18 Archive: Feminism, Theology and Ministry
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On this episode of The VUU, we are joined by the Rev. Diane Miller and Dr. Mary Hunt. Our conversation looks back at the influence of feminism on theology and ministry in the 1970s and 1980s and whether much has changed within Unitarian Universalism, Catholicism, and liberal Protestant denominations. Plus, Diane and Mary share first-hand stories about learning from such luminaries as Judith Plaskow, Rosemary Ruether, and Mary Daly.
Original air date: July 11, 2013
Show notes:
- At the time of the interview, the Rev. Diane Miller was minister at First Religious Society in Carlisle, Mass. She is now retired from UU ministry.
- Dr. Mary Hunt is a feminist theologian and Catholic active in the women-church movement. She is co-founder and co-director of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER).
- The Mary Daly Reader, edited by Jennifer Rycenga and Linda Barufaldi, makes key excerpts from Daly’s work accessible to readers who are seeking to access the essence of her thought in a single volume.
- Hosts: Meg Riley and Tom Schade
Note: This audio is from one of our favorite archived episodes that had previously been available by video only. It has been edited for a better podcast listening experience. View the original live recording on YouTube.
188: Live from the 2017 UUA General Assembly in New Orleans
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Broadcast live from CLF’s booth in the exhibit hall, this high energy show is full of hope, excitement, testimonies and news. Lots of people, including parish and community ministers, congregational leaders, UUA staff, GA first-timers, youth caucus leaders, and CLF members, stopped by for both serious and silly conversations and everything in between.
Show notes:
- On-demand videos from General Assembly
- Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite
- Thrive: Leadership Schools for Youth and Young Adults of Color
- UUA Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministries
- Liberal Religious Youth (LRY)
- Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU)
- UU Trauma Response Ministry
- Berry Street Lecture archives
- The Cross and the Lynching Tree by James Cone (Amazon) (Goodreads)
- Lightspring Press: UU branded goods
- Allies for Racial Equity (ARE)
- CLF’s letter writing ministry
- Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC)
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
187: Writing in Black and White
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Our guests are the Rev. Nathan Ryan, assistant minister of the UU Church of Baton Rouge, and Kimberly Hampton, candidate for ministry and blogger. We talk about the difference in racism between the north and the south, how as a nation misremember our American history around racism and slavery, and how institutional UUism doesn’t consistently show up for times of crisis in the black community. The panel and guests also react to the breaking news about the UUA’s $500,000 severance package.
Show notes:
- Southern Baptist Convention’s vote to condemn white supremacy
- Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice Renewal
- The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter
- Announcement from UUA co-presidents about severance package
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
186: Global Strategies of Resistance
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The VUU welcomes several guests, including Eric Cherry and Janne Eller-Isaacs, to talk about Unitarian Universalist presence internationally. Through social justice partnerships, UUs are supporting grassroots efforts to change structures of power in countries with authoritarian regimes. Our guests testify to how oppressions, and the struggle for freedom and dignity, are linked worldwide. They also wrestle with the power dynamics between white partners and people in countries that have been colonized.
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
185: Intentionally Radical and Spiritual
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The VUU welcomes the Rev. Ashley Horan, executive director of MUUSJA, and Nora Rasman, campaign manager at Standing on the Side of Love. We talk about being unapologetically radical and spiritual and how liberalism tends to show up. We also go deep into the meaning of covenant and how spiritual practice and self care are critical for justice work, congregational life, and being active online.
Show notes:
- MUUSJA is the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance. On May 19 & 20, 2017, they held a conference called Resistance & Resilience: Sustaining Faithful Action for Justice & Solidarity in a Hurting World, which featured local and national organizers, religious leaders, artists, musicians, and activists.
- The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis was recently lambasted for “Scaffold”—an artistic composite of the gallows used to hang 38 Dakota men in 1862. This grotesque sculpture is now being dismantled. Learn more from the Star Tribune: article, commentary, and analysis.
- Mijente, Latinx & Chicanx organizers; source for the framework “against the state/outside the state/from the state” that Nora referenced
- BLUU’s endorsement of the proposed 8th Principle
- “It isn’t call-out culture that is toxic” by Ashley Fairbanks
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
185 Excerpt: Covenant and Spiritual Practices
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What does covenant really mean in a culture of supremacy, whether we’re engaged in justice work, congregational life, or being active online? And why are spiritual practices and self care critical? This is an excerpt from episode #185 with our guests, the Rev. Ashley Horan, executive director of MUUSJA, and Nora Rasman, campaign manager at Standing on the Side of Love. .
