November's NAUA events include:
Special Program Presented by the International Alliance:
“Beyond all “—isms” — the creative, inquiring, free & liberative spirituality of Imaoka Shin'ichirō”
When: November 9th, 2024
Time: 10.00 AM Pacific, 1.00 PM Eastern, 18.00 UK, 19.00 Central Europe
“Beyond all “-isms” -the creative, inquiring, free and liberative spirituality of Imaoka Shin’ichro” presented by Rev. Andrew James Brown, Minister of theCambridge Unitarian Church, Cambridge, UK with Professor George M. Williams, President of the International Association for Religious Freedom.
This program is open to all, please Register here. You will be given the Zoom URL for this meeting when you register Imaoka Shin’ichirō (1881-1988) was a pioneering Japanese religious leader and educator, deeply involved in the development of a creative, inquiring, free and liberative religion/spirituality (jiyū shūkyō 自由宗教), and interfaith dialogue. He played a key role in the Japanese Unitarian Mission and the Japanese Free Religious movement. In 1952 he brought the first Japanese groups into the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF). His commitment to religious inclusivity and cooperation has left a lasting impact, and in this introduction to his life and work, we’ll look closely at two of his “Principles of Living/Statements of Faith.” In the conversation that follows the introduction, we will explore how Imaoka-sensei's understanding of jiyū shūkyō may be helpful in articulating a confident, contemporary, cosmopolitan liberal religion/spirituality. A spirituality that is able to look beyond any kind of "-ism".
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November NAUA Academy Session:
Overcoming Identity Politics in North America: The Organization FAIR
Previously, Ken Ing traced the roots of the identity centric movement that dominates the UUA, and influences institutions throughout North America. As a follow-up, Sunil Wijeyesekera describes the work of The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), an organization that counters identity politics. FAIR is a non-partisan civil rights organization based on universal principles of Fairness (not discriminating based on skin color or other immutable characteristics), Understanding (being willing to listen to other points of view) and our Common Humanity.
Sunil Wijeyesekera retired in 2020 after a career in material science/engineering. He has been a UU for 38 years. Sunil is currently a member of the NAUA Hayward Fellowship, as well as a Chapter Leader for FAIR.
In describing the work of FAIR, Sunil Wijeyesekera plans to simulate a discussion of how we can apply our NAUA values in the larger society. The presentation features a guest speaker, a question and answer and then a breakout group. When Wed. Nov. 12 2024 at 4:30 PDT (7:30 EDT).
Attendees must register to obtain the Zoom URL and a reminder email for this event.
Anything Goes with Jack
Join us for an evening of conversation led by UU Minister Rev. Jack Reich. These chats allow you to get to know other NAUA members and yourself a little better!
Access this chat on the first Wednesday evening each month from 4:30 PM PST (7:30 EST) at https://tinyurl.com/naua-anything-goes
When: Nov. 6, 2024
Monthly NAUA Community Worship Service -
This month's service features a sermon by the Rev Dr. Todd Eklof in addition to readings, meditations and songs.
All are welcomed!
When: Saturday Nov. 16 10:00 AM PST (1:00 PM EST)
Zoom link - https://tinyurl.com/NAUAService
NAUA Book Club Invitation
You are invited to join the NAUA book club which reads books chosen by members and normally meets by Zoom on the 4th Thursday of each month. This month, due to American Thanksgiving, the book club meets a week earlier on Nov. 21. All are welcome. Starts at 7:30 PM (EDT) 4:30 PM (PDT)
This month featuring a discussion of Survival at Stake : How Our Treatment of Animals Is Key to Human Existence by Poorva Joshipura. The club is open to all so please invite a friend.
For more details and to join the Book Club mailing list contact Ed Hudak at bookclub@naunitarians.org
Monthly Ministers' Support Group
On the fourth Thursday of each month, (a week earlier this month due to American Thanksgiving) NAUA ministers and ministerial friends attend a regular meeting meant to foster support, collegiality, and learning. Periodically, there are also longer ministerial gatherings that include unique programs and professional development. It is important that members of this group maintain confidentiality and anonymity. If you are a Minister and would like to explore or join this group, please email president@naunitarians.org When: Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Pacific Time, (1:00-2:00 PM Eastern Time).
News and Announcements:
NAUA Historic 1st Summit Gathering
The historic first NAUA Summit was held in Spokane and online from Oct 17-20, 2024
The weekend attracted 62 delegates to Spokane and 96 delegates online. We are still gathering responses from delegates in an online Summit Evaluation form and we will be sharing the results of these evaluations with the Summit organizing committee, the new Board and our faithful members and subscribers.
An overall impression is that the Summit was a great success! The keynote speaker John Wood Jr. from Braver Angels was outstanding. Rev Eklof's opening remarks, workshop and Sunday service sermon were all provoking and entertaining. The participant workshops allowed a wide variety of input on NAUA's future and on specific NAUA programs. Stay tuned for results of the registrant's evaluations.
