Congregants offer support, money

By Maria Sacchetti
Boston Globe / July 4, 2008

At Sunday services and spaghetti suppers, churches and other religious groups across Massachusetts are fueling a growing movement to defend immigrants' rights, from raising money for detainees to lobbying lawmakers to overhaul immigration laws.

by Tim Murphy
Religion News Service
July 1, 2008

Unitarian Universalists ended their annual General Assembly meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with a call to oppose ballot measures in Florida and California that would outlaw same-sex marriages.

Delegates also called for an end to what they called the "present day slavery" of undocumented immigrants.

Julia Duin
Friday, June 6, 2008

Almost 300 congregations across the country have combined forces this
month to try to shame the U.S. government about torture through
black-and-white banners posted on church properties.

From Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Alaska to Augustana Lutheran Church in the District, 298 houses of worship are displaying banners with messages such as "Torture is wrong" and
"Torture is a moral issue."

The Rev. William G. Sinkford, the 61-year-old president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, is a Harvard graduate and the first African-American to lead a historically white denomination in the United States.

Unitarians, who practice probably the most liberal of all religions, do not share a creed but hope to help each other grow spiritually. Different Unitarians may draw on elements of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and other world religions.

Just Say Know

Finally, faith-based sex education that doesn’t leave teens groping in the dark

by Ken Picard (10/17/07).

When Jason Gerrard started eighth grade at Edmunds Middle School in Burlington, his formal sex education to that point might have been acquired somewhere between the pharmacy and the produce section of his local supermarket.

“It was just your typical demonstration of how to put a condom on a banana. That’s about it,” Gerrard recalls. “All the kids laughed and asked silly questions. It was nothing special.”

Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Put On Hold
Ames Gay Couple Gets Married

August 31, 2007

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A Polk County judge issued a stay early Friday afternoon against his own ruling that says same-sex couples can get married in Iowa.

On Thursday, a Polk County District Court Judge Robert Hanson declared the state's ban on gay marriage unconstitutional. Hanson said the state law allowing marriage only between a man and a woman violates the constitutional rights of due process and equal protection.

The 63-page ruling gives all Iowans --- gay or straight -- the right to marry.

·As females make uneven progress across faiths, some wonder why it is taking so long to reach the 'stained-glass ceiling'

By Rebecca Rosen Lum
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
Article Launched: 07/22/2007 03:03:56 AM PDT

When Diane Miller realized she wanted to be a minister, she had two simultaneous, opposing thoughts: "Yes, absolutely," and "Oh, no."

"I had never heard of a woman minister, met one or seen one," said Miller, who graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 1976.

Fred Small doesn't merely preach about the sanctity of creation: he has organized protests at car dealerships, urged his fold not to buy SUVs, and gotten himself arrested outside a U.S. Department of Energy building during a nonviolent protest on behalf of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A minister at First Church Unitarian in Littleton, Mass., and founder of Religious Witness for the Earth, Small believes faith groups need to do more to respond to environmental crises.

I don't normally watch Bill O'Reilly, let alone tell other people to watch him. But UU minister Deb Hafner will be on the show to support Barak Obama's recent statements on sex ed. For those of you who don't know Deb Hafner, she's a UU minister and the director of the Religious Institute of Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing. She will be speaking as both a member of the clergy and as a sex educator.

By Rich Barlow | June 30, 2007

For several years, Tyler Grenzeback slid toward depression as he struggled with dyslexia. Then he plunged headlong into sorrow after coping with his girlfriend's depressed state and her pushing him away. "After that fell apart, I started to fall apart," he recalled.