Category: Commentary

Opinion Articles on Social Justice topics

The Right to be Free From Guns By John Johnson, Mount Vernon Unitarian Church, Alexandria, VA

•

Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States. And it is not just mass shootings. On average 92 Americans die from gunshot wounds each day in gun suicides (57), gun homicides (33), and unintentional shootings (2). The number of Americans killed each day by firearms is greater than the number of victims (49) … Continue reading The Right to be Free From Guns By John Johnson, Mount Vernon Unitarian Church, Alexandria, VA

Economic Inequality and UU Principles By Gene Mulligan, UU Church of Arlington

•

Much of the impetus for the Trump and Sanders campaigns is said to stem from voters who are angry about their declining economic circumstances. Income and wealth inequality are growing in our country. What should be done about it? French economist Thomas Piketty writes that the tendency for wealth to accumulate in fewer and fewer … Continue reading Economic Inequality and UU Principles By Gene Mulligan, UU Church of Arlington

All Houses Matter By Walter Ellis, Cedar Lane UU Church of Bethesda, MD

•

Walter Ellis received a 2015 UUSJ Emerging Leader Award at the UUSJ Social Justice Awards Gala last fall. His full remarks are below: Since I only have a few minutes, I figured I’d share an image with you I’ve cribbed from the internet. It’s a sketch that I’ve grown quite fond of. It shows two houses, one … Continue reading All Houses Matter By Walter Ellis, Cedar Lane UU Church of Bethesda, MD

An Interfaith Effort With Our Muslim Neighbors By Marc DeFrancis, UU Church of Arlington, VA

•

It was a blessedly sunny Saturday afternoon in early December, and there in Falls Church, Virginia, more than a hundred of us–Muslims and Catholics and Protestants and Jews and UUs–had converged on the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center to help pack the thousands of blankets and coats the mosque’s members had been collecting for months … Continue reading An Interfaith Effort With Our Muslim Neighbors By Marc DeFrancis, UU Church of Arlington, VA

Will You Join Me to Take Action to Reduce Gun Violence? By Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson, UUSJ Secretary & member of Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church

•

My wife and I were in Budapest four years ago and one evening we were on Castle Hill, a culturally and historically significant place in Budapest. It was late evening and we had missed the bus to the train station so we decided to walk the under a mile distance. We passed a modern building … Continue reading Will You Join Me to Take Action to Reduce Gun Violence? By Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson, UUSJ Secretary & member of Mt. Vernon Unitarian Church

What the Right to Vote Means to Me by Rev. Dr. Linda Olson Peebles, Faith in Action Minister, UU Church of Arlington, VA & President, UU Ministers Association

•

This year, the day August 18 took on greater meaning for me than it has in the past. August 18 is the day 95 years ago in 1920 when the 19th amendment to the US constitution was ratified. That amendment granted women the right to vote. Why is the date more notable to me this … Continue reading What the Right to Vote Means to Me by Rev. Dr. Linda Olson Peebles, Faith in Action Minister, UU Church of Arlington, VA & President, UU Ministers Association

Environmental Justice: When Only Love Is Enough by Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd, River Road UU Church

•

I grew up as a rather prayerful Catholic girl in the middle of nowhere. And perhaps more than any innate sense of justice-seeking, more than any clearly delineated theology – the hallmark of my religious sensibility in those early years was the fact that I was absolutely enamored by the beauty of the sacred. In … Continue reading Environmental Justice: When Only Love Is Enough by Rev. Nancy McDonald Ladd, River Road UU Church

Reflections on Labor Day: Automation — Job Enhancer rather than Destroyer? by Terry Steichen, UU Church of Fairfax

•

Labor Day calls attention to the concern that many are worried that increasing automation within the workplace will further accelerate the already-unacceptable level of job loss.  As is clearly evident, the  growing gap between the dividend-clipping wealthy and those who make their living with real, salaried jobs is huge and still growing, exacerbating the wealth … Continue reading Reflections on Labor Day: Automation — Job Enhancer rather than Destroyer? by Terry Steichen, UU Church of Fairfax