Diane Jennings of The Dallas Morning News quoted Rev. Walz in two articles on the event: “The Rev. Mark Walz of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff said he was there both as a pastor and as the father of a Marine. ‘No one who ascribes to terrorism has the right to claim a religious motivation,’ Walz said.”

“Waltz said he is passionate about battling the tendency to ‘demonize each other as human beings.’”

You can watch a video of  Jonathan Betz reporting for WFAA (Channel 8):
http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Dallas-religious-leaders-call-for-unity–102713909.html

Arezow Doost covered the event for CBS (Channel 11) News
http://cbs11tv.com/video/?id=57342@ktvt.dayport.com and featured Ministerial Intern Shams Cohen of First Unitarian Church of Dallas.

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I’m all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating.

I may be evil incarnate, but I’m no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth — glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven’t you seen “Crossroads”? Or “Damn Yankees”?

If I had a thing going with Haiti, there’d be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox — that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it — I’m just saying: Not how I roll. You’re doing great work, Pat, and I don’t want to clip your wings — just, come on, you’re making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That’s working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan

Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, was devastated by a major earthquake around 5 p.m. Eastern Time on January 12. UUSC and the Unitarian Universalist Association have launched a joint earthquake relief fund to help the survivors.

Most people in the capital spent the night outdoors, without shelter, or joined those frantically digging in the rubble to rescue the tens of thousands trapped underneath it. The situation is chaotic, communications systems are down, and debris impedes movement around the city. Nonetheless, the U.N. estimates that 2.2 million people are affected and fears that the loss of life may reach into the tens of thousands. The destruction is widespread, with extensive damage to homes, hospitals, roads, water and sanitation services, and electrical and communication systems. Major news outlets are all reporting severe devastation. An alarming number of buildings, including the National Palace and the United Nation’s Headquarters, have collapsed.

Haiti is the Western Hemisphere’s most impoverished and least-developed nation. Its society is rife with radical inequality, where large numbers of the population are systematically left out. Eighty percent of the population lives in poverty. Many people live day-to-day on what they’re able to earn in the informal sector. For those hundreds of thousands of poor people in Port-au-Prince, the daily struggle for food, water, and medical attention already amounted to an emergency — the earthquake has made these challenges infinitely more difficult to overcome, creating a humanitarian disaster on top of an existing humanitarian crisis. Poor Haitians who have never had equal access to services will be struggling to get basic necessities in the aftermath of this earthquake.

To read the entire article, click here: ARTICLE

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The Stupak abortion coverage ban that passed the House of Representatives last month is headed for the Senate right now — and we urgently need your help.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and Democratic Senator Ben Nelson are planning to introduce an amendment to the Senate health care reform bill that is virtually identical to the Stupak amendment. With both Republican and Democratic support for this damaging amendment, it is entirely possible that the resulting health care reform legislation will eliminate access to private health insurance coverage of abortion for millions of women.

Melissa, we cannot let that happen. We must stop them, and we need your help. Please, send a message to your senators right now.

Once you’ve sent your message, please don’t stop there. As we saw during the vote in the House of Representatives, anti-choice groups will stop at nothing to influence the vote because their goal is to outlaw abortion, no questions asked. We can’t afford to let up for even a moment. Everyone who cares about choice, health care, and women must speak up now.

Every day, uninsured women, men, and families visit Planned Parenthood health centers seeking care they can’t get anywhere else, and they desperately need Congress to fix our broken system to ensure health care for all. However, eliminating choice for millions of women is a price we can’t afford to pay for passing health reform.

The anti-choice Stupak ban in the House and now the proposed Hatch/Nelson ban in the Senate represent a huge step backward for women. If health care reform passes with this kind of amendment intact, it would be the most serious restriction of access to abortion coverage in a generation. I can’t let that happen. I hope you can’t, either.

Thank you for your action today to stop this aggressive attack on women’s health and freedom. Together, we’ll stop the U.S. Senate from caving to pressure from the far right. I’ll keep you posted on what’s next.

Follow this link to send a pre-written letter to your state senators.

He isn’t a UU, but since the mainstream media in the USA isn’t carrying this story (I originally saw it on Twitter, when a British friend of mine shared a link from The Guardian), I thought it was still appropriate to share here.

In an article that ran on July 15th in The Age, an Australian ezine, former President Carter has announced that he’s left the Baptist church. As he explains in the article:

This view that women are somehow inferior to men is not restricted to one religion or belief. Women are prevented from playing a full and equal role in many faiths. Nor, tragically, does its influence stop at the walls of the church, mosque, synagogue or temple. This discrimination, unjustifiably attributed to a Higher Authority, has provided a reason or excuse for the deprivation of women’s equal rights across the world for centuries.

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

The impact of these religious beliefs touches every aspect of our lives. They help explain why in many countries boys are educated before girls; why girls are told when and whom they must marry; and why many face enormous and unacceptable risks in pregnancy and childbirth because their basic health needs are not met.

The entire article can be found here.