Friday, June 27, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, RICC – Hall D

Come celebrate the lifetime achievements of UU Humanist Ellery Schempp during the "Schempp Schindigg" immediately following our Annual Business Meeting. We will honor Ellery with our 2014 Religious Humanist of the Year Award, hear from prominent leaders in the secular movement who are fighting to maintain the wall of separation between church and state, then hear from the man himself.

This meeting will be open to the public and invitations are being sent to secular local groups throughout the New England area. The evening will include light food and much laughter as we celebrate past Supreme Court victories, like Abington v. Schempp, that determined that school prayer was unconstitutional, while we network with each other to increase our resolve to continue the fight! Read more about Ellery Schempp Accepts the "Religious Humanist of the Year" Award »

Since shorthly after the State of Arizona outlawed Public School courses in "Ethnic Studies," and removed some 80 books, mostly by Hispanic authors, from Tucson classrooms, HUUmanists has been involved with opposing these acts of censorship and cultural oppression.  Partnering with Puente (a community organizing group in Phoenix) and "Librotrafficante" Tony Diaz of Nuestra Palabra, we had well over 300 people each "smUUggle" one of these banned books into the UUA's 2012 General assembly in Phoenix.  

Over the next year we helped establish community libraries based on banned books at Puente's new headquarters, and in Tucson, El Paso and Louisville.  This year we are giving individuals the opportunity to "spread banned books around:" buying a low cost copy of one of the titles, and after reading it, passing it on to a friend, or dropping it in a public location.  Labels on the cover and fly leaf of each book explain why it was "banned," and how the reader can participate.  Read more about HUUmanists Continue the Fight Against Classroom Censorship »