Should UUCSS Join UUSJ?

Introduction

This is not about whether we are for or against social action. Both the supporters and the opponents of our church's joining UUSJ are supporters of social action. I have the highest respect for those members who disagree with me and for their commitment to social action.

This is not about whether the goals of UUSJ are good. We all agree that the goals are good.

What this is about is how can we allocate our limited social action resources best to help our fellow human beings most effectively.

Social Action Budget

In 1994 the UUCSS budget for the Social Action Committee was $3,000. Since that time the church has had serious financial difficulties and many desirable activities had their budgets cut. The Social Action budget has been cut by 90 percent. This year the Social Action budget is only $300, and in the canvas budget for next year there is still only $300. In addition to the budgeted amount the Social Action Committee makes a small profit on the sale of T-shirts and note cards, which has boosted our total funds available this year from $300 to over $400. I long for the day when we will again have an adequate Social Action budget.

Direct Assistance Social Action Activities

Our church's social action efforts are of two types, those that help people directly and those that advocate changes in society and government. Our programs to help people directly include Meals on Wheels, the Shepherds Table, Montgomery County Community Based Shelter, So Others May Eat, Food and Friends, Beacon House, the UU Affordable Housing Corporation, the Colesville Council of Community Congregations, and Great Hope. These wonderful programs are described in copies of the thirteen-minute version of my talk, which will be available in the foyer and in the coffee hour.

Social Action Advocacy

The second part of our social action is advocacy for changes to help humankind. Part of this involves educating ourselves about the issues. One way we do this is by having speakers in our Sunday service. Each year one of these has been funded by the Rowe Lecture in memory of our late member Marvin Rowe. This year, as part of the Social Action Committee's emphasis on gun violence, we had my friend Michael Beard, President of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, of which the UUA is a part.

Our members attended a hearing on Governor Glendening's gun control proposal, sent 44 Valentine messages to legislators, attended a rally in Annapolis, and visited our legislators. Our efforts, combined with those of many others, led to enactment of one of the best state gun control laws in America.

We vigorously promoted the Million Mom March for gun control, and 50 UUCSSers attended that rally on the Mall in May.

The Social Action Committee also encouraged members to attend an abortion rights rally in March and the Millennium March for Gay Rights in April.

We have had discussion meetings on social issues.

The UUA is a member of' the United Nations Association's Council of Organizations, and the UUCSS Social Action Committee is a member of the National Capital Area Division of UNA This year I was part of the UNA delegation that visited the offices of Senator Sarbanes, Senator Mikulski, and Congressman Wynn, urging them to support payment of our share of UN peacekeeping and to ratify CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. I also got UNA's weekly TV program on the environment broadcast on Montgomery County cable TV for nine months during the past year, and we announced this in the Uniter so that UUCSSers could watch. Several years ago many of us signed UNA's petitions urging Congress to pay our UN dues, and I was part of the delegation that presented the petitions to the House International Relations Committee. I assure you that UNA could accomplish more for humanity if it had more money.

Through the sale of greeting cards we also support the worldwide advocacy work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. In the past we also supported the UUSC through our Social Action budget.

All Need More Money

Our world has many enormous needs. Virtually every one of the programs that I have mentioned could accomplish more if it had more money. For many of them it takes money even to be able to use our volunteer efforts. Our social action resources are quite limited. Therefore we need to use them carefully to accomplish as much as possible for humankind with them.

The Most Effective Use of our Resources

UUSJ would focus on the advocacy portion of social action. How much would membership in UUSJ increase the social advocacy effectiveness of our congregation? Would it have increased the number of Valentines we sent supporting gun control? Would it have increased the number of UUCSSers who attended the gun violence rally in Annapolis, the gay rights march in Washington, or the Million Mom March? Would it have caused us to undertake additional social justice projects, and if so, would that have happened with additional volunteer effort or by reducing the volunteer efforts on other social action projects.

The main reason we do not have more people involved in social action activities is that people are too busy with the obligations they already have -- obligations to their families, to their jobs, to other church activities, to worthwhile activities unrelated to the church, and to themselves. It is impossible to do all of the things that one "ought" to do. I doubt that having UUSJ bring more social action projects to our attention will significantly increase the amount of our social advocacy activities. The only thing I am sure of is that it will reduce the amount we have available to support our other social action activities by $300.

Conclusion

Regardless of whether you agree, all of us from time to time need to reconsider whether we can do more to help others, and how we can do that. Almost all of the programs that I mentioned need more volunteers. If you want to consider helping, talk with those involved in these projects, or speak to Laura Ellis, our Social Action chair, or to me.