The Camino de Santiago is one of the most ancient and well-worn pilgrimage routes in the Western world. For over a thousand years, people have walked these trails—from all across Europe and beyond—toward the cathedral in Santiago, said to be the resting place of the apostle James. In today’s hectic world that is constantly bombarding…

This is a one of the best Academy Sessions yet!!  In this presentation, Dr. Felicia Wu, Distinguished Professor of Food Safety, Toxicology and Risk Assessment at Michigan State University, will discuss the history of US government agencies in Food, Safety and Nutrition. A detailed analysis is done of the 2026 USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans…

This December 2025 NAUA Academy session features a presentation and a lively discussion on the opportunities and challenges from the Arising of the Nones. Joyce Francis leads the discussion, presents efforts of the New Salish Sea Congregation and our own stories of finding Unitarian alternatives. Does the same programs and activities of Unitarians still work for the…

At its core Christian Nationalism is a political-ideological view that a particular nation either is or should be a Christian nation — meaning the identity, culture, laws or governance of that country should reflect a specific form of Christianity. It is distinct from simply “being Christian” or “Christian values influencing society.” Rather, it tends to…

The October Academy presentation featured guest speaker Mark Reimers. How do the billions of neurons in your head, tangled together like jello spaghetti, produce feeling, determination, love and laughter? Waking up, deliberation, remembering, effortful thinking, inner conflict, and day-dreaming are all aspects of consciousness. We will discuss how studies of brain activity during these kinds…

Ralph Waldo Emerson decried the Unitarianism of his day as “corpse-cold” and urged the religion to evolve with new understandings of the contemporary world. Those understandings are still with us today, but our Living Tradition asks us to continue evolving with the times. Dr. Matthew Shear will share with us a positive view of what…

Photo credit https://infiniteleaders.co/executive-coaching-advisory/ For decades, Artificial Intelligence was one of those “maybe someday” dreams. Seemingly out of nowhere, ChatGPT exploded on the scene in early 2023. The clock is now ticking – the capabilities of A.I. are going to improve exponentially, and very quickly. As with almost every technological advancement in our lifetime, we find…

Discussions about nuclear weapons are often framed as security, legal, political or military issues. Yet equally important are moral and ethical perspectives, and faith communities play a critical role in bringing in such dimensions to discourses about nuclear weapons, which poses existential threats to humanity and our planet. In this talk, Anna Ikeda of Soka Gakkai International will…

As we hear distressing stories of violence and oppression from around the world, we may benefit from reminding ourselves of times and places when human beings did organize themselves into durable just societies. In this talk Dr. Reimers discusses some of these times and places: from the world’s first cities in 4000 BCE, to  the…

Religious participation is plummeting. “Church” has become a bad brand. Should we resign ourselves to palliative care for our aging congregations? Can we find ways to feed the hunger for meaning and community? One thing is certain: We cannot church the way we always have and hope for different results.  Speaker: Rev Peter Morales is…

I Before We Except Overseas – Tracing The Roots Of Our Multi-Century Identity CrisisMost cultures of European descent cultivate individual identity more than other cultures of the world. We have to go back 60, or 100, or perhaps 300 years to find the roots of our contemporary debates over the role of identity in our…

Many of you may be familiar with 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruck Spinoza.  I knew the name and the famous quote from Einstein that he “believed in “Spinoza’s God” but I didn’t have a very clear idea of the resonance his beliefs hold for many Unitarians.  Thus, I was grateful to bump into the video…

February’s NAUA Academy session featured three experts discuss the ways in which the Supreme Courts of the USA and Canada function to support our democracies. They note the ways in which the courts work, are appointed, their public support and some of the significant effect their decisions have on each of us and our social…

Previously, Ken Ing traced the roots of the identity centric movement that dominates the UUA, and influences institutions throughout North America. As a follow-up, Sunil Wijeyesekera describes the work of The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), an organization that counters identity politics. FAIR is a non-partisan civil rights organization based on universal principles of…

As NAUA prepares for this session. Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof shares his thoughts about the direction it should take in its efforts to help Unitarianism and liberal religion to carry on and thrive. This presentation will include his ideas about membership growth, outreach, and future kinds so services and support NAUA might offer. Recent…

The roots of humanism lie in ancient wisdom literature, which reflected on justice, fate and the life well-lived. The Renaissance Humanists rediscovered that literature and advocated for the values of human life, especially clear thought, eloquence, and civic engagement. In the early twentieth century a group of Unitarian ministers advocated a liberal Christianity without a…

In this NAUA Academy session Terry Anderson, Ph.D. overviews the controversial idea that color blindness is the best way to equality and to combat racism.   The argument was fueled by Coleman Hughe’s Ted Talk, the controversy that arose from his talk and his new book – The End of Race Politics. We also look at Sheena…

Bruce Knotts presents a discussion based upon the new book by Hein de Haas entitled “How Migration Really Works”. Hein de Hass is a professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam and founding member of the  Migration Institute at the University of Oxford.  In this book Prof. de Haas demolishes 22 myths about migration that too…

David Reich has written a funny, incisive novel about race, religion, and office politics.  He’s fearlessly unpious, observant, and witty, but he’s also fair to his flawed and often enjoyably irksome characters.  His gift for finding nuanced humanity in their semi-good intentions gives warmth and life to this quietly ambitious satire. -Carlo Rotella, author of…

The Transcendentalist critique of historical Christianity created a rift in the Unitarian church between traditional-minded Unitarian Christians and more radical Free Religionists who felt that the church should embrace a more universal form of religion. Although the National Conference of Unitarian Churches was founded in 1865, it took nearly 30 years for the conference participants…