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We are a vibrant, active, spiritually diverse, multicultural community dedicated to empowering our members to live lives of integrity, joy, and service where the needs are greatest in our host community of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

While we have indefinitely suspended in-person Sunday services and other gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic you are cordially invited to join our Zoom services, social activities and discussion groups. You are also invited to see previous services on our YouTube channel. (see links to the right)
We advise our members and friends to follow the advice of reputable public health authorities, such as the Centers for Disease Control, and to contact our Minister or Care Team for any needed assistance.

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Order of Service, Sunday 10:30am CT

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View past Sunday Services and other special videos

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We are a vibrant, active, spiritually diverse, multicultural community dedicated to empowering our members to live lives of integrity, joy, and service where the needs are greatest in our host community of San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.

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Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Paris

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Social action and justice is an important pillar of Unitarian Univesalism. Our UUFP community strives to foster dialogue around important social issues, as well as donate time and financial contributions [...]

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If you're visiting SA Unitarian Church for the first time, here are some top tips
to make your first visit memorable, easy and, most of all, fun!

Welcome to Worship at the Unitarian Church. As you look around you will see children are an important part of our community. Their presence here grows out of a commitment to incorporate children into the life and mission of our congregation, and to nurture them in their own spiritual journey.

We offer our creche and Sunday Club but we also bring children into the beginning of every service. After our 'Time for All Ages' they are invited to go to Sunday Club. Your child, however, may wish to stay with you, especially if you are visiting for the first time. We welcome this. Occasionally we have a family worship service which includes the entire congregation including the children.

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If you're visiting SA Unitarian Church for the first time, here are some top tips to make your first visit memorable, easy and, most of all, fun! Welcome to Worship at the Unitarian Church. As you look around you will see children are an important part of our community.

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Amongst the strife and anxiety of everyday life, we often forget what a miracle it is to be alive. Join Brian on a journey of exploration of just how marvelous we all are. Despite Covid, wars, racism and climate disasters, never forget that we live in a magical time and place.

Brian Short is a retired Electrical Engineer who has always marvelled at how things work both in the engineering world, and the biological and psychological world. He resides in Nanaimo with his wife, Glenda and has been a UU for almost 35 years. His 3 children currently reside on Vancouver Island with 2 grandkids in Victoria. When not with family, Brian can be found sailing, swimming, biking or involved in Environmental Activism

For link please email Our Director of Congregational Life Amanda Tarling

Katrina Pavlovsky was born in Toronto. In 1977 she met Fransesca, a spiritual teacher who greatly influenced Katrina's life. She wrote "Fransesca A Remarkable Life" in 2020 which is a tribute to Fransesca's deep connection with the inner self. The focus this morning will be on some of Fransesca's teachings which include techniques for meditation and visualization, clearing, discipline and being of service.

For link please email Our Director of Congregational Life Amanda Tarling

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Amongst the strife and anxiety of everyday life, we often forget what a miracle it is to be alive. Join Brian on a journey of exploration of just how marvelous we all are. Despite Covid, wars, racism and climate disasters, never forget that we live in a magical time and place.

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Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville

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"I love the causes we take interest in and the ones we take action against."

Lynsie Lamitie Adult Religious Education

"You're never finished with your passion. You're always in the middle of it."

Julia 9 yo

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Home - Unitarian Universalist Church of Huntsville

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"I love the causes we take interest in and the ones we take action against." Lynsie Lamitie Adult Religious Education "You're never finished with your passion. You're always in the middle of it." Julia 9 yo

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In preparation for Justice GA in Phoenix, Ariz., (June 20-24, 2012) the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three Service Learning trips to the U.S.-Mexico border with our partner organization, BorderLinks. The first trip began on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and continues until Jan. 27. The delegation is led by UUA President, the Rev. Peter Morales, who encourages UUs throughout the country to participate in one of the Service Learning trips planned for April and May with BorderLinks. Below, Rev. Morales shares his reflections on meeting with undocumented students along the Arizona border and the challenges they face. I find it painful to listen to their stories. We all do. We heard the stories of six Tucson area Latino and Latina students who were either seniors in high school or recent graduates. They were all near the top of their class, taking advanced placement and honors courses. They dream of college majors in everything from engineering to psychology. They speak fluent English and Spanish-and are wonderfully articulate in both. I sit and listen with other UUs who are part of a study group visiting Tucson and the Arizona border. The BorderLinks nonprofit is making the arrangements. These students are receiving support from and working for an organization called ScholarshipsA-Z. Their stories are painful to hear because none of these young people can go to college. Each one of them is undocumented. They came to the United States some years ago with their families. They entered school, studied hard, and did well. They are the kinds of young people colleges are dying to get, the kind that get scholarships to excellent colleges and universities. Now they are trapped. They can't even get a job, for they have no social security number. They watch as classmates who have poorer grades and lower test scores head off to colleges. These students have to fend off questions about where they are going to go to school next fall, because most of their teachers and classmates do not know they are undocumented. At worst, they face deportation. On a personal level, I am struck by how close I came to being one of them. I was a Latino high school kid with good grades and good test scores. I dreamed of higher education, but could not afford it. But I was born on this side of the border. So I was given a full tuition scholarship, then another, then another. I received an education at a private university my family could never have paid for. It shaped my entire life. Doors opened-a graduate fellowship, a Fulbright lecturership. I have been blessed with the gift of doing wonderfully fulfilling work. None of this would have happened if I did not have that birth certificate. What madness! What human waste! I find myself wanting to scream. I find myself feeling as powerless as they are feeling. But I know that I am not powerless, that we are not powerless. How very beautiful these young people are. How stubborn and yet fragile their hope is. What madness. Cross-posted from President Morales's blog, Beyond Belief.

About the Author

Peter Morales

The Rev. Peter Morales was the eighth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). He was elected in June 2013 to a second four-year term and resigned in March 2017. Prior to his election, Morales served as the senior minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado. From...