At our Annual General Meeting, delegates passed two important resolutions:
The NAUA membership voted to adopt the bylaws posted on the website to guide our organization. At the annual general meeting, we noted a few deficiencies with these initial bylaws that we will be addressing these through amendments at our next annual general meeting in 2025.
We elected our first Board of Trustees. Names, Photos and brief Bios of the board members are on the website at https://naunitarians.org/meet-the-board/
Of course, the online sessions had a few minor challenges, but we are proud of the technical team, both in Spokane and online who supported online registrants. We are pleased to say that we supported the Summit online with no professional e-conference support other than our dedicated volunteers and existing technical resources both online and at UU Church of Spokane.
Recordings of the John Wood Jr. keynote and all the other sessions excepting the small group breakout sessions are available on Youtube
Circle News
Forum CIRCLE (Meets Sunday at 4pm Eastern)
Forum CIRCLE is open for 5 or 6 more members. The purposes of Forum Circles are:
To discuss topics of interest and concern with fair-minded people
To get to know others who are participating in, or considering, NAUA events
Format: The discussion leader will present a brief summary of the main readings, and then pose a question for follow-up discussion. Please keep your comments brief (preferably under one minute) so that everyone has a chance to be heard in an online meeting. There will be one or two primary readings and several secondary readings (optional) each week. Most readings (and all primary readings) are publicly available. Some secondary readings are behind paywalls; the text of some readings will be copied to Google Docs.
New Circles forming.
Rural Voters in America (Nov. 3)
The Next 4 Years (Nov.10)
TOPICS OF PAST FORUM
New topics will be agreed on by group. There will be one or two primary readings and several secondary readings (optional) each week. Most readings (and all primary readings) are publicly available. Some secondary readings are behind paywalls; the text of some readings will be copied to Google Docs. If a link does not open when you click on it, copy and paste into your browser.
If you are interested in joining, send an email to circles@naunitarians.org and add the word Circles in the Sunject line.
How to Become a Member of the NAUA
The Membership Team has been getting inquiries lately about how to become an official member of the NAUA. Some folks who have been receiving our electronic publications and attending our numerous events assumed they were already Members, but you aren’t considered a Member of the NAUA until you fill out the online Membership form. This form is accessible from our Main Menu under the Membership tab. Just click on Join Us and then enter a few personal identifiers. Be sure to use the same email address you received this email with while filling out the form to prevent the creation of a duplicate contact record. There is no harm in rejoining as a member if you are already a member, so if in doubt, just got ahead and join us.
Our only membership requirement is to check the box that says “I agree to join the NAUA in good faith with a sincere interest to support its Mission”. We do occasionally make the contact info of members available to other members who are looking to connect with members in the same geographic area. If you do not want your contact info shared for such purposes, check on the “Do Not Share” box at the bottom of the form.
That’s all it takes to become a member! Membership is required to vote at our Annual Meeting and to receive correspondence for members only. At some point we may require a minimal contribution in order to verify the identity of our members for voting purposes, but at this point, your contributions are welcome but not required.
Follow NAUA on Social Media In addition to all latest NAUA news, program information in Liberal Beacon, and our online video archive of past events (available at www.naunitarians.org), we are now posting “news” items to a variety of sources, including X (formally Twitter) at https://twitter.com/NAUnitarians And on Meta (Facebook) at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553146776020 If you have news items you think might be of interest to other Unitarians, please share it (along with a photo, if possible) to web@naunitarians.org
Contact Us:
Many NAUA volunteers and board members are pleased to talk to you over the phone or correspond via email.
However, for privacy reasons we do not publicize private emails or phone numbers on this website. Please drop us an email to the appropriate address below and we will respond.
Website technical contact NAUA-web@googlegroups.com
Membership inquiries NAUA-web@googlegroups.com
NAUA Academy Academy@naunitarians.org
Monthly Worship NAUA-worship@googlegroups.com
NAUA Book Club bookclub@naunitarians.org
NAUA Circles circles@naunitarians.org
NAUA Board of Directors nauaboard@googlegroups.com
NAUA President president@naunitarians.org
NAUA Summit summit@naunitarians.org
International Alliance alliance@naunitarians.org
Other NAUA inquiries info@naunitarians.org
FYI, the NAUA was recently founded in opposition to the UUA during the UUA's move towards an increased emphasis on social justice and the rewrite of Article II. The founder of the NAUA, Dr Rev Todd Eckloff, preaches extensively about the UUA having turned Unitarian Universalism into a "cult" and indoctrinating UUA ministers. He goes on to say “The UUA has become a religion of social justice, which is very empty and shallow, because it does lack roots”. These same sentiments can be found repeatedly in the NAUA website, their monthly magazine, etc. I disagree with Eckloff's view of the UUA and I'm leary of his new organization.