This is, first and foremost, a message of hope, drawing lessons from resistance movements whose stories have already been written to provide context and to call for effective political resistance through collective action today. Resistance work is hard, at times dangerous, and can feel disjointed, devolving into factions before finding its footing to achieve its … Continue reading Reflections on Political Resistance: Vive la Resistance, Solidarity, No Kings
Equal rights for others doesn’t mean fewer rights for you. It’s not pie. – slogan on a decorative kitchen towel at a museum gift shop. I grew up with white male rights that I did not have to fight for. The right to vote, to sit at the front of the bus, and to never … Continue reading Your Rights Can Slip Away
I live a mile and a half from the spot where Renée Good was killed by our government on January 7th. Less than three weeks later, Alex Pretti was shot in the back by masked and heavily armed federal agents in front of my family’s favorite neighborhood doughnut shop. I have two children who attend … Continue reading Report from Minneapolis: How Unitarian Universalism Beats Authoritarianism
Please call your Federal Lawmakers and ask them to oppose the “Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act” (H.R.38/S.65). This request comes in solidarity with the UU Legislative Ministry of Maryland, i.e., the UU State Action Network-Maryland, which is profoundly concerned about state sovereignty & autonomy in determining gun safety policies for public safety. If passed, the … Continue reading Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2025
Kenneth Mitchell, First Unitarian, Baltimore Constitutions have been used throughout much of Western civilization to establish the basic rules governing the governance of a community or political system. One of the key issues in a political system is the distribution of power, i.e., who makes the decisions and administers the government. In ancient times, major … Continue reading A Constitution to Save the Republic
I want to highlight a less obvious dimension of the work we do at UUSJ — helping people heal from moral injury and reclaiming their agency — something that stands out to me given my background in healthcare. Moral injury traditionally refers to the deep psychological and spiritual harm that arises when a person participates in, … Continue reading Contending With Moral Emotions
Step by slimy step, President Trump has made us numb to his crudeness and cruelty. On Air Force One recently, Trump cut off Catherine Lucey, a Bloomberg News journalist, pressing him about the release of Epstein files that could further implicate Trump in the lurid mess. Stabbing his finger at her face, the President of … Continue reading Feel Better — Make a Difference
Photo: April 21, 2025 Rally at First Parish in Concord My name is Fred Van Deusen, and I have the honor of being both the Leader of the Reclaim Our Democracy group at First Parish in Concord, MA, and a member of the UUSJ Democracy Action Team. The UUSJ Democracy Action Team comprises a … Continue reading Let’s Reclaim Our Democracy, In Ernest
The President’s Memorandum, Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence, attempts to exploit recent political violence, to threaten civil rights and nonprofit organizations, the modern backbone of civil society. Our faith tradition is rooted in love. We forsake political violence. We denounce sectarian violence. Our experiment of the American republic is an effort to move … Continue reading The Newest Iteration of the Reprisal Ethos, the “Daddy State”