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In preparation for Justice GA in Phoenix, Ariz., (June 20-24, 2012) the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three Service Learning trips to the U.S.-Mexico border with our partner organization, BorderLinks. The first trip began on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and continues until Jan.

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In preparation for Justice GA in Phoenix, Ariz., (June 20-24, 2012) the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three Service Learning trips to the U.S.-Mexico border with our partner organization, BorderLinks. The first trip began on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and continued until Jan. 27. The delegation was led by UUA President, the Rev. Peter Morales, who encourages UUs throughout the country to participate in one of the Service Learning trips planned for April and May with BorderLinks. Below, Rev. Morales shares his reflections on a broken immigration system and glimmers of respite along the border for those deported. Father Pete greets our small delegation with a big smile and a loud voice. We arrive at the "comedor" (dining room) in the early afternoon to help serve a meal to people who have just been deported. The comedor is a simple room with a tiny kitchen (we Americans wouldn't want an apartment with a kitchen that size). It is a simple ministry. They serve a meal to people who have been apprehended. The comedor, supported by Kino Border Initiative, is a short walk from the border. We help serve meals to 70 people. The numbers are down from the peak a couple of years ago, but the migrants still come. Funny, the word "migrant" utterly fails to convey the reality of these Mexicans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans. These are desperate people. It would be more accurate to call them economic refugees. One man I see has his feet heavily bandaged and can barely walk. Having just seen the rugged mountain desert trails these people attempt to cross, I wonder that anyone makes it. I spoke with a man who had not been caught crossing, but had been deported after 18 years in the U. S. He leaves behind two children, both U. S. citizens. He was stopped for allegedly not wearing a seatbelt and taken into custody when he did not have a driver's license. Every day the comedor feeds them, offers a prayer and a smile. It treats these dejected people with respect. Father Pete, who has been at this for years, wonders when it will end. Back in Tuscon the following day we visit the federal courtroom that is processing around 70 undocumented immigrants as part of "Operation Streamline." The scene is surreal after the comedor. Here is a vast, opulent, courtroom larger than most church sanctuaries. The immigrants are processed in a procedure no more personal than a transaction with an ATM. Each deportee has a court appointed attorney who stands there and does absolutely nothing-but collects $125 an hour. Operation Streamline is in a number of cities and costs about $3.5 billion a year. It was touted as an anti-terrorism measure. Last year 327,000 were arrested. Not a single terrorist has been caught. Not one in the seven years of the program. If they have been caught before, the detainees are given prison sentences. Most of these prison terms will be served in for-profit prisons run by the CCA (Corrections Corporation of America). Prisoners appear handcuffed and shackled with chains dangling. As they shuffle up to the front of the courtroom the chains rattle. They clink again as they hobble out of the room. This happens every day. The federal prosecutors and public defenders hate the process. The magistrate hates it. The marshals hate it. They are caught in a system they see as insane and a system they cannot control or even influence. What has become of us as a people that we tolerate this? Cross-posted from President Morales's blog, Beyond Belief.

About the Author

Peter Morales

The Rev. Peter Morales was the eighth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). He was elected in June 2013 to a second four-year term and resigned in March 2017. Prior to his election, Morales served as the senior minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado. From...

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In preparation for Justice GA in Phoenix, Ariz., (June 20-24, 2012) the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three Service Learning trips to the U.S.-Mexico border with our partner organization, BorderLinks. The first trip began on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and continued until Jan.

