Weekly Senior Exercise Class, Body-Mind Tune Up, Forbes. Bruno Lacombe is conducting exercise classes for seniors, super-seniors and people with physical difficulties for UUSM members. Classes are no-charge for UUSM members; non-members suggested donation $10 per class to UUSM. Contact: Bruno Lacombe, (310) 666-7387.

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Our church’s program for integrating peace and social justice concerns into the life of the congregation. The Peace & Social Justice Committee (PSJ) focuses many activities in the areas of labor and economic issues; racism, police brutality, and mass incarceration; immigration and immigrant detention; and peace and alternatives to war. It also collaborates with the Green Committee on activities focusing on climate change.

The Peace & Social Justice Committee meets on the 3rd Sunday of every month after second service. New members are welcome and needed. For more information please email Dierdra Deitel. If you do not have email, please stop by the Faith in Action table in Forbes Hall. 

Second Sunday Suppers are informal social events for all ages held in Forbes Hall on the second Sunday of each month at 6:00 p.m.   Initial set up time is followed by communal meal. Attendees should bring a main dish, side dish, salad or dessert to share. Please join us!  Children are absolutely welcome! To save on waste and promote green living, we kindly ask that you bring your own plates, cups, utensils, and cloth napkins. We will have extra dishes if you cannot bring your own. 

Happy hour begins at 5:45 pm.

Bill Blake will present an enjoyable dive into the who and what we are. This on-going, twice a month classon the 1st and 3rd Monday is presented to help participants master specific meditation skills. We endeavor to answer the questions Who am I? (attitudes and beliefs) and What am I? (essence or true nature). This class will include meditations that explore participants' spiritual goals. The monthly group meetings will also focus on insights gained throughout the month. It is expected that participants will develop and enjoy a regular meditation practice.

Contact: Rebecca Crawford, (310) 337-7787.

For December, we will discuss “Whatever Happened to the Metric System? How America Kept Its Feet,” by John B. Marciano. The metric system was developed and considered for adoption nearly as far back as the Revolutionary War. How does it happen that we still use feet? There is lots of history here. All are welcome.  

The Men's Group offers a special opportunity to the men of the congregation and other like-minded men to join our welcoming group in provocative and stimulating discussion and to get to know others with UU perspectives in a more meaningful way. We meet the first and third Thursdays of the month at 7:30 PM in the NE room of the Cottage.                                                                                                                 

For more information contact Richard Mathias at 310-645-1070 or richmathias2@yahoo.com.

Short Description:

Dr. Christopher Cameron: Black Freethinkers

Join AAHS and friends for an evening with Dr. Christopher Cameron, whose new book, “Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism,” argues that, contrary to historical and popular depictions of African Americans as naturally religious, freethought (encompassing atheism/agnosticism/humanism and other non-traditional orientations) has been central to black political and intellectual life from the nineteenth century to the present.

Long Description:

Dr. Christopher Cameron: Black Freethinkers

Join AAHS and friends for an evening with Dr. Christopher Cameron, professor at UNC Charlotte and author of the new book, “Black Freethinkers: A History of African American Secularism.” Signed books will be available.

“Black Freethinkers” argues that, contrary to historical and popular depictions of African Americans as naturally religious, freethought has been central to black political and intellectual life from the nineteenth century to the present. Freethought encompasses many different schools of thought, including atheism, agnosticism, and nontraditional orientations such as deism and paganism.  

Christopher Cameron suggests an alternative origin of nonbelief and religious skepticism in America, namely the brutality of the institution of slavery. He also traces the growth of atheism and agnosticism among African Americans in two major political and intellectual movements of the 1920s: the New Negro Renaissance and the growth of black socialism and communism. In a final chapter, he explores the critical importance of freethought among participants in the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s.  

Examining a wealth of sources, including slave narratives, travel accounts, novels, poetry, memoirs, newspapers, and archival sources such as church records, sermons, and letters, the study follows the lives and contributions of well-known figures, including Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker, as well as lesser-known thinkers such as Louise Thompson Patterson, Sarah Webster Fabio, and David Cincore. 

CHRISTOPHER CAMERON is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the founder of the African American Intellectual History Society, the author of To Plead Our Own Cause: African Americans in Massachusetts and the Making of the Antislavery Movement, and a coeditor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition (Northwestern, 2018).

Weekly Senior Exercise Class, Body-Mind Tune Up, Forbes. Bruno Lacombe is conducting exercise classes for seniors, super-seniors and people with physical difficulties for UUSM members. Classes are no-charge for UUSM members; non-members suggested donation $10 per class to UUSM. Contact: Bruno Lacombe, (310) 666-7387.

Visitors and prospective members are encouraged to attend this informal get-together held on each Sunday of the month in the NE Cottage Room.  It is a time to learn more about Unitarian Universalism, our Church Community, and the opportunities of growth and connection through many of our Adult programs.  There will be time for any questions you may have, and information about the steps to membership.  Come, let us get to know you, and you to get to know us.  Everyone is welcomed.  Looking forward to meeting you.  Norm Richey & Sarah Robson, Co-Chairs, Membership Committee.