Religious Education and Social Justice:
Branches of the Same Tree

Reflections for a Reprint in 2006 by the UUA

By Rev. Roberta Nelson

Over twenty years ago when Dick Gilbert and I wrote our pieces for Religious Education and Social Justice: Branches of the Same Tree , I was anticipating some significant progress toward seeking creative solutions to homelessness, hunger, discrimination, and world conflicts. The task is even more crucial now. Today many of the same issues of twenty years ago remain, and we need more than ever to work together on solutions. It is amazing that the words I wrote are as relevant now as twenty years ago.

I completed forty-two years of active ministry in 2001—my last fourteen years were at the Cedar Lane UU church in Bethesda, Maryland. Many of the ideas I spoke of twenty years ago were incorporated into our program at Cedar Lane. Our young people were engaged in raising funds for removing land mines in Afghanistan, bagging food at the food pantry, cooking for the shelter, cleaning up the creek near the church, volunteering at an inner city community shelter, and participating in many other projects from our Social Justice Committee.

My husband Chris and I wrote Parents as Social Justice Educators to help participants clarify their values around issues of racism, war and peace, poverty, and the environment. We encouraged parents to improve their ability to respond to tough situations and hard questions. We found that parents and other adults are very committed to change. They want to provide good modeling for our young people.

We also have written Parents as Spiritual Guides to encourage people to honor their commitment to justice and compassion, their own yearnings, wonderings, and reflections. Our spirituality needs to be lived in the everyday and depends on the values that permeate our being together. Our purposes and principles are grounded in our faith tradition. We need to invite parents to explore courage and justice, and how we live these into action, with our children and young people.

In a brainstorming session about goals and hopes for our religious education program, one of our teachers exclaimed, “Teach them to make waves!”

So may it be.

Rev. Roberta M. Nelson
November 15, 2005

Parents as Social Justice Educators, Parents as Spiritual Guides, and Parents as Resident Theologians are available through the UUA Bookstore.