As we hear distressing stories of violence and oppression from around the world, we may benefit from reminding ourselves of times and places when human beings did organize themselves into durable just societies. In this talk Dr. Reimers discusses some of these times and places: from the world’s first cities in 4000 BCE, to  the…

Religious participation is plummeting. “Church” has become a bad brand. Should we resign ourselves to palliative care for our aging congregations? Can we find ways to feed the hunger for meaning and community? One thing is certain: We cannot church the way we always have and hope for different results.  Speaker: Rev Peter Morales is…

I Before We Except Overseas – Tracing The Roots Of Our Multi-Century Identity CrisisMost cultures of European descent cultivate individual identity more than other cultures of the world. We have to go back 60, or 100, or perhaps 300 years to find the roots of our contemporary debates over the role of identity in our…

Many of you may be familiar with 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruck Spinoza.  I knew the name and the famous quote from Einstein that he “believed in “Spinoza’s God” but I didn’t have a very clear idea of the resonance his beliefs hold for many Unitarians.  Thus, I was grateful to bump into the video…

February’s NAUA Academy session featured three experts discuss the ways in which the Supreme Courts of the USA and Canada function to support our democracies. They note the ways in which the courts work, are appointed, their public support and some of the significant effect their decisions have on each of us and our social…

Previously, Ken Ing traced the roots of the identity centric movement that dominates the UUA, and influences institutions throughout North America. As a follow-up, Sunil Wijeyesekera describes the work of The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), an organization that counters identity politics. FAIR is a non-partisan civil rights organization based on universal principles of…

Speaker: Andrew James Brown, Minister of Cambridge Unitarian Church, Cambridge, UK “Beyond all “—isms” — the creative, inquiring, free & liberative spirituality of Imaoka Shin’ichirō” Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988) was a pioneering Japanese religious leader and educator, deeply involved in the development of Free Religion and interfaith dialogue. Born into a Shin Buddhist farming family, he…

As NAUA prepares for this session. Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof shares his thoughts about the direction it should take in its efforts to help Unitarianism and liberal religion to carry on and thrive. This presentation will include his ideas about membership growth, outreach, and future kinds so services and support NAUA might offer. Recent…

The roots of humanism lie in ancient wisdom literature, which reflected on justice, fate and the life well-lived. The Renaissance Humanists rediscovered that literature and advocated for the values of human life, especially clear thought, eloquence, and civic engagement. In the early twentieth century a group of Unitarian ministers advocated a liberal Christianity without a…

In this NAUA Academy session Terry Anderson, Ph.D. overviews the controversial idea that color blindness is the best way to equality and to combat racism.   The argument was fueled by Coleman Hughe’s Ted Talk, the controversy that arose from his talk and his new book – The End of Race Politics. We also look at Sheena…