group.

Melissa Gibson will be facilitating a discussion on reproductive justice — our denomination’s 2012-2016 social justice study action issue (Reproductive Justice: Expanding Our Social Justice Calling).

Reproductive Justice is a complex issue that goes far beyond the often loud and simplistic arguments of “pro-life” vs. “pro-choice.”

Continue reading “25 January 2015 Adult Religious Education”

Please join us on Sunday morning (2 November 2014) at 9:30 AM for our Adult Religious Education Class — A Discussion with Rev. Carlton Smith.  Rev. Smith serves as one of seven Congregational Life Staff in the Southern Region of the Unitarian Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and is the primary UUA contact for congregations in Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi and Pensacola FL.

Since we recently finished our Sunday morning discussion of the UUA Common Read (Paul Rasor’s Reclaiming Prophetic Witness), we’ve asked Rev. Smith to talk with us about his perspective on our prophetic role as Unitarian Universalists in the public conversation.

Continue reading “2 November 2014 Adult Religious Education”

Please join us on Sunday (25 October 2014) at 9:30 AM for our Adult Religious Education class — A Discussion with Lady Carlson (Organizer for Northern and Central Louisiana Interfaith).

Come and spend a bonus hour with the always-inspiring and energizing Lady Carlson.  We may have some Walter Brueggemann, some Interfaith updates, some talk about the future of workforce development in Northwest Louisiana, some more inspiration for our own prophetic witness … we will just get started and see where it goes!

Continue reading “26 October 2014 Adult Religious Education”