Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb

Adult Lifespan Faith Development Program (LFDP)

Dear Friend, 

 NOW is the time for spiritual liberals to turn this nation around. 

Let me share with you why I believe this is true.  I am a proud member of the Southern Poverty Law Center (www.splcenter.org), an organization that seeks justice, fights hate, and teaches tolerance.  I contribute regularly and read their publications Teaching Tolerance and Intelligence Report.  In the fall 2008 edition of Intelligence Report, I learned about the following…

There is a growing movement of hard-core Christian evangelicals, called Joel’s Army, that believe that America should be governed by conservative Christians and Christian interpretation of biblical law.  Casting themselves as God’s avenging army, their rhetoric and numbers have increased significantly, as their presence on MySpace and Facebook draws in teens and young adults.  They are clear about forming an army that can use military force to establish theocratic rule.  Revivals and faith healing services draw over 10,000; annual youth revivals draw 20,000; and at the kids’ camp which is held each summer, even the children under six years of age are taught to become “soldiers for God’s Army.” 

I find this appalling, but not new.  Over a year ago I showed clips about one of these kids’ camps at a Sunday service.  The documentary Jesus Camp is a wake-up call to religious liberals. Do we really want to leave the work of shaping this world to those who will do so from a fundamentalist ideology?  Shall we abandon public discourse on meaning, faith, and justice to those who would silence us?  Liberals have been notorious for eschewing or abandoning the empowerment of congregational community to the religious right.  No more. 

Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God, Taking Back Our Country From the Religious Right, wrote, “Cruelty is not destiny.  Imperialism and class conflict, murder and rape, anger and hatred are not built into the fundamental structure of reality.  There is a flow of social energy, a movement of consciousness between hope and fear – inside each of us and in our society – and we can move that flow.”   So, spiritual liberals, let’s move that flow.  I claim faith and hope as part of my spiritual tradition, and I believe that Unitarian Universalists must be capable of articulating our free faith tradition with integrity, clarity, and passion.

That is why I invite you – Members, Friends, Newcomers, Visitors, Students, and Seekers – to join with me on selected Sundays to explore our rich history and our dynamic faith.  Come if you are curious about Unitarian Universalism.  Or, if you are already a UU, come to rekindle your connection to our faith and to re-ignite your sense of mission and purpose.  (See flier for info or call Rev. Slabon at 815-501-4788)

The Rev. Bill Sinkford, president of our Unitarian Universalist Association, observed, “In the face of the well-organized and well-funded dominance of the fundamentalist religious right in the public square, I believe that we are called to offer a liberal religious alternative.  I am not willing, nor should you be, to cede the moral high ground to religious fundamentalists, of any faith tradition, who preach that there is only one way to be religious, only one scripture worthy of being followed, only one way to be a family, only one way to lead a good life.  There must be a liberal religious alternative.  And, my friends, we’re it.”  

Let us foster a spiritual consciousness, a new bottom line in America, where organizations are measured by how they ethically respond, that is, how they treat people and this earth. This is our faith tradition.  Now is the time, spiritual liberals, for us to turn this nation around. 

Rev. Linda S. Slabon, M.A., M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

Welcome to a Free Faith

Call the church office at 756-7089 to register for these NEW UU classes.

Come explore spiritual liberalism in the faith history of America through the compelling video series Our American Roots, Unitarian Universalism in North America

This class is open to Seekers, Members, Friends, Newcomers, Visitors, Students… All are welcome.  Attend one class, two, or all nine sessions.  It’s up to you.

WHERE:  The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb, 158 North 4th Street, DeKalb

QUESTIONS?   Call UUFD Church Office at 815-756-7089 or Rev. Slabon at 815-501-4788. Please call the office in advance (by Friday) to indicate if you need childcare.

 

2008

Sunday, October 26           1:00-3:00 p.m. 
                                                The Pilgrims Come to Plymouth
                                                Introduction to Unitarian Universalism   

Sunday, November 9        1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                Universalism: A Saving Faith
                                                Reason in Religion

Sunday, November 30      1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                Famous Founders: Priestley and Jefferson
                                                Pathways to Membership

Sunday, December 14      1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                Unitarian Christianity  
                                                Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

Sunday, December 28      1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                Revealing the Bible (Sacred Texts)
                                                Pathways to Membership

 

2009

Sunday, January 25          1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists  
                                                Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

Sunday, February 22        1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                New Sources of Revelation
                                                Pathways to Membership

Sunday, March 29              1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                The Second American Revolution
                                                Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

Sunday,  April 26                1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
                                                The Free Pulpit and the Free Pew
                                                Pathways to Membership

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of DeKalb
158 N. Fourth Street
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-756-7089
uufdchurchoffice@aol.com

 

Child care services available.

Our church is handicapped accessible.

For directions to our church, please click [map]