President's Corner
The HUUmanists Association experienced a very productive and rewarding Justice GA last June, featuring a keynote address by Bill Murry on “Economic Justice: A Moral Imperative for UU Humanists” and a hugely successful “Book SmUUggling” project in the exhibition hall. See Roger Brewin’s GA Booth summary later in this Newsletter.
Summary of our annual membership meeting, held on June, 22, 2012
Our treasurer, Greg Seaman, reviewed our successful program to bring our revenue and expenditures into balance through cost reductions and increased paid membership. Our budget for the 2012-2013 fiscal year projects a surplus of $2,000.
The nominated slate of officers and new at-large board members was introduced, discussed and approved, with four individuals being elected for the first time. Subsequent to GA, Gayle C. Walter resigned as an at-large Director and Lowell Steinbrenner was appointed by the Board to complete her term. On behalf of the Board and the entire membership of HUUmanists, I extend our sincere thanks to Gayle Walter, Rev. Jane Esbensen, and Walter Wells for their dedicated service as officers and directors of our Association, and for all they do or Humanism and Unitarian Universalism. The current set of Officers and Board is on the website.
The annual meeting was addressed by the dynamic leaders of three organizations, with whom the HUUmanists Association has forged working relationships in the support of reason and compassion in our society. Edwina Rogers, the Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for America, described the accelerated ramp-up of efforts, on both the national and state levels, to increase the visibility of non-theist values and to defend the separation of church and state. Serah Blaine, the Executive Director of the Secular Coalition for Arizona, described the particularly difficult but critical work that SCA is doing in a state whose elected leaders have shown a particularly egregious tendency to mix religion and politics. Tony Diaz, the founder of Librotraficante, related the passionate and effective actions of the Librotraficante movement in countering the effects of Arizona House Bill 2281, which resulted in the removal of books on ethnic studies from Arizona public schools. He thanked the HUUmanists Association for our Book SmUUggling project. His program continues to fight for the repeal of the Arizona law, with a new underground library set up in Phoenix with the books donated at GA, and with more activities, such as teach-ins in every state during Spanish Heritage month.
The State of HUUmanists Association and a Look Ahead
I’m excited about what your HUUmanist Association has accomplished and optimistic about how we are positioned for the important work ahead. Our officers and directors make up a team of extraordinary and accomplished Unitarian Universalist Humanists. I feel both honored and humbled to be working with them. Together, we are developing a comprehensive and multifaceted program to strengthen and extend Humanist influence both within Unitarian Universalism and in the world at large:
- Publishing: We are collaborating with the American Humanist Association in the publication of the electronic version of Bill Murry’s very successful book: Becoming More Fully Human and planning the publication of additional titles
- Conscientious Stewardship of UU Humanist History: We are working with Meadville Lombard Theological School to establish an Archive of Humanist Documents and Materials
- “Embodied Humanism:” Our Book SmUUggling project at the 2012 GA is only the beginning of a concerted effort to make sure we actively live out our Humanist values of reason and compassion, and not just talk about them
- Education: We continue to actively work with The Humanist Institute and the Institute for Humanist Studies in providing opportunities for emerging secular and religious humanist leaders to build their skills and deepen their knowledge base.
- Becoming a Primary Interface (Bridge) between the Secular/Non-believing Communities and Unitarian Universalism: This initiative could provide an unprecedented opportunity for us to truly fulfill our dual mission of being the voice of reason and compassion (without supernatural assumptions) within Unitarian Universalism and an advocate for Unitarian Universalism in the freethinking community at large.
These are the steps we are taking to make this happen:
- Help to establish and/or strengthen local Humanist and freethinker groups in close cooperation with secular Humanist organizations.
- Mobilize UU individuals, institutions, and congregations to actively support the activities of our partner organizations, especially those of the member organizations of the Secular Coalition for America.
- Be recognized by the UUA and individual Unitarian Universalists as the entity assuming responsibility for building bridges with the secular/non-believing community in UUA President Peter Morales’s Congregations and Beyond initiative. We are in discussions with UUA leadership about this.
- Focus our 2013 GA activities on our role as a bridge between Unitarian Universalism and the secular/non-believing communities. American Humanism coalesced and began to flourish almost a century ago when it captured the imagination of freethinking young people at the University of Chicago and Meadville Lombard Theological School.
I believe that, like our forebears, we Unitarian Universalist Humanists have a special role to play with the freethinking people – especially the young people – of today. We must accept them where they are in their life journeys. Our congregations need to be more openly welcoming to atheists, agnostics – indeed to nonbelievers of all stripes. Young nonbelievers of today deserve the same opportunity that was given to all of us – the opportunity to find a home in Unitarian Universalism, where their life stance will be not only welcomed, but also celebrated and shared. “If not us, who? If not now,when?” Read more about President's Corner »
Arizona has banned books used in teaching in Arizona public schools that advocate the overthrow of the government, which has been applied to ethnic studies in a devastating way. Arizona House Bill 2281 was created to prohibit teaching courses in Mexican American Studies, although it can be applied to any ethnic group. The Tucson school system closed the entire K through 12 Mexican American Studies program in order to comply with this bill, and removed some 83 books from the curriculum. Tony Diaz, a professor of English at the University of Houston and a Mexican American, heard about this bill and started Librotraficante, an organization dedicated to providing the banned books for community libraries in Arizona. He obtained a van and asked for donations of these books so he could take them to Arizona. HUUmanists Association, through our journal editor and booth coordinator, Roger Brewin, answered Tony’s call. Roger asked for people to email him their interest in smUUggling a book or donating to the effort, both on our web site and by email to our members. Approximately 300 people brought a book to GA or donated money to buy one. At GA, the “smUUggled” books were put on display at the HUUmanists booth in the exhibition hall before being donated to Librotraficante. This was a major attraction to the booth, and many who attended also donated cash to the effort or bought some of the 20 books from the banned book list at the UUA bookstore in the exhibition hall. Cash donors or those who donated books received a “smuggler” or “Librotraficante” button, a copy of the journal Religious Humanism GA justice issue, and will be mentioned in a newsletter to be issued this summer.
Bill Murry’s book, Becoming More Fully Human: Religious Humanism as a Way of Life, was published by our new publishing arm Religious Humanism Press (RHP) in the fall of last year and has been very well received. Sales are going so well that we have recovered all the costs of publication and are planning on a second printing this summer. If you haven’t bought your copy yet, you can order it on-line on this web site. Volume discounts are available for study groups and congregation bookstores.