Living Mosaic
GA Event for Youth and Young Adults of Color
Posted by: Job Posting–Meadville Lombard Theological School
Assistant Director of Development and Communications
The Assistant Director has shared responsibility for carrying out the full range of development and communication tasks including coordinating creation of all print, online and other media communications for Meadville Lombard Theological School. As such s/he participates in the development of strategies for external and internal communications, facilitates/coordinates communication efforts by faculty and staff, and serves as a communications resource to faculty and staff. This position requires limited travel.
For more information click here.
Multicultural Leadership School
Millennial Leaders Pilot Summer Project, Union Theological Seminary
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Millennial Leaders Pilot Summer Project |
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About Millennial Leaders Pilot Summer Project
In the wake of what is now considered the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, issues of economic inequality in American society has crystallized powerfully, in both political activism and popular deliberations. A growing awareness of the stark inequality that exists between the rich and poor, between “elites” and “the masses,” captured the public’s imagination as a series of massive protests took form around the globe and were captured on television.
In the years since 2008, a number of grassroots efforts have mobilized with the aim of translating the energies of mass protests into ongoing organizing and activism in opposition to economic inequality and a host of attending issues. Significantly, such activism has attempted to advance a holistic program of progressive issues, as policies that maintain economic inequality have been tied to a broader conservative agenda that limits (and often rolls back) the rights and protections provided for women, racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQ persons and immigrants. The interlocking nature of these inequalities is clear and the need for an intersectional analysis and collaborative response, which takes account of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and religious difference, is urgent.
While there are a number of grass roots efforts underway to combat this matrix of inequalities, it is not clear that there is a space where young leaders invested in such work and others who hope to get involved can find a place that will allow them to examine the relationship between spiritual traditions and social activism. Moreover, within the context of theological education, It is not clear where young leaders can go to engage in theological reflection alongside of grappling with more practical concerns (i.e. activist and spiritual practices) as they endeavor to most effectively address these issues.
Union Theological Seminary in New York City is in a unique position to provide such a space. Union has a longstanding legacy of leadership in theological education, as well as a history of participating in progressive activism and public engagement. Here one thinks of the role liberal, black and feminist/womanist and queer theologies in various movements, but also the long history of Union faculty playing a prominent role in putting forward a progressive religious voice in the public square–from Reinhold Neibuhr and Paul Tillich to James Cone, Serene Jones and Cornel West.
Vote for Youth Observer to the UUA Board of Trustees
Vote for Youth Observer to the UUA Board of Trustees
Your congregation’s youth group can vote for Youth Observer to the UUA Board of Trustees! The Youth Observer is a leading youth voice in Unitarian Universalist national discussions, and is the primary liaison between General Assembly Youth Caucus and the UUA Board.
Youth who vote for Youth Observer must be active in their religious community, and youth groups complete one ballot per congregation. Visit Voting Process for more information on how to vote, and your group can cast its vote online or by printed ballot.
Before voting, groups should download information on the Youth Observer candidates and/or watch the candidates’ videos on the webpage.
BALLOTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MONDAY, JUNE 2. Visit the Youth Observer webpage for more information. For questions contact 617.948.4350 or youth@uua.org
Multicultural Leadership School 2014
Online Discussion for Youth and Young Adults of Color
I Love My Moms, by Steven R. Ballesteros
My name is Steven Rene Ballesteros. I live in Tucson, Arizona, and I love my moms.
Plural. I am who I am in large part because of two women in my life. Two spectacular, talented, and fantastic women. My two mothers. I was adopted at a young age by two wonderful, responsible, and intelligent women who love each other so very much. They’ve been together for over 20 years, 15 of which I’ve been gifted enough to be a part of. They are lesbians. Which isn’t worth fussing over in anything less than a wonderfully affirming manner, yet some people do.
They are attracted to each other and they kiss one another on the way out the door to work or at the dinner table when we’re planning out the week. They buy each other anniversary and Valentine’s day presents. They have hobbies, interests, and favorite TV shows. They have steady jobs and magazine subscriptions. They have pets and favorite places to shop and go out to eat. They’re relatively normal people, whatever normal means. But I wouldn’t say they’re no different than any other parents or couples. I’m talking about my mothers right now because they have been discriminated against for their sexual orientation for most of their lives and it seems as if the state of AZ has reached a point of disgusting political action when it comes to that.
Going back to my parents being “different” than other parents or couples.
The reason isn’t that they’re lesbians. That’s more common than some people will willingly admit. No. The beautiful reality of their individuality and unique position is the way in which they have lived their lives. Of course, we all live our own lives and some of us live very powerful and meaningful lives…however, the lives of my mothers are their own. When decisions are made about how they live them and how they may be treated throughout their lives comes to, it is their decision to make. That is a beautiful truth about the lives we live. They are full of choices. Our choices for our own lives. My moms have lived great lives. One is a minister and the other works very hard at a property management business. They have adopted and raised several children who were all “troubled children”, ranging in affliction from HIV/AIDS to mood disorder, PTSD, and the overall darker tone of their skins. My parents have raised my siblings and myself to be strong, motivated, and caring individuals. Even after my sister passed away her memory was not forgotten in how she lived her life and how my parents expect me to live mine. I have advocated for equal rights, spiritual freedom, sexuality education, and better treatment for those who have been oppressed. My mothers have dedicated their lives to helping others in professions of financial advising, counseling, ministry, and creating better living situations for others. In their private lives they have brought up children from abuse and neglect in their biological homes and the foster care system into thoughtful and hope-filled adults in a safe and encouraging household.
