Social Justice Committee

Contents:

Our Mission Statement
Social Justice Action Groups!
New Hampshire Faithful Democracy
Granite State Organizing Project
UUA General Assembly Resolutions- Statements of Conscience and Actions of Immediate Witness
Recommended Web Sites

The Social Justice Committee has been an active participant in UU Nashua Church affairs since 1987, organizing educational events, initiating/supporting outreach programs, and helping to serve as our congregation's social justice advocates.

We have a table most Sundays during coffee hour, and we invite you to stop by for conversation and exploration about how you can get involved. Come see us!

Upcoming Events

"Appalachian Treasures"- A Presentation on Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
Monday, March 9th, 2009 7:30 p.m.
UU Church of Nashua, Sanctuary

On March 9th, the UU Church of Nashua will be hosting a presentation by Appalachian Voices, an organization based in North Carolina who is working to educate citizens across the United Status about this very destructive form of coal mining. Not only is mountaintop removal coal mining an environmental tragedy, it also has devastating effects on the surrounding communities.
"Speaking Peace" - A Workshop on the Foundations of Nonviolent Communication
Saturday, March 28th, 2009 9:30a - 4:30p

http://www.newenglandnvc.org/

here

Our Mission Statement

The Social Justice committee of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, grounded in our UU principles, is committed to making our church a force for positive social change in our community and in society at large.

We advocate for peace, justice, compassion and caring. We encourage all church members to be engaged, through their deeds and generosity, in issues of local, national and global concern, and to develop action plans in areas of particular interest to them.

We provide a forum for a wide range of ideas on issues of concern. We ask church members and friends to actively participate in educational programs on important social issues.

We work with UU churches, other religious congregations, civic, labor and social service organizations and all groups that are seeking to build a more peaceful, just and caring society.

Social Justice Action Groups!

In 2006 we organized our social justice work into separate "action groups" around some timely issues and community concerns. These groups plan events, coordinate with other groups working on the same issues, and strategize about ways to meet achievable goals. Action groups also look for ways to deepen congregational involvement. Our current action groups are:

Action Group	Brief Description
Community Action	Organize Nashua Soup Kitchen meal preparation, manage Sunday outreach collections, and work with other groups, including the Greater Nashua Continuum of Care toward goal of ending homelessness in Nashua.
UU Ministry for the Earth	Continue with "Green Sanctuary" program for church and organize around RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative). UU Nashua Green Sanctuary Note: The Green Sanctuary project is temporarily on hold.
Iraq War/Road to Peace	Work with Nashua Peace, NH Peace Action and other groups to organize vigils, marches, and other activities toward peace in Iraq/return home of US troops.
Healthcare	Brainstorm healthcare issues and educate on healthcare solutions. Last spring, we asked the congregation to respond to the question: What would a UU Healthcare Plan Look Like?" Click here for a summary of your responses.

Please visit our Social Justice Table in coffee hour for more information.

UU Action Network of New Hampshire

The UU Action Network of New Hampshire (UUAN)is an education and advocacy network of Unitarian Universalists in the state of New Hampshire. UUAN is working to strengthen the network and to help coordinate focused action on targeted issues, so that NH UU's can have a stronger voice on the issues that matter to us.

For more information, please check the UUAN web site (http://www.uuactionnetworknh.org/), visit the Social Justice table during coffee hour, and stay tuned for information coming to you through church (services, newsletters, etc.).

Granite State Organizing Project

The Granite State Organizing Project (GSOP) is an organization in New Hampshire's Merrimack Valley (including Concord, Manchester, Nashua, and adjoining towns). It is made up of representatives from religious, labor, and community groups that work together to address local issues of vital concern and improve life in our region. The issues that GSOP have identified as most critical to our area are housing, healthcare, jobs, and education, and work is going on in each of those areas to research the underlying issues, consider the strategies that we might take, and initiate courses of action.

Our church is a sponsoring member of GSOP, and church members can get involved in various ways. Please please check the GSOP web site (http://gsopnh.tripod.com/) or stop by the Social Justice Committee table for more information.

UUA General Assembly Resolutions

Every June, the GA passes a number of resolutions, classified either a "Statement of Conscience" or "Action of Immediate Witness," on issues of social justice:

A Statement of Conscience (SOC) starts out as a "Study Action Issue" (SAI) initiated somewhere in a member congregation and then submitted to the Commission on Social Witness (CSW). SAIs that are approved by the CSW are voted on at the General Assembly Annual Meeting. If it gets selected (only one Study Action Issue is selected every two years), study action guides are prepared and go out to member congregations the following year. Congregations are encouraged to follow the guide and conduct various study/action activities. At the end of the 2nd year of study/action, a final vote at GA determines whether it gets accepted as a Statement of Conscience. Go to www.uua.org/csw/speakout.html for more details on this process.
Actions of Immediate witness deal with issues that are particularly time sensitive. Since they are not subject to congregational review, they are not considered policy of the Association - just the viewpoint of the General Assembly itself. They must be passed by a two-thirds vote.

You can investigate, by year, all the GA resolutions that have been adopted since 1961 by going to www.uua.org/actions/chronological.html.

Recommended Web Sites

Some web sites particularly recommended by the Social Justice Committee:

www.commondreams.org This is a great site that includes a tremendous number of links - to newspapers, journals, news agencies and more. It is the single most valuable entry to information and opinion about peace and justice issues.
www.truthout.org Each day this web site offers a few especially interesting and important articles, speeches or editorials from the US and other countries, which otherwise we would probably not see.
www.moveon.org This site is focused on suggesting and even facilitating citizen expression against a rush to war. They have been very successful in enabling hundreds of thousands of Americans in as little as a day or two, through the Internet, to join together in anti-war efforts.
www.nhpeaceaction.org This site acts as an umbrella to encourage, organize, or publicize anti-war activities in New Hampshire.

Some legislative/congressional oriented sites:

Senate Official Web Site	www.senate.gov
House Official Web Site	www.house.gov
THOMAS (the most comprehensive legislative search engine)	thomas.loc.gov
Your link to Congress	www.congress.org
Webster (New Hampshire legislative search engine)	www.state.nh.us
State by state analysis of major political agendas	www.stateline.org

Some other recommended sites:

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee	www.uusc.org
UUA Faith in Action	www.uua.org/faithinaction
United for a Fair Economy	www.ufenet.org
American Friends Service Committee	www.afsc.org
Interfaith Alliance	www.tialliance.org
National Labor Council	www.nlcnet.org
National Coalition against Legalized Gambling	www.ncalg.org
Planned Parenthood Federation of America	www.plannedparenthood.org
Center for Reproductive Law and Policy	www.crlp.org
Death Penalty Resource Center	www.essential.org/dpic
Campaign to End the Death Penalty	www.nodeathpenalty.org