Minns Spring 2019 Series: American Populism and Unitarian Universalism

April 27, 2019

Colin Bossen photo
Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen

How Can Unitarian Universalists Respond to Populism?

Right-wing populism is on the rise, threatening Unitarian Universalist values with its apocalyptic worldview and tendency to divide the world into a righteous people and a corrupt elite. But left-wing populism has also helped build democratic societies by pushing institutions to be more accountable. For the spring 2019 Minns Lecture series, Rev. Dr. Bossen challenged us to ask how Unitarian Universalists can respond to populism and white supremacy in the age of Trump.

Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen is an activist, minister, and scholar of religion, race, and politics in the United States. He currently serves as the Interim Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston. He is working on a book on the religious dimensions of populism, Onward, Christian Soldiers: American Populism and the Religious Imagination. He shares sermons and other writings at www.colinbossen.com.

Guest lecture: A Tale of Two Kingdoms, lecture by Rev. Carl Scovel, minister emeritus of King's Chapel
In memory of Charles Perry, late member of King's Chapel and the Minns Lectureship Committee
Friday, April 26 | 6:30 pm
King's Chapel Parish House, 64 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts

Lecture 1: The Populist Imagination: A White Man’s Republic?
Responses by Rev. Danielle DiBona,  Dr. Wendy Salkin
Saturday, April 27 | 6:30 pm
First Church Boston, 66 Marlborough St., Boston, Massachusetts

Lecture 2: A Question of Pragmatism: Unitarian Social Ethics in the Progressive Era
Response by Dr. Anthony Pinn
Saturday, May 18 | 6:30 p.m. PDT
First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco

Lecture 3: White Supremacy in the Age of Trump: Liberal Religion v. Populism
Response by Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray
June 2019 | UUA General Assembly in Spokane, Washington