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Talking Faith with Kayvan Ghaderi, 1 of 6 Baha’is Wrongfully Detained in Yemeni Prison.

If you’ve had class with me anytime in the last six months, you may remember my asking you to remember the “Sanaa 6”in your prayers. These were a group of six Bahá’ís in prison in Houthi-held Sanaa, one with a death penalty hanging over his head just for being a member of the Bahá’í Faith. But this is one story that ultimately had a happy ending, as Ghaderi has recently been reunited with his family. --Karen Webb (more…)

On Waiting: Writings from Advent 2020

We've all waited before--for buses, appointments, test results, acceptance letters, rejection notices, first kisses, last breaths...we do a lot of waiting in this world. Waiting is an inherently vulnerable and inescapably human experience. This Advent, a season of aware waiting, we sent out a call to the United community for stories, thoughts, poems, and reflections on the act of waiting. The following volume is a free collection of all the submissions. Download the PDF here.  (more…)

Students Respond to the Killing of George Floyd

In response to the violent killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, MN, students in Professor Eleazar Fernandez's Public Theology for Social Transformation class worked together to write this statement. We share it as a reminder that the work of theology is always grounded in lived human experience and that calls for justice remain fundamental for people of all faiths. (more…)

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities Statement on the Death of George Floyd

United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is outraged and grieved at the death of yet another unarmed Black person while being detained by the police. We join countless voices in the Twin Cities and across the nation calling for justice for George Floyd and an immediate end to the horrific killings of Black people in this country. Injustice and death continue to run rampant so long as there is impunity for those who murder Black members of our communities. (more…)

Statement on White Nationalism

The events of the last week tragically remind us of the devastating impact hatred continues to have on our nation. We recognize that these horrific acts of violence far too often have a common thread—white nationalism, which is the wrong and sinful belief in white superiority, and the warped desire to rule our country by and only for the benefit of white people. White nationalism in the United States is stoked by daily political diatribes, easily-accessed hate-filled ideas, and faulty theology. We acknowledge a direct connection between white nationalism and Christian nationalism—the dangerous falsehood that the United States was meant to be a country that privileges and protects the lives and beliefs of white Christians above all others. We denounce these ideas as heresy. (more…)