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Rev. Colin Bossen, a Unitarian Universalist Minister and PhD candidate at Harvard University, shares the following abridged version of a sermon originally preached at the First Parish in Lexington on August 17, 2014. by ndlon NDLON delegation in El Salvador, July 2014 The martyred Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero said, "There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried." Unitarian Universalist theologians Forrest Church and Rebecca Parker offer us similar advice. Church claimed that the core of our Universalist theology was "to love your enemy as yourself; to see your tears in another's eyes; to respect and even embrace otherness, rather than merely to tolerate... it." Parker, meanwhile, writes, "There is no holiness to be ascertained apart from the holiness that can be glimpsed in one another's eyes." Last month I spent a week in El Salvador as part of a delegation organized by theNational Day Laborers Organizing Network, also called NDLON. Our goals were to better understand the reality of migration from Central America to the United States; the reasons for migration; and the experiences of deportees. During our week in El Salvador we met with academics, representatives of the Salvadoran government, and a popular education organization. The most visceral parts of the trip were our conversations and interviews with deportees and the stories we heard about migrants. I invite you to see through their eyes. Let me share with the story of a deportee and the story of a migrant. Imagine you are a nineteen-year-old Salvadoran woman. Your parents are dead. Your grandparents raised you in dire poverty. The home your family shares is on the outskirts of San Salvador, the country's capital and largest city. The floor was dirt. There is no running water. Often, there was not enough food to eat. You rarely had your own bed. As you grew older you wanted to find a job to support your grandparents. They were getting old. Your grandfather had heart trouble. You searched for months. You found nothing. Finally, you decided to set out for the United States. You have a cousin who lives there. He sends your aunt and uncle money each month, more than enough for them to live on. You want to provide the same kind of support for your grandparents. Your grandmother has arthritis. It is difficult for her to move. Your grandparents and your other relatives raised money to help you on your journey to the United States. They came up with $2,000. It was not enough to hire a coyote to guide you across the border. But it did help. You set out. The journey took five weeks. Part of the time you walked. On your journey, you and several of your fellow migrants tried to ford a flooding river. You saw two young men die, drowning when the rising water swept them away. You barely made it across ahead of them. You made it to Los Angeles. You found work, illegally, in a laundry. Your wages were enough that you could send back a couple of hundred dollars a month, provided you lived in a cramped apartment with several other migrants. You did not mind. The money was a small fortune for your grandparents. After five months there was an immigration raid on your workplace. You were caught and carted off to a detention center. You were told that if you agreed to be deported voluntarily you could return to El Salvador immediately. You refused and tried to fight deportation. So, you spent five months in a privately run deportation center in Texas before you lost your case. Every morning you woke up early to work in the facility's laundry. You made a dollar day. The corporation who ran the center charged you that much to make a local phone call. If you wanted to buy a bag of chips from the canteen it was $2.50. After you lost your case you were manacled, chains were put around your ankles, wrists and waist, and put on a plane back to El Salvador. You arrived at the repatriation center outside the El Salvador International Airport after spending twelve hours on an airplane in chains. Everything you have with you fits into a standard issue red mesh bag: a couple of pieces of mail, your shoelaces, and a wallet. It is all you bring back with you after ten months in the United States. After you are processed by immigration officials, fingerprinted, and told that there are no criminal charges pending against you locally, the woman who runs the repatriation center directs you to the phone. She tells you to call someone to pick you up. You call your grandparents. Your grandmother tells you that your grandfather died while you were in detention. He was a victim of his bad heart. No one can meet you at the airport. It will take you at least a day to get to your grandparents' house. And then what? You are a fourteen-year-old boy. You left El Salvador after the local gang started threatening kids on your soccer team. They tried to extort money from the players' parents. To make sure everyone knew that they were serious, the gang members killed one of your teammates. They shot him in the middle of the street, after school. That was when your parents sent you to the United States. They gave a coyote $6,000, almost everything they had, and prayed the coyote could get you across the border. The journey was terrifying. You were afraid that the coyote was going to abandon you in the desert. You were afraid that he was going to kidnap you and demand that your parents pay him ransom. You made it to Los Angeles. By the time you received asylum and were safely reunited with family members, your aunt and uncle, the gang had killed six more of your teammates. Each of them was murdered in public. When we look through eyes that have cried what do we see? If I was placed in the same kind of situations that many migrants find themselves in I would make the same choices that they have made. I would stuff a backpack, raise money and depart for the unknown land of opportunity and safety. What would you do? It should not be hard to see through eyes that have cried. Who has not cried? And yet faced with the pain of others we humans often react fearfully rather than lovingly. We turn away. We try to push people away. Many of us have the privilege to close our eyes to others. We can choose to ignore things that make us uncomfortable. We can choose to be ignorant of the violence that exists in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The majority of child refugees who have fled to the United States this summer have come from these three countries. They have some of the highest murder rates in the world. In 2012, the most recent year for which data is available, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras all ranked amongst the planet's five most violent countries. Since 1995 El Salvador has topped the list at least five times and Honduras has topped the list at least four times. I did not understand how violent El Salvador was until I went there. In a good year the whole country has a murder rate equivalent to that of Detroit or New Orleans. In a bad year, the murder rate can be two or three times that found in the most violent cities in this country. The communities that migrants are fleeing have murder rates significantly higher than their country's average. If I lived in such an unstable society I would leave it too. Do we close our eyes? Or do we open them? Can we see through the eyes of others? It is imperative that we do. Closing our eyes is an act of fear. Opening them is an act of love. Which do you want as the motive force in your life? Fear or love? The influx of refugee children forces us to make such choices. Shall we welcome those who are fleeing violence? Shall we greet them with love or turn them away with fear? They are children. They have suffered far too much already. Shall we increase their suffering and fear the changes they bring to this country? They do bring changes. They will make this nation a little browner and a little more fluent in Spanish. They also bring us the chance to see through their eyes. We need to. The truth, and it is a truth which for many of us does not sit easy, is that this country has significant responsibility for the crisis of violence in Central America. It is a legacy of the region's civil wars. Those wars began in the 1960s and ended in the early 1990s. The United States government fueled them, sending arms to prop-up right wing regimes against left wing popular insurgencies. The United States military trained the death squads that massacred tens of thousands. In 1980, Oscar Romero challenged President Carter's support of El Salvador's right wing thusly, "instead of favoring greater justice and peace in El Salvador, your government's contribution... [sharpens] the injustice and the repression inflicted on the organized people..." The cycle of deportation continues to sharpen injustice in El Salvador and elsewhere in Central America. Over the past few decades the United States has deported millions of people, a small minority of whom have been gang members. When these gang members find themselves back in their country of origin they organize gangs. By deporting gang members, the United States government has exported American gang culture. The governments of Central America lack the resources to control gangs and they have spread throughout the region, bringing violence and instability with them. Immigration will not be stopped by deportation. Deportation will only further destabilize the countries that people are leaving. Deportation is an act of fear. Immigrants need to be met with love. The only way for people in the United States to stem the tide of migrants is to help stabilize the societies that they come from. In the short run, that will be far more difficult than deporting people. In the long run, it is the only solution. If we are, in the words of Micah, "to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly" then we must learn to see with the eyes of others. We must remember, as Rebecca Parker charges us, "There is no holiness to be ascertained apart from the holiness that can be glimpsed in one another's eyes." It is only by seeing holiness in one another's eyes that we can begin to turn from fear to love. It is only by recognizing someone else's tears as our own that we can overcome racism. It is only by seeing through eyes that have cried that we can learn to welcome, and not to fear, the migrants who have come to our borders.

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Rev. Colin Bossen, a Unitarian Universalist Minister and PhD candidate at Harvard University, shares the following abridged version of a sermon originally preached at the First Parish in Lexington on August 17, 2014. by ndlon NDLON delegation in El Salvador, July 2014 The martyred Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero said, "There are many things that can only be seen through eyes that have cried."

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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has suggested a "Marshall Plan" to develop Central America and welcome migrants into Mexico.

If you are old enough to have lived through it or have studied it, do you remember the Marshall Plan? Officially known as the European Recovery Program, the Marshall Plan was a 1948 American initiative to aid post-WWII Western Europe to rebuild their economies through economic assistance from the U.S.

