Www.uuuc.org

 

PO Box 58

Underwood, MN 56586

218-826-6553

 

 

Unitarian  Church of Underwood

The Unitarian Church of Underwood is a welcoming community of diverse people who gather to reflect, to find refuge, spiritual renewal and intellectual growth; to improve our understanding of the world; to build bridges toward peace and understanding; and to improve lives and opportunities across our communities

 

On March 22, Joe Pederson of Lakes and Prairies Community
Action Council spoke on ending poverty in Minnesota by 2020. For more information, check out these websites:

www.mn.2020.org  

www.jrc.org

 

 

· Adult religious education is held on the first Sunday of each month at 9:30 am.  There are discussions guides/books available .  Everyone is welcome.

 

·  Children from age 3 through sixth grade will also meet on the first Sunday of the month at 9:30 am. 

 

·  Teens (and their parents) who are interested in the “Coming of Age” program should contact John Minge for information.

Unitarian Church of Underwood Newsletter

 

The newsletter will be sent at the beginning of each month. 

If you would like something published in the May newsletter, please send it to kkensinger@yahoo.com by April 18.

 

Cultural diversity and human rights

 

By Richard Kagan | The Daily Journal

Published Thursday, March 19, 2009

 

             The key to human rights is empowering people with a sense of their own dignity. When one feels respected and included in a welcoming community, then the safety that provides will provide for exceptional creativity and productivity.

 

There are various symbols and events that reflect the power of dignity. The overwhelming crowds at President Barack H. Obama’s Inauguration fueled one of the greatest educational achievements in America. According to Harper’s Magazine of April, “Researchers discovered an ‘Obama effect.’ African Americans’ performance on a verbal test improved, to equal that of white Americans, immediately after Obama’s nomination and his election.”

 

             We can see similar patterns in our own Ottertail County. In 1965, Howard Carlson’s West Central Turkeys plant in Pelican Rapids was short of workers. He contracted with workers in Eagle Pass, Texas to recruit 100 men. Within a few decades, Pelican Rapids was transformed from a Scandinavian population to one of great ethnic diversity. The Turkey plant survived by hiring workers from many ethnic groups. By 2006, the plant employed over 740 people, speaking nine languages. The influx of workers and the increase in production and income created the ability to build new churches, a library, and an improved school system. In her fine book about ethnic diversity in Pelican Falls entitled The Faces of Change, Joan Jarvis Ellison quotes Howard’s expression of gratitude for his workers: “I’m very proud of our community,” he said, “the school system and now the new library. If we could have had a library like that when our kids were growing up, it would have been the most popular spot in town.”

            

             An archived article in the Minneapolis Star/Tribune newspaper commented: “Otter Tail County comes as close as any place can to being a Minnesota microcosm.” The praise included recognition of our growing ethnic diversity. Today, Fergus Falls and Otter Tail County face a crisis and a wonderful opportunity. The economy has fallen apart. There will be a curtailment of city services, a rise in unemployment, a reduction of educational support, and a probable rise in crime, homelessness, and illnesses—both physical and mental. These problems are further impacted by the problems of decreased population growth, the emigration of our youth to urban areas, and our increased needs to care for the elderly.

            

             The wonderful opportunity is to seek people who can enter our community with skills, and who can contribute to our quality of life and our economic development. Several Fergus Falls institutions are engaged in international programs to bring students, teachers, and investors to the city and county. The M-State, and the former RTC are preparing to welcome many students from Asia. There is a potential for students to arrive from China, India, Thailand, Bhutan and other countries. A great deal of problems will be avoided if we treat these newcomers with the dignity they deserve. We need to engage them in the public space—in community activities, in cultural and athletic groups, in educational seminars, and in civic celebrations.

 

             The streamlining and downsizing of government services will require that we pick up the slack. Building up a trustful community—the tolerance and acceptance of different groups and individuals—results, in the observation of Robert D. Putnam, Professor of Public Policy at Harvard, in a society that is more efficient than a distrustful and fearful community. Putnam points out “students of public health find that life expectancy itself is enhanced in more trustful communities. Honesty and trust lubricate the inevitable frictions of social life.”

 

             Perhaps, more demanding than recognizing the dignity of another ethnic group is respecting the other person’s presentation of their beliefs in terms of their dress, their religious codes. The youth of today, both domestic and foreign, have adopted many signs of their identity that can strike us as peculiar at best and wrong, at worst. During hard times, the fear of the alien or the strange person becomes combustible. Respect for someone wearing the Muslim headdress, or cross-dressing, or wearing gendered outfits that seem to be inappropriate is an issue of dignity. We do not need to embrace different life styles. We do not even need to accept them. But we can respect their right to behave in ways that are comfortable to them.

 

             The human rights of dignity do not just apply to ethnicity. They apply to many facets of our life. And we must be aware that it will be harder to support this as we become dragged into a critical period of our nation’s economic, social, and international life.

Forty-one years ago Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Who would have thought that today we would have an African American President? I have heard from my Chinese American woman friend that she now can believe that one day she can become President of the United States.

Richard Kagan is a member of the Unitarian Church of Underwood. 

The following article recently appeared in The Daily Journal of Fergus Falls. 

E-Mail:

 

uuucunderwood@gmail.com