Muusja Mailing List: E-UPDATE FOR SEPTEMBER 6, 2006

[Lauren Culbert (lculbert]

MUUSJA  E-EVENT UPDATE September 6, 2006
 
Minnesota UU Social  Justice Alliance--Bringing  together UUs to work
collectively for social change.
 
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This  update includes announcements about: 
 
A. Local Social Justice News
B. National UU Advocacy
C. Social Justice Links

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A. LOCAL SOCIAL JUSTICE NEWS

1.
SAT, SEPT 9
7:30 PM
FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY 900 MOUNT CURVE, MINNEAPOLIS

SEE THE EXONERATED in a benefit performance. The Exonerated is the moving
collection of stories told in the voice of several people who served time on
death row for crimes they did not commit. FUS and The Frank Theater are
co-sponsoring the event to benefit two community organizations. FFI
http://www.franktheatre.org/frank/news/news.html

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2.
ACT ON GLOBAL WARMING
IMMEDIATELY

Our Statement of Conscience on the Threat of Global Warming/Climate Change
calls us to recognize the immediate threat and the social justice
consequences of global warming/climate change and to respond by educating
ourselves, making life-style changes, and sharing our knowledge with others.

If you haven't already done so, see "An Inconvenient Truth," encourage
others to see it, and talk about it.  Al Gore's Movie does a great job of
explaining the causes of global warming/climate change, addressing the
claims by some that it isn't really happening, and telling us what we can do
about it.  The situation is urgent but not hopeless.  To help get the word
out, California Interfaith Power and Light is encouraging religious
congregations nation-wide to host screenings of the movie by offering free
movie kits.  Each kit contains the DVD and distribution materials. To order
a kit, go to:
<http://www.theregenerationproject.org/inconvenient.htm> But hurry, the
deadline is early September!

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3. 
MON, SEPT 11
6:30 PM
PLYMOUTH CHURCH 1900 NICOLLET AVE.

NETWORK OF SPIRITUAL PROGRESSIVES WILL MEET on September 11 at 7 pm at
Plymouth Church (1900 Nicollet Ave., just south of downtown Minneapolis) As
always, come at 6:30 for snacks and conversation and a brief orientation for
new members. (If you arrive after 7:30 and find the doors locked, there is a
bell at the door under the canopy on the Franklin Ave. side of the church.)
The anniversary of 9/11 will be an especially good day to be among
supportive people who believe in peace.  For the educational program, we
will have a chance to hear from one of our well-published members, St. Olaf
professor Jim Farrell, who will discuss his work on the moral ecology of
consumerism.

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4.
SAT, NOV 18
9:00 AM TO 5:00 PM
WESLEY CHURCH, MINNEAPOLIS

Information and registration for the 2006 Midwest Conference of Spiritual
Progressives is now available at www.nspmn.org.  The conference will be on
November 18 from 9am-5pm at Wesley Church in Downtown Minneapolis.  Rabbi
Michael Lerner, Network of Spiritual Progressives founder, editor of Tikkun
magazine, and author of The Left Hand of God, will be the keynote speaker.
Cost is $45 and includes lunch ($55 at the door if space is available).

B. NATIONAL UU ADVOCACY

1. 
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KATRINA ANNIVERSARY
Noting the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall on the Gulf
Coast, UUA President William G. Sinkford has issued a pastoral letter
reflecting on the significance of that catastrophe and the larger issue of
racism and classism in American society. Sinkford says, in part, "You do not
need to go to the Gulf to see systems of power and privilege. Simply look
down the street, or into a neighboring community.... We need to develop the
capacity to see and know the reality of oppression...even when, or
especially when, we only have to look next door."

The full text of Rev. Sinkford's pastoral letter is available at
http://www.uua.org/president/060830_katrina.html.

The UUA's website also features "Voices from the Gulf," a compilation of
anniversary reflections that includes reports from New Orleans by UUA
Moderator Gini Courter; a letter from the Rev. Meg Riley, chair of the
UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Relief fund; sermons and reflections from Gulf Coast UU
ministers Marta Valentin, Jim VanderWeele, and Jacqueline Luck; and profiles
of Gulf Coast Relief Fund partners working to restore the Gulf Coast region.

"Voices from the Gulf" can be found at
http://www.uua.org/news/gulfcoastrelief/1year/

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C. SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS

To find out about other local and national social justice events, check out
these websites.  

UU SOCIAL JUSTICE AND OTHER UU LINKS:
Unitarian Universalist Association:  http://www.uua.org/

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee:  http://www.uusc.org/

UUA Washington Office for Advocacy http://www.uua.org/uuawo/new/

UUA Congregational Advocacy and Witness:
http://www.uua.org/programs/justice/

Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA):  http://www.muusja.org/

Prairie Star  District: http://www.psduua.org/

FOR UU SOCIAL ACTON CHAIRS, sign up for regular e-news from the UUA, called
Sac-news www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo
 
UU Ministry for Earth http://uuministryforearth.org/index.shtml

UUs for a Just EconomicCommunity http://www.uujec.net/

UU Committee for Socially Responsible Investing
http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/ 

UU Gulf Coast Advocacy http://www.uua.org/news/gulfcoastrelief/advocacy.html

OTHER SOCIAL JUSTICE LINKS: 
*note: if you ara  member of a group who would like us to list your web
site, send it to muusja-editor [at] muusja.org
 
Minnesota  Alliance of Peacemakers  http://www.mapm.org/
 
Women Against Military Madness at  www.worldwidewamm.org
 
Progressive Calendar subscribe by emailing  shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu.
  
Planned Parenthood of Minnesota:   www.ppmns.org
 
NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota:   www.prochoiceminnesota.org

Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH):
http://www.micah.org/
 
Code Pink: www.codepink4peace.org

Center for Victims of Torture: http://www.cvt.org/main.php