Amounting to about 5 % of the US gross domestic product at the time, the $12 billion in economic assistance (about $125 billion in 2019 USD) was distributed to 16 European countries on a per capita basis with larger amounts given to major industrial powers (Great Britain, France, and West Germany). While results of this four-year program have been debated over the years, the History Channel notes that "by the time of the plan's last year, economic growth in the countries that had received funds had surpassed pre-war levels. A strong indicator of the program's positive impact, at least economically." The political effect was significant as it bonded the relationship between the U.S. and Europe, as well as furthering U.S. interests in the region.

Why bring this up now? USA Today has reported that the day after the inauguration of the new Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Dec. 1, 2018, "one of his first acts in office was to sign an agreement with presidents of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the 'Northern Triangle' countries from which the majority of migrants (crossing Mexico's southern border) originate. The plan outlines a long-term strategy to foster development and strengthen the rule of law in the three nations" with no money for a wall. President Obrador has proposed a plan for $30 billion over five years in job-creating economic development assistance. "A 'Marshall Plan' for Central America, as his foreign secretary Marcelo Ebrard, put it." He was sent to Washington on the same day seeking common ground.

At the time of writing, President Trump has met with the Mexican foreign secretary who indicated that the U.S. president had committed to grant $5.8 billion dollars for institutional reform and economic development in the Northern Triangle. A notice from the Department of State on Dec. 18th 2018 indicated the following:

"The United States is committing $5.8 billion through public and private investment to promote institutional reforms and development in the Northern Triangle. Recognizing the importance of promoting economic growth and opportunities for the people of the region, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) has already invested and mobilized more than $1 billion in the Northern Triangle since 2017 focused on infrastructure, energy, economic growth, and job creation."

But, according to that same notice, the Administration had only requested $180 million in aid for the region in 2019.

And, the New York Times notes, "Mexico's new plan is, in many respects, the opposite of Mr. Trump's vow to crack down on migration, which includes building a wall, deploying the military and cutting aid to Central America."

China has also expressed interest in financing this program. "'For a long time there has been this competition within Latin America for influence, where China is willing to invest billions in infrastructure and energy that the United States simply isn't,' said Duncan Wood, the director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center.

The Mexican strategy to rely on the United States' concerns about China's expanding influence in the region reflects a growing sense in Mexico that it can no longer take cooperation with the United States for granted."

There has been an increasing coverage of this proposal in news sources from New York to Los Angeles with most endorsing this plan in their editorials.

A new Marshall Plan to ease Central America's agony - and benefit the U.S. Chicago Tribune, November 23, 2018

Lawmaker calls for Central American "Marshall Plan" after border visit CBS News, November 26, 2018

Mexico's Solution to the Border Crisis Consortium News, December 11, 2018

Mexico pledges $30 billion in development aid in part to deter migration LA Times, Dec. 10, 2018

U.S., Supporting Mexico's Plan, Will Invest $5.8 Billion in Central America New York Times, Dec. 18, 2018

Washington Post: Let's try a Marshall Plan for Central America Omaha, December 18, 2018

The Face of the Crisis Slate, December 19, 2018

U.S. should welcome Mexico's bold new steps to help migrants and Central America USA Today, Dec. 19, 2018

Support Mexican plan for migrant crisis Seattle Times, January 8, 2019

The facts about the humanitarian crisis in Mexico and Central America Doctors Without Borders, February 5, 2019

It's not a new idea, as this article from the Obama era and President Obrador's predecessor indicates, but maybe the timing is right.

Whether or not this materializes remains to be seen. Support and encouragement to your legislators would be very helpful.

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Reviving A Sound Approach For Central America

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If you are old enough to have lived through it or have studied it, do you remember the Marshall Plan? Officially known as the European Recovery Program, the Marshall Plan was a 1948 American initiative to aid post-WWII Western Europe to rebuild their economies through economic assistance from the U.S.

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Unitarian Universalist Church of the North Hills

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A welcoming community of people who seek wholeness and love in our community and in our world. Come. Be loved. Sing.

Cindi Mitchel

Come to a church where everyone knows your name. I have been a member now twice for six years until 2015 and I returned last year. What I like about this church is the warmth and friendliness of the entire congregation. Being around like-minded, open, and curious members and visitors is a major plus as well. UUCNH is a welcoming church where all are accepted. Join us.

Fred Geiger

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Home - Unitarian Universalist Church of the North Hills

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A welcoming community of people who seek wholeness and love in our community and in our world. Come. Be loved. Sing. Cindi Mitchel Come to a church where everyone knows your name. I have been a member now twice for six years until 2015 and I returned last year.

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In some African countries, it isn't safe to be yourself if you aren't heterosexual or if you are transgender. Sexual and gender minorities face the specter of violence, being ostracized, losing a job, being kicked out of school, or worse.

In Uganda, for example, the legislature passed a law in December 2013-annulled by court order in August 2014-that threatened life imprisonment simply for being gay or transgender. "Promoting" homosexuality could be punished by up to seven years in prison. Though that law was overturned, a similar bill is under consideration again.

Unitarian Universalists and our co-religionists around the world are trying to help LGBT people facing persecution in Uganda and other African nations, like nearby Burundi and Kenya, where there are also Unitarian groups.

The 2014 General Assembly of the U.S.-based Unitarian Universalist Association passed an Action of Immediate Witness in support of Friends New Underground Railroad, which is working to help LGBT people in Uganda to escape the country.

Unitarian Universalists in Uganda have been working for several years to raise awareness and support LGBT people, with support from UUs elsewhere. All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa, Okla., for instance, began supporting the UU Church in Kampala, Uganda, and its minister, the Rev. Mark Kiyimba, in 2009. The Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, senior minister of All Souls, and lay leaders from the church have traveled to Uganda and helped support conferences there about LGBT issues. All Souls has raised money and other resources for the Ugandan church and its school.

