This month, half of our Sunday Offering will go to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporate arm of the ACLU. Together with the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. (ACLU), they engage in a broad range of work to protect civil liberties. Gifts to the ACLU Foundation help fund their litigation and public education efforts.
In the years following World War I, America was gripped by the fear that the Communist Revolution that had taken place in Russia would spread to the United States. As is often the case when fear outweighs rational debate, civil liberties paid the price. The government began rounding up and deporting so-called radicals. Thousands of people were arrested without warrants and without regard to constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure. In the face of these egregious civil liberties abuses, a small group of people decided to take a stand, and thus the American Civil Liberties Union was born.
The ACLU has evolved in the years since from this small group of idealists into the nation’s premier defender of the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. With more than 1.1 million members, 500 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys, and offices throughout the nation, the ACLU of today continues to fight government abuse and to vigorously defend individual freedoms, including speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, citizens’ rights to privacy, and much more. The ACLU stands up for these rights even when the cause is unpopular, and sometimes when nobody else will. While not always in agreement with us on every issue, Americans have come to count on the ACLU for its unyielding dedication to principle.
The ACLU also remains a champion of segments of the population who have traditionally been denied their rights, with much of its work today focused on equality for people of color, women, gay and transgender people, prisoners, immigrants, and people with disabilities.
Generous Congregation
Our practice here at UUSM is to dedicate half of our non-pledge Sunday offerings to organizations doing work in the world that advances our Unitarian Universalist principles; the other 50% of the offering is used to support the life of our church.
UUSM’s Generous Congregation program supports our church community. And together, we uplift the reach and impact of vital organizations doing work we could not do on our own. This month, half of our Sunday offerings will go to the ACLU Foundation. Your donations will support the organization’s work to help protect everyone’s civil liberties, together with the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc. (ACLU).
Please consider supporting the mission of our church and of the ACLU through their 501(c)(3) foundation. To give right now, text “$20 GCC” to 844-982-0209<. (One-time-only credit card registration required.) Or visit Make a Donation at uusm.org and reference Generous Congregation. Thank you.
