| Abbreviation | UUSC |
|---|---|
| Formation | May 1940 |
| Type | Non-profit human rights organization |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States |
| Website | www.uusc.org |
The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a non-profit, nonsectarian associate member organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association that works to provide disaster relief and promote human rights and social justice around the world.
UUSC was founded in May 1940 as the Unitarian Service Committee with the intended purpose of assisting European refugees endangered by Nazi persecution. [1] The founding director was Robert Dexter, who had served in a diplomatic role for the American Unitarian Association for more than a decade and had been moved, in particular, by the plight of refugees in Czechoslovakia, a country with a large Unitarian congregation. [2] The organization established an office in Lisbon and the first American Unitarians to be posted there were Rev. Waitstill Hastings Sharp, a minister of the Unitarian Church in Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, and his wife Martha. Later, Rev. Charles Joy, Elisabeth Anthony Dexter and Noel Field were recruited to work in the organization's Lisbon and Marseille offices and they, along with many refugee volunteers, expanded the relief and emigration programs. The Sharps were posthumously honored by Israel in 2006 as the second and third Americans to be added to the list of Righteous among the Nations. [3]
The organization’s first board of directors was chaired by William Emerson, the former dean of the MIT School of Architecture. Other board members included Harold Hitz Burton, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and a future Supreme Court justice; Percival Brundage, senior partner in the Price Waterhouse and future budget director for President Dwight D. Eisenhower; Louise Wright, chairwoman of the voters department of government and foreign policy for the League of Women Voters. [4]
Today, UUSC is involved in coordinating humanitarian efforts and documenting human rights abuses worldwide. Its programs focus on Migrant Justice, Climate/Disaster Justice, and International Justice and Accountability. In recent years, the organization has been active in addressing a range of issues, including U.S. immigration policies, climate change and environmental justice for Indigenous communities, supporting civil society organizations in Haiti, providing aid to communities affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and advocating for accountability for human rights abuses and war crimes committed by the Burmese military against ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya population.
Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations. It was formed in 1961 by the consolidation of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America Christian denominations with Unitarian and Universalist doctrines, respectively. However, modern Unitarian Universalists see themselves as a separate religion with its own beliefs and affinities. They define themselves as non-creedal, and draw wisdom from various religions and philosophies, including humanism, pantheism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, and Earth-centered spirituality. Thus, the UUA is a syncretistic religious group with liberal leanings.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religious movement characterized by a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth. Unitarian Universalists do not have an official, unified corpus of sacred texts but rather draw inspiration and guidance from the six sources: personal experience, prophetic utterances, world religions, Jewish and Christian teachings, humanist teachings, and spiritual teachings. Unitarian Universalist congregations include many atheists, agnostics, deists, and theists; there are churches, fellowships, congregations, and societies around the world.
A flaming chalice is the most widely used symbol of Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism (UUism) and the official logo of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and other Unitarian and UU churches and societies.
Noel Haviland Field was an American diplomat who was accused of being a spy for the NKVD. His name was used as a prosecuting rationale during the 1949 Rajk show trial in Hungary, as well as the 1952 Slánský show trial in Czechoslovakia. Much controversy surrounds the Field story. In 2015, the historian David Talbot reignited claims that Field was set up by Allen Dulles in order to create paranoia designed to undermine the Soviet Union.
William F. Schulz is a Unitarian Universalist minister who is most known for his role as the executive director of Amnesty International USA, the U.S. division of Amnesty International, from March 1994 to 2006. He is a prominent spokesperson, activist, and author focusing primarily on the issue of Human Rights and United States' Government role in promoting or disregarding them. In addition to his many public appearances, he has been affiliated with numerous non-profit organizations and universities.
Martha Ingham Dickie Sharp Cogan was an American Unitarian who was involved in humanitarian and social justice work with her first husband, a Unitarian minister, Waitstill Sharp, and others of her denomination, and so helped hundreds of Jews to escape Nazi persecution, through relocation and other efforts. In September 2005, Martha and Waitstill Sharp were named by the Yad Vashem organization as "Righteous Among the Nations", the second and third of five Americans to receive this honor. The subsequent ceremony involved the presentation of a medal and certificate of honor to the Sharps' daughter, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, amidst a large audience that included one of the children that her parents had helped get out of France, Eva Esther Feigl.