Yet, my moms have been treated at times as if they are somehow not beneficial to the world we live in and even as if they do not have the inherent worth and diginity we all have. A worth at times called divine but nonetheless a connection to one another we must all respect and draw from to achieve a better world. As the son of two women I have been called a fagget and a queer. They have been called that and much worse. They have often been denied legal and medical benefits. Their struggles with family and friends have gone so badly at times that one lived in a city full of former friends where in one potentially beautiful day all these “friends” denied her respect due to the fact that my mother revealed a personal truth. Her sexual orientation.
That my moms may be not be allowed service by another on the premise of religion is laughable. Especially considering that one of my moms has been devoted to religion all her life and is an ordained minister who has been changing communities for the better through support groups, progressive preaching, pastoral care, therapy, and inclusion of youth and marginalized communities for years. Not to mention that the other mother is devoted to faith and has helped my siblings and I to grow up with a vast and diverse respect and understanding of faiths ranging from Sidda Yoga to various Jewish and Christian based faiths.
So, you may understand why I may want to puke when I read what AZ State Senator Al Melvin says in regards to Senate Bill 1062.
“I have heard of cases in other states where owners of flower shops and bakeries and pastors and others have been forced to be involved in gay and lesbian marriages against their will and this is an attempt to protect those people here in Arizona.”
If I understand correctly, Melvin is supporting discriminative legislation because he doesn’t want an unwilling flower shop servicing the wedding that my moms CAN’T HAVE?! The wedding that won’t happen unless the state of AZ legally recognizes that MY MOMS TOOK THEIR VOWS OVER 20 YEARS AGO?!
We live in the land of the free. I bet Senator Melvin and similar individuals would agree with me. So…how exactly were pastors and businesses FORCED to participate in gay and lesbian marriages?
And Lord Forbid that we be “forced” to celebrate and directly support the union of a committed couple…
I’m getting a little upset.
And when I was downtown while a march in support of LGBTQ equality went on I was even more upset when a man shouted degrading insults at the openly proud and beautiful individuals nearby.
As a young man of color I have been pulled over, insulted, discriminated against, and racially profiled for the majority of my life. Especially in the dry hate state of SB1070. By border patrol agents, police officers, shop owners, and the random person at school or as I hang out with friends around town.
No one deserves that. Not my mothers, not me, and not you. So please consider this and act on it. Take action for equality and continue to do so even if it’s not in outcry againts politics or such things. Act, don’t just react. And do so for everyone. If you feel the need to advocate for people of color like me than DON’T YOU DARE not to do the same for My Mothers. Or anyone else who is mistreated.
Love Is Love. And Equality Is For All.
-Steven Ballesteros
Unitarian Universalist Lay Leader
Thespian
Student
But More Importantly,
HUMAN.
(We all are, so treat one another as such.)
Volunteer for a UUA Committee
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) relies upon energetic, committed, visionary Unitarian Universalist (UU) volunteers to serve the twenty-plus committees, panels, and task forces that work with staff and the UUA Board to carry out the mission of the Association. If volunteering at the Associational level is of interest to you, please consider a volunteer position. For more information click here.
New UUA logo
New UUA logo part of outreach effort
Logo is first step in a broader initiative to promote Unitarian Universalism.
A new logo for the Unitarian Universalist Association is only part of an initiative to help congregations reach out to the millennial generation and others who are unchurched.
The Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley, the UUA’s Program and Strategy Officer, said the new initiative developed out of a growing realization that the UUA and its congregations have been sending “inconsistent” messages about Unitarian Universalism into the larger world.
“We have not been very good about speaking to people who don’t know anything about Unitarian Universalism,” said Cooley. “We’ve never come up with a succinct way to share our faith.”
“We want congregations to think about the messages their congregations are sending out to the world that doesn’t know anything about them,” she added. “That includes thinking about how their building looks to guests, the structure of their services, their programs, whether they’re inward-oriented or serving the community, and what their online presence is like.”
A study guide will help congregations explore how they present themselves to the larger world. Cooley said individuals can use the study guide to think about their relationships to Unitarian Universalism and to become more fluent in explaining it.
This spring, the UUA is introducing its new logo, which congregations may also use. UUA.org is being redesigned to focus more on religious seekers. And the UUA is developing other resources for congregations, regional groups, and the national association to use. This effort is about much more than a new logo and a new look for the website, Cooley said. “We have to figure out how we live out this faith of ours, not just how to sell it. We need to get clearer about the ways the culture is changing and the ways we serve that culture.”
The UUA hired Proverb, a brand development company, last year. “We asked them not simply to design a new logo for us, but to help us look at ourselves differently,” Cooley said. The consultants, who researched the UUA’s image in the larger community, found that the UUA is known for progressive and inclusive behavior. At the same time, non-UUs found it hard to differentiate from other religions because of its Protestant-style worship, unclear messaging, aging membership, lack of clarity about beliefs, and a lack of consistency in congregations.
“We’re trying to reach a generation of people who are not coming out of religious backgrounds,” Cooley said. “They have no pattern of church and they have many other choices on Sunday morning besides church. We have to get really clear on what we have to offer.”
She emphasized that the UUA, while focusing on millennials, will not overlook others. “We’re not turning our backs on people already in congregations, or people over fifty. We’re speaking to everyone.”