Posts Tagged ‘Sikh’

Day 14: Create an Outpouring of Love

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Today is Day 14 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to join our response love network to offer messages of support in the wake of tragic acts of violence. Click here for resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.

When I first heard about the shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin last summer, I couldn’t help but remember a parallel act of violence four years earlier at my own congregation, the Tennessee Valley UU Church (TVUUC). In both cases, a man with a gun and an agenda targeted innocent people of faith.

But along with the recollection of heartbreak and loss, I also carry with me the memory of the incredible flood of love and support that we received from our local community and from across the country. All around our church there are things folks sent to let us know we were loved.

With the events at TVUUC in mind, thousands of you responded to the shooting at the Sikh temple last summer in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. SSL supporters wrote over 2,000 messages of love and support to the Sikh community there. I think that anytime there is an act of violence targeting people because of their identities, we can and should reaffirm a message of love and a vision of a country where we all belong.

In that spirit, Standing on the Side of Love is gathering a network of people to send messages surrounding victims of violence with an outpouring of love whenever incidents of hate occur. From the shooting in Oak Creek to the recent arson attack on a mosque in Joplin, we can ensure that victims of senseless acts of hate know that they are loved.

Click here to sign up. We’re also searching for inspiring names for our response network, or “love team” and would love your help. Love Ambassadors? The Love Squad? What helps us best convey that we are here in spirit with those affected by a tragedy? Send your ideas to love@uua.org.

In the wake of violence and tragedy, let us lift up voices of love and compassion. Sign up for the response network today and help ensure that whenever and wherever acts of violence occur, we can surround the victims with an outpouring of love.

In faith,

Rev. Chris Buice
Tennessee Valley UU Church
Knoxville, Tennessee

PS: We hope your congregation is participating in Share the Love Sunday! We have compiled some helpful resources for planning your service, taking a collection to support the Unitarian Universalist Association, and discussing what it means for your congregation to stand on the side of love. Thanks for your generosity on February 17!

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Delivering Love in to the Sikh Community in Oak Creek

No Comments | Share On Facebook| Delivering Love in to the Sikh Community in Oak Creek Share/Save/Bookmark Sep 17, 2012
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This post was written by Rev. Lori Hlaban, Assistant Minister for Membership & Congregational Engagement at UU Church West in Brookfield, WI .

As most of you know, the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin was the site of a terrible act of violence on Sunday, August 5th, when an armed man entered the temple in Oak Creek and began shooting. Six people were killed and three others wounded, including one policeman who had responded to calls for help.

The next day, Standing on the Side of Love sent out a call to supporters throughout the country to submit notes of encouragement and support for the Sikh Temple. Over 2,000 of you responded!

The Rev. Suzelle Lynch, minister of Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, Wisconsin, worked closely with UU seminarian Schuyler Vogel as well as a local contact with Brookfield’s Sikh Temple, to make arrangements for the delivery of the messages to the Oak Creek Temple.

On the evening of August 30th, the Rev. Dr. Drew Kennedy from First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen from Olympia Brown UU Church in Racine, Schuyler, and I went to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. There we were warmly welcomed by Mr. Gurmukh Singh, who was our guide and host. The walls of the foyer and fellowship rooms were covered with banners from congregations and communities of a variety of faiths, all offering good wishes and support for the people of the Sikh Temple.

We had a good discussion about Sikhism and Unitarian Universalism and then joined their worship service. At the end of the service, during their announcements, we jointly presented the messages from Standing on the Side of Love and a booklet from the Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville (click here to see a copy of our remarks). Afterward, we joined in eating the delicious community meal (or langar) and chatted with several of the congregation’s members while we ate.

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Messages waiting to be delivered to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. (Credit: Schuyler Vogel)

It was a humbling and inspiring experience, to see how this faith community has supported one another and reclaimed their space, which was so violently invaded. Mr. Singh took a few minutes to read some of the good wishes sent in from Standing on the Side of Love. He was deeply touched by the sentiments offered, and by the fact that so many people had taken the time to write notes of support. The members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin are grateful for all the support from other faith groups, and remain open and welcoming to others. I’m sure we all left with hopes of continuing to build relationships between all our churches and the Sikh community.

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Stand in Love & Solidarity with the American Muslim Community

1 Comment | Share On Facebook| Stand in Love & Solidarity with the American Muslim Community Share/Save/Bookmark Sep 11, 2012

In her book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life, Karen Armstrong encourages us to intentionally study one nation, culture, or religion different from our own. In response to her call, I decided to learn about Islam. The Unitarian Universalist Association’s participation in the Shoulder-to-Shoulder Campaign has provided me with a number of opportunities to get to know American Muslims. I have attended symposia, town hall meetings, news conferences, and interfaith gatherings involving members of the American Muslim community–a community that reflects the multicultural diversity that my faith, Unitarian Universalism, longs for.

