Social Justice
"...Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."
From the beginning, UBC has been made up of people committed to justice, first ending slavery, then gaining women's suffrage, ensuring intellectual and academic freedom--in the 1920s, the freedom to teach the theory of evolution, civil rights, human rights, peace and nonviolence, environmental justice, and equal rights for our gay,lesbian, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters. For many of us, working for the reign of God on earth is a spiritual act, a form of worship and of prayer.
"As Christians in the U.S., our role in relationship to the violence in Palestine/Israel is often obscured. For centuries, our faith has been used as a tool of empire's greed and Christian supremacy has created the conditions that have led to this present-day violence. There is much to repent for:
Christians are responsible for centuries of antisemitic violence, like the Christian-perpetrated Holocaust, which has led to a systemic lack of safety for Jewish people.
Christians are responsible for perpetrating centuries of Islamophobic wars and violence against Muslim and Arab countries, which have led to systemic lack of safety for Muslim and Arab peoples.
We have not responded to the calls of our Palestinian Christian relatives who for too long have been pleading in vain with Christians around the world to take action in solidarity with their plight.
"We have allowed Christian Zionists to be the most influential Christian voice on Palestine/Israel. Christian Zionism is an antisemitic and Islamophobic ideology; Christian Zionists believe that when Jesus returns, all non-Christian people will be destroyed, including the Jewish nationalists who helped hasten the Second Coming.
We have allowed our Muslim and Jewish siblings to bear the greatest risks in the struggle for Palestinian rights and a future of safety for all people in the region, though we hold by far the greatest share of the responsibility."
Anti-Racism Discussion and Action Group
Every other Tuesday 7-8pm
ZOOM INFO: Meeting ID: 831 4584 1908 passcode: 313775
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83145841908?pwd=djhuSmMwZ1NESXZ5SExNOURXa2FNQT09
Partnership to confront racism
In 2021, UBC became part of Churches that THRIVE for Racial Justice, a five-year project of the Alliance of Baptists in partnership with the Lilly Endowment and sociologists of race and religion. It's a cohort of 26 congregations across 19 states and two Canadian provinces learning to confront structures of racism. We are now in Year 2 (evaluation and reflection) and excited about this work.
Anti-Racism Film List
2020
13-Jun I Am Not Your Negro
20-Jun Whose Streets? An Unflinching Look at the Ferguson Uprising
27-Jun Just Mercy
4-Jul 13TH
11-Jul The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
18-Jul Birth of a Nation
25-Jul 16 Shots
1-Aug John Lewis – Get in the Way
8-Aug A Fiery Unrest: Why Plymouth Avenue Burned (MPR article and link to audio documentary)
15-Aug The Talk - Race in America (PBS)
22-Aug Jim Crow of the North
29-Aug Before Columbus (Native American Documentary)
5-Sep Race Matters: America in Crisis
12-Sep The New York Times Presents The #1619 Project
19-Sep A Class Divided
26-Sep Prof. Ibram X. Kendi: Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
3-Oct Fruitvale Station
10-Oct Inside the KKK
17-Oct Love Them First: Lessons From Lucy Laney Elementary
24-Oct The Hate U Give
31-Oct Kimberlé Crenshaw - On Intersectionality
7-Nov Murder Without Motive: the Edmund Perry Story
14-Nov How the US stole thousands of Native American children
14-Nov Uprooted: The 1950's plan to erase Indian Country
14-Nov We Are Still Here: Documentary about today's young Native Americans
21-Nov We Shall Remain: Documentary about 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee
28-Nov Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier
5-Dec Skin
12-Dec You Belong to Me: Sex, Race, and Murder in the South
19-Dec The Loving Story
26-Dec NO FILM
Anti-Racism Film List
2021
2-Jan Black Boys
9-Jan Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story
16-Jan NO FILM
23-Jan Change Comes Knocking: The Story of the North Carolina Fund
30-Jan NO FILM - the group discussed next action steps
6-Feb February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four
13-Feb Panel: Acting on Dr. King's Call (MN History Center)
20-Feb Imitation of Life
27-Feb Healing Racialized Trauma: A Conversation with Resmaa Menakem and Tara Brach
6-Mar The Black Church, Episode 2
13-Mar Standing on My Sisters' Shoulders
20-Mar Anita
27-Mar Harriet Tubman: They Called Her Moses
3-Apr The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
10-Apr A Most Beautiful Thing
17-Apr Modern Day Slavery: From Plantations to Prisons
24-Apr Two Black Men a Week
1-May The Racism Virus
8-May Surviving America
15-May Whispers of Angels: A Story of the Underground Railroad
22-May Policing the Police (2020)
29-May NO FILM
STATEMENT CONDEMNING VIOLENT ACTS OF INSURRECTION BY DOMESTIC TERRORISTS
We join other people of faith around the world in denouncing the events at our nation’s Capitol and across the country on January 6, 2021. The attempt to overturn the results of one of the most scrutinized elections is a tragedy. But it threw into even starker relief the deep-rooted evils of racism and violence that have been allowed to surface in our country over the past four years. The use of provocative racist symbols in connection with Jesus’ name is an idolatrous abomination. The double standard in the treatment of those trying to take over the Capitol on January 6 and those protesting racial injustice is appalling and reflective of our brokenness as a society. It is a denial of history to say that this is not who we are as a nation. It is incumbent on the church to not only stand up against foreign and domestic tyranny, but to offer something better—to reclaim the core of our faith and to live into those ideals.
We commit ourselves to the following:
● To listen to our Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) siblings
● To call out lies and deception
● To call people to account for acts of violence
● To resist the temptation to demonize each other
● To resist the temptation to meet another’s violence with our own superior violence for we believe that this perpetuates a never-ending cycle
● To remember that violence of the fist starts with violence of the heart
● To remember the words of the Torah and Jesus to love God and to love our neighbor
● To study the scriptures and recapture a sense of God’s liberating action today
● To humbly recognize our blinders and be open to better revelation
● To commit ourselves to prayerfully and diligently work for a more peaceful and just society
People of faith can differ over elected officials and political parties. Yet we must call out racism when we see it and advocate with all of our might for the Beloved Community. We join millions of others across this world who also seek this sacred center. May we not rest until the wolf shall lie down with the lamb and they shall not study war any more (Isaiah 2, 11).