All Souls became involved in 2009 at the invitation of the UUA International Office, which was in touch with Kiyimba. At the time, Bishop Carlton Pearson's primarily black, Pentecostal church was finding a new home as part of the All Souls congregation, and working with African UUs seemed like a timely opportunity.

"Some of us were interested in becoming involved in Africa and partnering with an African church, and many of us are supporters of LGBT rights," All Souls lay leader George Davenport said. "The timing of Mark's approach to the UUA and the joining of churches in Tulsa-it was a match that made sense at so many levels."

All Souls has handed off some of its Ugandan work. Support for LGBT persons now goes through the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, while All Souls continues to support the UU church and its associated school directly.

On a larger scale, the UUA's United Nations Office (UU-UNO) has done significant advocacy work to prevent legal discrimination against LGBT persons. Beginning in 2009, the UU-UNO has built connections across a wide spectrum of religious organizations at the United Nations to push for protection, including strengthening language in resolutions and working closely with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In addition to advocacy work at the UN level, the UU-UNO has also provided resources and helped connect groups to provide for basic human needs.

"We asked [persecuted LGBT persons in Africa], 'What is the thing you need most?'" said Bruce Knotts, director of the UU-UNO. "They said, 'Literacy. Most of us were identified when we were young and kicked out of homes, kicked out of schools, so we never finished our education.'"

Knotts said that changing laws to protect people is important, but the needs go much deeper. LGBT persons in some countries are shunned and denied access to health care, housing, and employment.

While several African countries, including Uganda and Nigeria, have serious problems, Knotts pointed out that some other African countries are quite progressive. South Africa, for instance, legalized same-sex marriage and passed laws against discrimination.

In some of the countries where LGBT people are persecuted, local Unitarian or Unitarian Universalist groups may not have LGBT concerns as a top social justice priority, said the Rev. Steve Dick, executive director of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists. In Burundi, South Africa, and Uganda, UUs have been outspoken in favor of LGBT rights; in Nigeria and Kenya, however, they have not. Dick said the ICUU is working to help local groups develop the capacity to do their own activism and social justice work, with support from UUs in other parts of the world.

"Our model used to be 'wait for them to organize, then come see us,' but now we support and work with people from the ground up," Dick said. "It's not just to speak up when [governments are] threatening legislation, but to work to build local capacity, so that they will be strong and we can help support them."

Several UU congregations and organizations in the United States are helping refugees who have fled their home countries because of persecution for their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Guardian Group at First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco assists immigrants, many of them fleeing persecution because of their identities. The UU-UNO is helping support the launch of a similar group in New York City.

Knotts said most refugees coming to the United States end up in large cities, like San Francisco and New York. They usually have little or nothing with them; many have only the clothes they wear. Knotts said they need legal services, public transit passes, warm clothing, and shelter.

Jill McAlister, ICUU's senior program consultant, said what UUs in the United States and elsewhere can most do to help is "expand their multicultural awareness and learn about our own biases for how we do international work." In many countries, LGBT issues aren't the top priority, and even in places where they are, like Africa, it's easy for those from the U.S. to get excited about that single issue and not supportive of UUs or others in those countries as a whole.

"We try to help Americans have a broader view as we are embedded in an international, global movement," McAlister said. "The questions we ask need to be different. We're concerned with how do we help UUs around the world be strong, vital, sustainable communities so that their own understanding of freedom and faith can be worked on."

Related resources

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Unitarian Universalists work for LGBT rights in Africa

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In some African countries, it isn't safe to be yourself if you aren't heterosexual or if you are transgender. Sexual and gender minorities face the specter of violence, being ostracized, losing a job, being kicked out of school, or worse.

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a sermon by Rev. Brian J. Kiely Unitarian Church of Edmonton, February 24, 2013
In one of the farthest and most remote areas of India, Unitarianism has existed, even thrived for 125 years. How the heck did that happen? And more importantly, perhaps, does Unitarianism located in such a dramatically different culture bear any resemblance whatsoever to the religion we practice here in Canada?

The quick answer to the second question is: You would be surprised! The answer to the first is a bit more complicated and rather interesting. It even has a Canadian connection. But as I have examined the beginnings of Unitarianism around the world, the story fits a very common pattern: It begins with questioning religious doctrine.

Of course, no question comes out of thin air. Each question, each challenge is the product of inherited culture examined with rational thought. This story is no different, and so we must go back before the time of the question to look at the religious context.

The modern day Indian province of Meghalaya is a hilly place, tacked on to India more by modern geo-politics than for any other reason. The three main tribes, the Khasi, the Jaintia and the Karbi are not even ethnically Indian. In fact they bear DNA closer to their Burmese neighbours. These are hill tribes of isolated small principalities - for want of a better word - until the coming of the British in 1826.

These tribes were matrilineal in tradition and animist in religious beliefs following a faith called Ka Niam Khasi ... which means the Khasi religion.

Ka Niam Khasi is not rooted either in Hinduism or Islam. There are no temples or churches, though in the town of Jowai I did get to see the sacred forest still preserved for worshipers in this still living faith. They worshiped a great formless divinity named U Blei who is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. Unlike the God of the Jews and Christians, U Blei remained remote and unrepresented. According to UU minister John Rex, they considered it a sacrilege to symbolize U Blei in any way shape or form. The religion taught that through service to others, one serves U Blei. At the same time they believed in the gods and goddesses of rivers, streams, jungles etc. Their religion was based on conciliating good and evil and ancestor spirits through animal sacrifices. Religion is passed down in the home through a complex pattern of ritual and tradition.

Modern day Indian Unitarians recognize these roots and still carry on some of the culture, the way we western Unitarians still carry on aspects of our Christian institutional roots. For example a glossy souvenir booklet celebrating the anniversary was paid for by ads memorializing deceased ancestors. On Sundays there is both church worship and then a home services with friends. The culture is still primarily matrilineal. And in chatting with the UUNEI President during our winding torch lit march, they still consider these followers of the ancient ways the most fertile ground for Unitarian growth.

