April 17 and 18, 2010 will be A WEEKEND OF HUMAN RIGHTS at First Universalist Church of Minneapolis.
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2010
Morning Workshop
Saturday morning was a workshop with Rev. Dr. Schulz for members and Friends of First Universalist.
Evening Lecture
On Saturday evening, at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary, Rev. Dr. Schulz gave a free lecture assessing the Obama administration's human rights record and describing the critical challenges ahead. A free will offering was taken to benefit the program's co-sponsors: Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, the Center for Victims of Torture, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.
SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 2010
On Sunday, Rev. Dr. Schulz was guest minister at 9 and 11 a.m. and gave a sermon titled, "Bread of Course, But Why Roses?" He suggested the 150th anniversary year of First Universalist Church of Minneapolis is an appropriate time to celebrate Unitarian Universalism's commitment to the needs of both body and spirit. At 12:30 Sunday, there was a panel discussion featuring the Center for Victims of Torture in the Cummins Room.
More about Rev. Dr. William Schulz:
William F. Schulz is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress specializing in human rights and has served as a consultant to a variety of foundations, including the UN Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, and Humanity United of the Omidyar Network, regarding field surveys and evaluation, coalition building, grantee leadership, governance and strategic planning and other issues. He is an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service and an Affiliated Professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School at the University of Chicago.
From 1994-2006 Dr. Schulz served as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. During his twelve years at Amnesty, Dr. Schulz led missions to Liberia, Tunisia, Northern Ireland, and Sudan. He also traveled tens of thousands miles in the United States promoting human rights causes and was frequently quoted in the media. He is the author of two books on human rights, In Our Own Best Interest: How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All (2001, Beacon Press) and Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the Ruin of Human Rights (2003, Nation Books); and the contributing editor of The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary (2007, University of Pennsylvania Press) and The Future of Human Rights: US Policy for a New Era (2008, University of Pennsylvania Press). All of this prompted the New York Review of Books to say in 2002, "William Schulz...has done more than anyone in the American human rights movement to make human rights issues known in the United States.
An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Dr. Schulz came to Amnesty after eight years (1985-93) as President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. He has served on the boards of People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and many other organizations.
Dr. Schulz is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago and the Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological School (at the University of Chicago) as well as seven honorary degrees.