Excerpt notes:
- MUUSJA is the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance. On May 19 & 20, 2017, they held a conference called Resistance & Resilience: Sustaining Faithful Action for Justice & Solidarity in a Hurting World, which featured local and national organizers, religious leaders, artists, musicians, and activists.
- “It isn’t call-out culture that is toxic” by Ashley Fairbanks
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been edited for a better listening experience. View the full original recording of the entire episode on YouTube.
185 Excerpt: Radical or Liberal
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What is the difference between being radical or liberal in justice work? This is an excerpt from episode #185 with our guests, the Rev. Ashley Horan and Nora Rasman.
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been edited for a better listening experience. View the full original recording of the entire episode on YouTube.
184: A Handmaid’s Protest with Erin Walter
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The VUU welcomes Erin Walter, a UU minister and one of the Texas Handmaids. They have been protesting unconscionable restrictions on reproductive freedoms at the Texas State Capitol during the 2017 legislative session. This use of the arts in public witness and activism has spread nationwide.
Show notes:
- NARAL Pro-Choice Texas
- Follow Heather Busby’s writings and interviews
- Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale (Goodreads)
- SisterSong
- Facebook videos shown in episode: overview from Ladies 1st (via George Takei) and Texas handmaids chanting shame
- Our Whole Lives (OWL): a lifespan sexuality education curricula
- Rev. Joanna Fontaine Crawford on Twitter (@TheMissionalist)
Additional links:
- “For Black Women, The Handmaid’s Tale’s Dystopia is Real—and telling” – Maclean’s
- “Women Wore ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Robes to the Texas Senate to Protest Anti-Abortion Legislation” – Teen Vogue
- “Activists Nod to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ to Protest Anti-Abortion Bills” – The Austin Chronicle
- “Women Wear ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Costumes During Protest Against Texas Anti-abortion Bills” – The Hill
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
183: Black Lives of UU
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Lena K. Gardner and Leslie Mac join The VUU to talk about the 2017 UUA General Assembly and the needs for Unitarian Universalists of color around safety/security, worship, and community.
Show notes:
- Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) organizing collective
- 2017 UUA General Assembly, June 21-25 in New Orleans
- BLUU’s programs at General Assembly:
- “Black Power Challenges Liberal Religion: Fifty Years Later” on Thurs., June 22 from 5:00-6:15 pm — A retrospective conversation led by Dr. Mtangulizi Sanyika (aka Hayward Henry Jr.), founding chair of the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus (BUUC) and Black Affairs Council (BAC), 1967-1973, highlighting the challenges and outcomes of the Black empowerment movement of the 1960s and its relevance to the movement for Black Lives today.
- “BLUU Organizing Collective: An Introduction to Anti-Blackness” on Fri., June 23 from 3:15-4:30 pm — Anti-blackness is a global phenomenon that affects people in every cultural and ethnic group. Within larger systems of structural oppression, it translates to higher rates of social ills, including poverty, unemployment, poor health outcomes, and substandard housing. We will also discuss the impact of anti-blackness in our congregations and beyond.
- The Wilderness Journey: first-hand accounts of the historical struggle for black empowerment and racial justice within the UUA in the late 1960s
- Bystander intervention training by Jess Banks
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
182: Integrating Faith and Queerness with Michael Crumpler
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The VUU welcomes Michael Crumpler, LGBTQ and Intercultural Programs Manager at the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). We talk about how queer people of color are hurt by undiagnosed white supremacy and current limitations in progressive spaces in pastoring around race. Michael also shares his personal story about how his queer experience is informed by his blackness.
Show notes:
- UUA LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer) Justice
- Videos from the Spring 2017 Minns Lecture Series: Historical and Future Trajectories of Black Lives Matter and Unitarian Universalism with the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt and the Rev. Mark Morrison-Reed
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley (currently on sabbatical), Michael Tino, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Terri Burnor. The VUU streams live on Thursdays at 11 am ET.
Note: This audio has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