But, Unitarianism today is demonstrably different from this ancient religion. It all began with the building of a road by the British wanting to exploit the excellent tea growing regions of neighbouring Assam. And as we know of colonization, usually the first ones through the door are missionaries. In the case of the Khasi, Jaintia and Garbi hills, it was Welsh Calvinists who made the trek. And like many successful missionary efforts the world over, they arrived with a gift: education.

The people of these hills were and largely remain subsistence farmers working in a labour intensive way that goes back to the Bronze Age. But education unlocked new possibilities for their sons (these were patriarchal western missionaries after all). With education, doors into commerce and government service opened. Not surprisingly the price of education was conversion.

In 1865 Hajom Kissor Singh was born in Jowai, in a family that followed Ka Niam Khasi. Studious

and inquisitive, Singh entered missionary school at age 15. He observed that the missionaries had done away with superstitions, fear of demons and the sacrifices ...but had replaced them with the Calvinist fear of Hell, a fear devoid of the ability to help oneself except through faith that God might have decided that you are worthy of salvation.

The thing is that like Servetus in Europe, Francis David in Transylvania, Channing in the United States and Toribio Quimada in the Philippines, Hajom Kissor Singh actually read the loving and kind messages of Jesus in the Gospels. He questioned the contradictions. He decided that this gloomy and punishing mission theology made no sense. Instead he found a message of hope and salvation. When he failed to convince others he just decided to break away to seek what he called the true religion of Jesus and the love of God. In fact he was just turning back to the gentle presence of U Blei.

In 1885 he learned of the presence of Rev. George Dall in Kolakata, an American Unitarian minister who had failed miserably in the U.S. but who succeeded very well in his small Indian mission church. He began an exchange of letters with Dall and later with Jabez Sunderland, editor of the Unitarian Magazine and a former minister of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto.

Through them Hajom Kissor Singh discovered the writings of Channing, Emerson, Martineau and others and was provided with pamphlets and worship materials. These ideas were like a spiritual life preserver. On September 18, 1887 Hajom Kissor Singh held the first Unitarian service in his home, just a few hundred meters from the present church.

He later wrote Sunderland, "We have formed ourselves into a Unitarian Union, and two other friends have joined our union so that there are now five Khasi ... Unitarians in our hills. We have adopted the following statement of beliefs: 'We believe, (1) in the Unity of God; (2) in the Fatherhood and Motherhood of God; (3) in the Brotherhood of Man; (4) in Love, Union, Worship and Faith; and (5) in Immortality.

"Now we must plainly tell our friends the difference between Unitarianism and Trinitarianism. We must translate and compose hymns for ourselves, and must find out tunes to suit them.

"...We are going on with our work with the scanty time at night at our disposal after the fatigues of the day."

He concludes with a request for more printed materials to help him launch a post office mission.

125 years later, there are more than 9,000 Unitarians in the province scattered in 42 congregations, making them the third largest Unitarian national group in the world.

And unlike anywhere else, Khasi Unitarians manage schools in nearly all of their villages, public schools open to all. They play significant roles in government and the delivery of social services, especially in the isolated villages. Indeed, there have been times in the early days of the Indian nation, that the Unitarians have essentially provided government.

Well, that's my best answer to the first question of how there came to be Unitarians in this isolated region. There is still my second question: Does it bear any resemblance whatsoever to the religion we practice?

My quick answer is more than you know.

Over the five years I having been working internationally for our faith I have come to understand that if you start by looking for the differences, you will find them. There sure are a lot between us and Khasi Unitarians. For example, four worship services in one Sunday! That's a bit excessive even for them, but most weeks have a morning and an evening service and some form of looser afternoon house services, especially for young people. Really the whole of Sunday day and into the night is given over to church activities. A second example is the amount of singing: seven or eight hymns in a service plus a couple of choral pieces, all in the kind of 'rock-a-billy' style you heard. Of course there are the children and young people - swarms of children and young people, close to half the congregation - who participate fully in all of these services and who are remarkably quiet throughout. Theologically, their devotion to U Blei - to God is powerful. One friend called it a continuing love affair. You will hear U Blei more in a couple of Khasi services than in a year's worth of Canadian ones.

And then, of course, there are the differences in dress, language and culture. It is easy to get tripped up on these things.

So where are we similar? A grounding moment for me was the start of the service. Like us they kindle a chalice at every service - they all stand for that ritual, by the way. I found that simple act to be one of the most powerful moments for me, a direct and powerful link that easily spanned the 12 time zones. It didn't matter that I did not understand the words, my body understood the action. And though there is more song and longer sermons, the service remains recognizable.

And then there is the theology that actually seems so very familiar. The Khasi Unitarian understanding of God is so broad and generous that there are none of the conflicts many western Unitarians experience when they bump up against the word. Unlike our British and Transylvanian co-religionists, and even some east coast American UU's, there is very little use of Christian scripture in their worship. U Blei is bigger than that, much closer to the concept of the 'oversoul' Ralph Waldo Emerson described in our responsive reading.

In their world, U Blei is an inspiration rather than some kind of divine hall monitor, although an inspiration they hold as close as one of their tartan shawls. For the Khasi Unitarians today, heaven and hell are something we create for ourselves here on earth, not some divine reward and punishment. If we live well, if we live with loving concern for others, we will receive that in return. If we create justice, we will find justice. If we try to create a good and meaningful lives for ourselves and those around us, then we will achieve that. That doesn't seem so very different from what we generally believe.

Here are their current Vision and Mission statements:
Vision Statement
To sustain such level of spirituality as will sustain us throughout our lives on earth and that will work wonders in our hearts.

To live a righteous life so that goodness and peace will rule the world, and to reach higher levels in life.

To strive for the spiritual brotherhood and sisterhood of all humankind.