The American Non-Governmental Organizations Coalition for the International Criminal Court (AMICC) leads the civil society movement for full United States participation in the International Criminal Court.
Unitarian Universalism, as practiced by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), and the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC), is a non-Creedal and Liberal theological tradition and an LGBTQ affirming denomination.
Waitstill Hastings Sharp was a Unitarian minister who was involved in humanitarian and relief work in Czechoslovakia and Southern Europe during World War II. In 2005, Sharp and his first wife Martha were named by Yad Vashem as Righteous among the Nations, the second and third of five Americans to receive this honor.
SeedChange, formerly known as USC Canada, is a non-profit organization that works with farmers around the world, including in Canada, to strengthen their ability to grow food sustainably with locally adapted seeds. The organization was founded in 1945 by Lotta Hitschmanova as the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada. It updated its name in October 2019, a few months short of its 75th year.
Robert Cloutman Dexter was the founder of the Unitarian Service Committee, which worked during World War II to rescue and assist Jewish refugees and other victims of Nazism in Europe.
Elisabeth Anthony Dexter was a social historian who contributed the longest-lived service in southern Europe on behalf of Jewish refugees of any American churchwoman during World War II.
Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit is a Unitarian Universalist ("UU") congregation in Summit, New Jersey, formally organized in 1908 as The Unitarian Church in Summit. It is active in social justice initiatives and received the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Social Justice Award in 2010. It has also been recognized as an outstanding UU congregation by various UU groups. In 2016, Robin Tanner became the Minister of Worship and Outreach.
The Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition International (TASSC) is a non-governmental, nonprofit organization based in the United States that works to end the practice of torture internationally and to support the survivors of torture and their families. TASSC is concerned not only with the prevention of torture but also addresses its aftermath, the individual survivor, family, community, and society. In addition to creating a worldwide network of International Communities of Healing for torture survivors and their families, TASSC also seeks to influence domestic and international policy through advocacy, social action, public testimony, and targeted media campaigns. The organization monitors human rights violations in nations where TASSC members may be at risk, operates Helping Hands, a direct assistance program for survivors, and coordinates the annual United Nations International Day in Support of Torture Victims and Survivors. TASSC was founded in 1998 by Sister Dianna Ortiz, an American survivor of torture while a missionary in Guatemala. The office of TASSC is located in Washington, D.C.
Susan Frederick-Gray is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served as the ninth president of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 2017 to 2023. She was the first woman to be elected to the office.
Church of Our Father was the first Unitarian church established in Atlanta, Georgia. The church was organized on March 27, 1883, by Rev. George Leonard Chaney, a Boston minister. Rev. Chaney initially held Sunday services in the Senate Chamber, Concordia Hall and the United States Courtroom. A church building was constructed at the corner of North Forsyth and Church Street and dedicated on April 23, 1884. The original building was demolished in 1900.
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation is a Unitarian Universalist church located in Bethesda, Maryland. The congregation is active in community service and social justice projects. The church is officially a "Welcoming Congregation" following the guidelines of the Unitarian Universalist Association, of which it is a member. Cedar Lane has weekly Sunday services and offers religious education classes for young people during the school year. Cedar Lane changed its name by congregational vote in 2023 from Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church to Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation in an effort to be welcoming and inclusive to all religions.
Susan Elisabeth Subak is an environmental scientist and author. She has worked for environmental agencies around the world and is known for her work on America's carbon footprint and climate change.
Annie Bizzell Jordan Willis was an American religious educator and integrationist of the Universalist and later Unitarian Universalist faith traditions. She was the daughter of Rev. Joseph Fletcher Jordan, the first African American Universalist minister. She became a teacher and the superintendent of Suffolk Normal Training School (SNTS) and Jordan Neighborhood House. For decades, she taught and supported hundreds of children and their families, regardless of the varying degrees of assistance from her religious denomination. Her life and work are examples of 20th century anti-racism in the United States and the Unitarian Universalist religious faith. Some of her students include trauma surgeon L.D. Britt, Suffolk's vice mayor and activist Moses Riddick, and Suffolk Circuit Court Deputy Clerk Eula Williams, among many others.
Johanna Chao Kreilick is the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a scientific advocacy nonprofit based in the United States. She has represented the organization in lobbying Congress and business leaders to address climate change.
The bulk of this collection documents the activities of the New York office of the Unitarian Service Committee. The records cover 1944–1949. Includes digital images
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