Peacemaking

In June 2006, UUA's General Assembly voted to study and act on the issue of Peacemaking for four years, as part of the the Congregational Study Action Issue process. The description of the issue that was voted on is at http://www.uua.org/csai. In 2009 the results of the study will lead to a proposal for a Statement of Conscience on the issue.

A wealth of resources on the issue are available at http://www.uua.org/peacemaking

Peacemaking-network is the UUA email forum for this SAI.

In the Spring of 2007, the Washington Office For Advocacy hired Alex Winnett to be the Program Associate for Peacemaking. His two year long position will be to help congregations, individuals and affiliates navigate the CSAI on Peacemaking.

Use this page to keep track of what congregations are active, what successes and failures can be reported, etc.

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Input for SAI Resource Guide

Organizations

• Center on Conscience & War - The Center is committed to supporting all those who question participation in war, whether they are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, documented or undocumented immigrants--or citizens in other countries.
• Center for Nonviolent Communication - the work of Marshall Rosenberg and others, also known as "Compassionate Communication". Helps at all levels of peacemaking, from personal, to relationship, to congregational, to community, to politics, to the world....
• Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors - CCCO supports and promotes individual and collective resistance to war and preparations for war.
• Fellowship of Reconciliation - FOR seeks to replace violence, war, racism, and economic injustice with nonviolence, peace, and justice. We are an interfaith organization committed to active nonviolence as a transforming way of life and as a means of radical change. We educate, train, build coalitions, and engage in nonviolent and compassionate actions locally, nationally, and globally. UU John Haynes Holmes was one of the founders.
• Friends of Adin Ballou - Friends of Adin Ballou honors the life and legacy of Universalist and Unitarian Rev. Adin Ballou (1803-1890). The goals of Friends of Adin Ballou are to research and study the words and deeds of Adin Ballou and the Hopedale Community, and to find ways to keep their legacy alive in the modern world.*
• Global Action to Prevent War
• The UN
• United States Institute of Peace
• War Resisters League - The War Resisters League affirms that all war is a crime against humanity. We therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive nonviolently for the removal of all causes of war. UU John Haynes Holmes was one of the founders.

Web Sites

• UUA Peacemaking CSAI Web Page

• Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography Antiwar and Peace Activists

Reports

• Henry Nelson Weiman
• Alliance of Civilizations Report of the High-level Group

Articles

• Prophetic Nonviolence Paul Rasor, UUWORLD, Spring 2008,
• Unitarian Universalist Responses to War and Peace: A Brief History Jane Rosecrans
• Unitarian Universalism and the Movement for World Peace Paul Sawyer

Statements/Press Releases

• General Resolutions General resolutions concerning peacemaking made by the UU Association of Congregations
• Witnessing for Peace: A Pastoral Letter Rev. William G. Sinkford

Books & Pamphlets

Unitarian Universalist

• Theological Basis of Social Action James Luther Adams, Chapter 7 of On Being Human Religiously, Beacon Press, 1976.
• Christian Non-Resistance Adin Ballou, 1846
• Discourses on War William Ellery Channing
• My Gandhi John Haynes Holmes, Harper, 1953.
• Proverbs of Ashes: Violence, Redemptive Suffering, and the Search for What Saves Us Rebecca Parker and Rita Brock, Beacon Press, 2002.
• Civil Disobedience (Resistance to Civil Government) Henry David Thoreau
• After Empire: The Art and Ethos of Enduring Peace Sharon D. Welch, Fortress Press, 2004.

Other Religious Traditions

• American Nonviolence Ira Chernus,
• Being Peace Thich Nhat Hanh, Edited by Arnold Kotler. Berkeley, California: Parallax Press. 1987.
• Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence Martin Luther King, Jr., April 4, 1967
• The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative Thomas King, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003.
• Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Policitcs Reinhold Niebuhr, Westminster John Knox. 1932.
• Peacemaking: The Believers’ Calling The United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The 192nd General Assembly (1980).
• Resistance and Contemplation James Douglas, Doubleday, 1972
• Liberating Faith: Religious Voices for Justice, Peace, and Ecological Wisdom, by Roger Gottlieb, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003.
• The Little Book of Strategic Peacebuilding: A Vision and Framework for Peace with Justice Lisa Schirch, Pennsylvania: Good Books. 2004
• For the Peace of the World: A Christian Curriculum on International Relations The National Council of Churches
• Peace is the Way Deepak Chopra, Harmony Publishers, 2005.
• When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome Richard E. Rubenstein
• Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination Walter Wink, Augsburg Fortress, 1992.
• Any Book by Walter Wink Walter Wink

Gandhi

• Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World Louis Fischer, The New American Library, 1954.
• Gandhi the Man Eknath Easwaran, Nilgiri Press, 1978.
• Gandhi’s Pilgrimage of Faith Uma Majmudar, State University of NY, NY, 2005.
• Gandhi: An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Mohandas K. Gandhi, Beacon Press 1957.
• The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi Homer Jack, Beacon Press, 1951
• The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings Homer Jack, Beacon Press, 1956.
• The Way to God Mohandas K. Gandhi, Berkeley Hills Books, Albany, CA, 1999.

Speakers and Workshops

• The Art and Ethics of Strategic Peacebuilding Sharon Welch, Meadville Lombard course Offering
• Sharon Welch's talk at Nashville

Congregational Action

Congregational Study Groups

• Small Group Ministry materials and ideas

Sermons and Service Ideas

• "Is Peace Our Way?" Reverend Paige Getty
• Pacifist Doves and Humanitarian Hawks: Should UUs Become Activist Pacifists? Prof. Howard Tolley.
• On Peace Rev. Carolyn Patierno, minister of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation of New London

Political Issues

• UU UN Office

Organizational Issues

• UU Compassionate Communication website

Peace Pages On Congregational Web Sites

• The Peace Umbrella UU Church of Palo Alto, CA
• Identification of Church as a Peace Site The UU Community Church of Santa Monica, CA
• Columbine Peace Labyrinth Columbine UU Church, Littleton, CO
• Task Force on a Just Peace UU Church of Bloomington, IN
• A Place For Peace UU Congregation of Somerset Hills, NJ
• Peacemaking Pledge Campaign St. John’s UU, Cincinnati, OH