To achieve self-sufficiency for the UUNEI in all respects, and to make it strong and vibrant and capable of serving the society at large.
Mission Statement
By worshipping one God, the mission of the UUNEI is to proclaim to the world the oneness and indivisibility of God, to bring light in the midst of darkness, to preach the religion of love-love of God and love of humanity. Respect for all denominations in the midst of differences; respect for humanity at large, for all of God's creation, for the environment,-are our core values.

To bring about peace and goodwill on Earth, to guarantee liberty, justice and equality to all humankind, to encourage and promote the quest of religious truth through the worship of God and the celebration of life.

To provide such spiritual care to our faithful that will help them grow in faith and belief, and to lead a life that is righteous, just and worthy, rewarding, and to live by example.

We might not be so comfortable with their frequent use of the word God, but the vision that grows from that belief is very close to anything we see in the west.

And they seem to live that vision. The Khasi Unitarians run an orphanage much like ChildHaven. Each year they visit the prisons and bring gifts and affirming messages to the inmates. In this anniversary year they sponsored a major educational gathering on sexual health and AIDS. And when they began the anniversary celebrations they had a different torch light parade in the capitol of Shillong. Because that congregation is leading a green initiative in that city, they used rechargeable artificial torches.

But what I experienced most is the way they care for one another, physically and spiritually. In between services young people literally climbed over chairs to bring tea and cakes to the dignitaries on the platform. When my baggage was delayed the call went out and soon I had warm sweaters and extra clothes. On Sunday morning they delivered me a new suit of clothes so I would not feel out of place. I don't think it was because I was special. I think it was because I was a member of their extended clan of Unitarianism and a member of the respected calling of the ministry.

I went to a place that seemed very strange and foreign. I came back from a place that seemed very warm, very hospitable, very generous and very much like a religious home to me.

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a sermon by Rev. Brian J. Kiely Unitarian Church of Edmonton, February 24, 2013 In one of the farthest and most remote areas of India, Unitarianism has existed, even thrived for 125 years. How the heck did that happen?

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On February 14, 2011, Rev. Peter Morales, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), embarked upon a two-week journey to India to visit with several partners of the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) and with leaders of the Unitarian Union of North East India (UUNEI). This blog post by Rev. Morales is part of the continuing coverage of the journey. In this update Rev. Morales reflects upon his visit with the Unitarians of the Khasi Hills. On the road from the Guwahati airport up to Shillong I saw my life flash before me so many times I got tired of the reruns. It took four hours to go about 60 miles up the winding road. The road was utterly jammed with coal trucks going 10 or 15 miles an hour and belching thick black diesel exhaust. We would pass them, avoiding head-on crashes with millimeters to spare. I grasped the "chicken strap" handle above my door and wondered whether getting crushed by a Khasi coal truck would qualify as martyrdom. I didn't think it would. Khasi traffic is to Boston traffic as Boston traffic is to a rural road in western Wyoming. Shillong, a city I had never heard of, has a population of around two million. In the manner of fast growing cities in the developing world, it is noisy, crowded, and has air that is horribly polluted. It was our base during the visit. In many ways, visiting the Khasi Hills is leaving India. The language is different. The people look very different. The vast majority of them are Christian, with Catholics and Presbyterians being the largest groups. The caste system, a continuing blight on Indian life, is completely absent. The Unitarian movement here is utterly fascinating. The founder of the movement, Hajom Kissor Singh, arrived at a classic Unitarian theology entirely by himself late in the nineteenth century. He had no knowledge of Unitarianism. (You can read more about him here.) The Khasi Unitarian movement he founded is now the third largest group of Unitarians or Unitarian Universalists in the world. There are 45 congregations with a total of about 10,000 adults and children. Only the United States and Romania have more. While there I visited the "mother church" in Jowai, a congregation serving 1,000 people, and the site of the headquarters of the their association. We also visited a number of rural churches in the villages. Evidence of the long relationship between the UUA and the Khasi Unitarians is everywhere. People remember former UUA presidents who have visited. Several of their churches have partner congregations in the United States. Everywhere we were greeted with warmth and enthusiasm. These Unitarians have more than congregations. They value education and run a number of schools. They have even created a small orphanage that currently provides a home for 21 children. Like us, they worry about keeping their young people. Like us, they never have enough funds to do all they wish to do. My last day there, Sunday, Feb. 27, I preached at the Madan Laban church in Shillong. In my sermon I spoke of our common heritage as religious people who are never content to preserve the past. I spoke about how the essence of our spiritual heritage is to be people who cross borders, who see opportunities, who continue to learn. I spoke of how today we are challenged to cross borders of culture and class. We have so much to learn from our brothers and sisters in the Khasi Hills and elsewhere in the world. They have much to teach us about how our faith can express itself in different ways and yet remain true to our core values of human dignity, compassion, freedom and justice. If we are to be a thriving religious movement in this century, I am convinced we will do so by joining in partnership with Unitarians and UU's from across the globe. In this new multicultural world we have much to learn from one another. Rev. Morales was recently on a two-week journey across India to meet with human rights partners. This concludes the coverage of his journey; view all of the posts from the trip here.

About the Author

Peter Morales

The Rev. Peter Morales was the eighth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). He was elected in June 2013 to a second four-year term and resigned in March 2017. Prior to his election, Morales served as the senior minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado. From...

YUUP is a fledgling network for UU youth and bridgers to forge connections and support each other.
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A collection of stories from nations and cultures across our two continents...
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We are one, a diverse group of proudly kindred spirits, here not by coincidence but because we choose to journey together.
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On February 14, 2011, Rev. Peter Morales, President of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), embarked upon a two-week journey to India to visit with several partners of the Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program (UUHIP) and with leaders of the Unitarian Union of North East India (UUNEI). This blog post by Rev.