Through these encounters, I have also witnessed the pain that occurs in this community as a result of stereotyping, targeting, and discrimination. Mosques are vandalized, people speak hatred against Muslims, and they are terrorized in their own country. Yet Muslim American communities were among the first to stand in solidarity with those of Sikh faith after the recent attack at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Let us heed their example and reach out to people of different faiths as neighbors and act in solidarity to stop the violence and bias they suffer.

Two of our partner organizations are releasing resources this fall to help interfaith communities be in solidarity with American Muslim communities:

  1. On Monday, October 22 at 4:00pm ET, Shoulder-to-Shoulder will provide a webinar for clergy and lay leaders about addressing bias and discrimination against American Muslims called “Engaging the Faithful: Coordinating Multi-Faith Partnerships to End Anti-Muslim Sentiment.” RSVP for the webinar by emailing info@shouldertoshouldercampaign.org with your full name and affiliation.

  2. The Interfaith Alliance will launch an FAQ to dispel the misperceptions about our American Muslim neighbors. Click here to sign up to receive this resource after the September 20 launch date.

Tolerance is not enough if our goal is to stand on the side of love with people who are targeted because of their religious identity. Compassion–the capacity to connect to the suffering of other people–and interfaith solidarity are necessary if we are to be the country we claim to be. I hope that the SSL community will take the opportunities provided by Shoulder-to-Shoulder and the Interfaith Alliance to learn about American Muslims and Islam so we can open our hearts and minds more fully to the richness of this and other minority faith communities.

Please expand your capacity for interfaith solidarity. Click here to RSVP for the Shoulder-to-Shoulder webinar. Click here to sign-up to receive the Interfaith Alliance resource.

In faith,

taquiena boston

Taquiena Boston
Multicultural Growth & Witness Director
Unitarian Universalist Association

The message above went out on Tuesday, September 11, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.

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Standing on the Side of Love with Sikhs Across the Country

No Comments | Share On Facebook| Standing on the Side of Love with Sikhs Across the Country Share/Save/Bookmark Aug 21, 2012
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Standing on the side of Love at vigil in support of the Sikh community in Sacramento after two Sikh men were shot last year. (Credit: Mary Helen Doherty)

In the wake of the tragic shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin at the beginning of August, Unitarian Universalists and other interfaith partners have made a tremendous showing of solidarity across the country. In addition to the candlelight vigils that were held around the nation, half a dozen religious leaders representing the Shoulder to Shoulder campaign, including Unitarian Universalist Association President Peter Morales, held a press conference to respond to the violence and voice support for the Sikh community. What an incredible outpouring of love.

Here are just a few of the places where UUs are making news:

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An Unprecedented Outpouring of Love for the Sikh Community

No Comments | Share On Facebook| An Unprecedented Outpouring of Love for the Sikh Community Share/Save/Bookmark Aug 10, 2012

The Standing on the Side of Love campaign is amazed by your overwhelming response to our request for messages of love and compassion for the Sikh community. More than 1,800 of you have submitted messages. This level of engagement is unprecedented for Standing on the Side of Love. In fact, more people have taken action to send love to Oak Creek than on nearly any other campaign in our history.

In the coming days, volunteers will handwrite all of your beautiful messages onto orange Standing on the Side of Love cards and string them together in a “love” chain. A coalition of local Unitarian Universalists will then hand-deliver the “love” chain to the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin. Rev. Chris Buice of the Tennessee Valley UU Church told us that the visual expressions of love that they received after the 2008 shooting are still displayed in their congregation. We hope that this will provide a similarly powerful visual message of love and solidarity to the Sikh community in Oak Creek.

Many of you are also attending local candlelight vigils to honor the victims of the shooting and show solidarity for the Sikh community. At one vigil in San Diego, Julie Schauble was interviewed by the local news while wearing her Standing on the Side of Love t-shirt and offered this beautiful statement:

‎“He didn’t even see the people he was shooting. He just saw an object for his hatred and fear and anger. And I wanted to say to the Sikh community that… we see you. We see who you are and we recognize you as our brothers and sisters.”

Watch the full coverage of the event here:

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Click here to find out if a vigil is planned in your area.

In this midst of this gorgeous outpouring of compassion and love for the Sikh community, we must not forget our Muslim neighbors in Joplin, Missouri, whose mosque burned down last weekend in a suspected arson attack. It’s essential that we continue to remain vigilant in speaking out against religious bigotry and intolerance in our communities.

This week, our partner Shoulder to Shoulder is also encouraging people to join their local Sikh community for worship and the traditional langar community meal as many temples will be dedicating their Sunday services to responding to this tragedy.

Click here to find out if there is a Sikh Gurdwara (temple) near you.

Thank you for helping us to create an outpouring of love for the Sikh community. Your heartfelt words inspire us to continue striving for a just, love-filled, beloved community.

In faith,

meredith ga

Meredith Lukow
Program Assistant
Standing on the Side of Love

The message above went out on Friday, August 10, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.

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