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Today, John Eaton illustrates the benefits to biodiversity following the 'cool burn' of the E. obliqua bushland at Shady Grove in April 2020 and relates it to our 7th Principle.
In today's reading, The Rev. Forrest Gilmore warns that Unitarian Universalists make a profound mistake if the 7th Principle is limited merely to "an environmental idea". It goes much further than this! It's our way of embracing something greater than ourselves - the interdependent web expressed as the spirit of life, the ground of all being, the oneness of all existence, the community-forming power, the process of life, the creative force, even God!
Within the macrocosm of Planet Earth, it is a divided humanity that impedes and frustrates effective action to secure the "Web of Life" sustainably. John briefly explores the psychology of denial, and social bubbles empowered by the social media to explain polarisation and the drift to extremism.
Using the microcosm of Shady Grove and the impending decisions regarding the future management of its biodiverse obliqua woodland, the challenge will be to "practice what we preach". The 7th Principle challenges us to understand conflict within and amongst ourselves before striving to reach consensus as a Unitarian Universalist Community. "Divided we fall"!

In today's address - immediately preceding our AGM, John raises the question: "Why Unitarianism? Why are we here sitting here - in this place, rather than at the local coffee shop?
John, in the short time available, mentions the Seven Principles that unite us as Unitarians. He then explores the history of Unitarian thinking down through the ages, the persecution of Unitarian leaders that followed their rejection of Christian Trinitarianism and the strength and support that can be drawn from a Unitarian Community of like minds. Listen On!

Today's service was the final service of our Minister, Rev. Rob MacPherson after nearly 10 years of service to the Unitarians of South Australia. It was a celebration of thanksgiving for Rob's outstanding service, ministry and leadership within our Unitarian community in South Australia and to the wider Unitarian Universalist movement. But it was also a 'Ritual of Departure' as Rob leaves our Church to commence full-time chaplaincy at nearby Pembroke School. Today's service included contributions from Rob's Spiritual Director during his ministry at our church - Rev. Nicholas Rundle, the Principal of Pembroke School - Mr Luke Thomson, the Director of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, Rev. Sara Ascher, and Church leaders - our President, Jennie Dyster and our Sunday Club Coordinator - David Freesmith.
If you missed today's service because of Covid restrictions, now's your chance - to listen on!

Our service today, Sunday, 17th January 2021 was conducted by our President, Jennie Dyster. Jennie reflects on traditional attitudes to laziness and gives some biblical, psychological, philosophical, cross-cultural insights and anecdotes into the state of mind and body that we are so often tempted to ascribe to "laziness" and its causes.

Jennie questions whether laziness really exists at all. Aren't there better understandings, insights and explanations that are less judgemental and more forgiving and accepting of "laziness" in others and in ourselves?

Today's three musical offerings by Brendan are included as they were especially evocative and integral to today's theme.

This service is not to be missed so listen on!

Jennie's address today is about "Summer"... or in the context of the George Gershwin music featured by Margaret, our pianist, today - "Summertime" might be a more appropriate title?
The words that follow the Gershwin songline "...and the Livin' is easy" are taking on a less carefree tone when seen in the context of severe summer droughts and flooding rains as global warming brings extreme Summer weather to the planet. Jenny maintains that "Summertime" has always been less well-regarded in English poetry than Autumn, Winter and Spring and she uses some well-chosen anecdotes to show that our summers never quite live up to our expectations. That is never more apparent than now. Listen on!

Today Rob considers the positive effects of exposure to religious pluralism on young children as they move from concrete to abstract thinking. Early exposure of adolescents to a diversity of religious beliefs and religious pluralism - within schools and communities that embrace and celebrate religious diversity will have positive benefits. Secularism vis-a-vis religious belief is not an either/or proposition.
Today's reading illustrates how Secularism and Religious pluralism operate harmoniously within a hospital, where secularism provides "the shared vocabulary" within a pluralist faith context; Secularism and Religion are therefore complementary.

Religious Pluralism is not "no faith" - is not "bad faith" but "Good Faith".

Listen on!

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Today, John Eaton illustrates the benefits to biodiversity following the 'cool burn' of the E. obliqua bushland at Shady Grove in April 2020 and relates it to our 7th Principle. In today's reading, The Rev. Forrest Gilmore warns that Unitarian Universalists make a profound mistake if the 7th Principle is limited merely to "an environmental idea".

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U/U leaders and hotel staff at the Pan African U/U Leadership Retreat in Nairobi. Left to right: Roux Malan (South Africa), Magara Justine (Kenya), Niragira Francoise (Burundi), Mouanga Gur (South Africa), hotel staff, Rev. Sara Ascher (ICUU), hotel staff, Ndihokabwayo Jean Bosco (Burundi), Ndagijimana Jean Maurice (Rwanda).

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Pan African Cooperative Leadership Retreat

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U/U leaders and hotel staff at the Pan African U/U Leadership Retreat in Nairobi. Left to right: Roux Malan (South Africa), Magara Justine (Kenya), Niragira Francoise (Burundi), Mouanga Gur (South Africa), hotel staff, Rev. Sara Ascher (ICUU), hotel staff, Ndihokabwayo Jean Bosco (Burundi), Ndagijimana Jean Maurice (Rwanda).

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777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY, USA

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777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY, USA

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777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY, USA

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From involvement in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to leading the faith caucus to establish the International Criminal Court, to overcoming UN apathy about sexual orientation & gender identity issues, the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations has a long history of providing strong leadership in all aspects of human rights at a policy level.

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Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations

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From involvement in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to leading the faith caucus to establish the International Criminal Court, to overcoming UN apathy about sexual orientation & gender identity issues, the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations has a long history of providing strong leadership in all aspects of human rights at a policy level.

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Can you find the UUCAS churches on the map?! Zoom in and see!

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UUCAS History - Unitarian Universalist Church of Athens and Sheshequin

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Throughout their respective histories, the Athens and Sheshequin Universalist Societies have received donations from people who were, as far as I can tell, never members of either congregation. Most of these non-member donors were local residents, but in 1895 one donation came from a wealthy and prominent New York City financier.