A full digital archive of all papers shared with ORG is available to members via an online digital download. To request access, visit the Contact Us page and email the Historian.
Select years are available for download on this website (2014 – Present). Simply click the 
link next to each one to get the full papers and responses from that year.
2020 – Queer Theologies
2019 – Harlem Renaissance
“At the Intersections of the Margins” by Sunshine Wolfe
Response: Linda Anderson (notes from verbal response)
“The Role of the Black Church and Religion in the Harlem Renaissance” by Lisa Friedman
Response: Marian Stewart
A Convocation of Mini-Papers on the Arts in the Harlem Renaissance
“Zora Neale Hurston” by Chip Roush
“Paul Robeson” by Emmy Lou Belcher
“The Cotton Club” by Dennis McCarty
“The Larger Legacy of the Harlem Renaissance” by Barbara Child
Response: Gordon Gibson
Harlem@100 Presentation by Marco Belletini
Comments on film “Looking for Langston” by Marco Belletini
2018 – Speech
“Truth” by Emmy Lou Belcher
Response: None
“Clear and Present Dangers: Free Speech, Power, and Anti-Oppression” by Michael Tino
Response: Amy DeBeck
“Censorship and Self-Censorship” by Lisa Presley
Response: Dennis McCarty
“The Future of Dissent” by Emily Gage
Response: Misty-Dawn Shelly
2017 – Resistance and Resilience
“Some Ways to Save the World — Collectively, Systemically, and Sustainably (and How
Unitarian Universalists Might Do Better)” by Jennie Barrington
Response: Gordon Gibson
“Sheep and Goats May Safely Graze: Universalism for the 21st Century” by Susan Smith
Response: Eric Meter
“Black and White at the Crossroad” by Deane Oliva
Response: Lane Campbell
“Resilience as Resistance: A Conversation About Current Efforts”
Moderator: Chip Roush
2016 – Dystopia and Faith
“Faith Depictions in Dystopian Literature” by Cynthia L. Landrum
Response: Brian Chenowith
“What Does It Mean to Be Human in a Dystopian World” by Roger Brewin
Response: Mitra Jafarzadeh
“Our Present World as Dystopia” by Scott Prinster
Response: Chip Roush
“Dystopia and Its Implications for Unitarian Universalism” by Karen Quinlan (Armina)
Response: Bruce Johnson
2015 – UU Theologies of Sin and Hope
“How have sin and hope figured in the history of Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian
Universalist theologies?” by Linda Anderson
Response: Kathryn Bert
“How does Process Theology inform Unitarian Universalist theology regarding
sin and hope?” by Yvonne Schumacher Strejcek
Response: Karen Quinlan
“How do sin and hope figure in current Unitarian Universalist theology” by Holis Huston
Response: Sharon Dittmar
“How do Unitarian Universalists articulate and teach about sin and hope as part of
lifespan faith development?”” by Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn
Response: Dennis McCarty
2014 – Race
“We’ll Build A Land: The Invention of ‘Race’ as a Tool of Empire” by Michael Tino
Response: Barbara Child
“When Beloved Community Calls” Lisa Friedman
Response: Julie-Ann Silbermann-Bunn
“Go Tell it on the Mountain– But How Do You Get to the Mountain?” by Gordon Gibson
Response: Emily Gage
“Glimmers of Hope” by Lisa Presley
Response: Dawn Skjei Cooley
“Ferguson Worship Collection”
2013 – Art & Religion
“A Picture is Worth 10,000 Words” by Emmy Lou Belcher
Response: Yvonne Schumacher Strejcek
“Iconoclasm as Religious Expression: How Modern Art and Progressive Religion Mirror
Each Other” by Mark Belletini
Response: Shelley Page
“Changing the World One Symbol at a Time” by Nana’ Kratochvil
Response: Hollis Huston
“Unitarian Universalist Art: Sacred and De-Sacralized” by Cynthia Landrum
Response: Deane Oliva
2012 – Space
“Carl Sagan as a Cosmic Theologian” by Mark Belletini
Response: Lisa Friedman
“To Infinity and Beyond: Space and the Human Imagination” by Susan Smith
Response: Carol Huston
“How Astrobiology Informs our Cosmology, or, Why ET Matters” by Dawn Cooley
Response: Lisa Doege
“Space–Of All Things!?” by Richard Venus
Response: Catherine Torpey
2011 – The Future of Liberalism
“The Past of Liberalism” by Hollis Huston
Response: Catherine Torpey
“James Luther Adam’s Vision of Liberalism” by Emmy Lou Belcher
Response: Michael Tino
“Liberal Utopian Communities” by Jennie Barrington
Response: Chip Roush
“The Politics of Empathy: Liberalism in the 21st Century” by Eric Meter
Response: Cynthia Landrum
2010 – Contemporary Popular Culture
“Embracing the Buffy-Verse: Saving the World A Lot” by Valerie Ackerman
Response: Dawn Cooley
“Violence in Popular Culture” by Carol Huston
Response: Richard Venus
“Thoreau & Popular Culture” by Gordon Gibson
Response: Kathryn Bert
“A Second Life for Residents of Second Life” by Catherine Torpey
2009 – Poetry
“Poetry as a Spiritual Discipline” by Emmy Lou Belcher
Response: Richard Venus
“Wislawa Szymborska: Existential Hilarity, Reserved Reverence” by Mark Belletini
“Desperate Hope & Ecstatic Faith” by Chip Roush
“Unitairan Universalist Poets I Have Loved — or Not” by Nana’ Kratochvil
Response: Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn
“Petic Calling: Arts of Ministry and Ars Poetica” by Cynthia Landrum
Response: Eric Meter
2008 – UU Theologies
“Thandeka and Affect Theology: Questions and Answers for Unitarian Universalism” by Linda Anderson
Response: Emmy Lou Belcher
“Notes Toward a Unitarian Universalist Theology of Hope” by Lisa Doege
“The Evaporation of the Holy” by Jay Abernathy
“Covenantal Breakfast” by Chip Roush
Response: Cynthia Landrum
2007 – Medical Ethics
“Is That All There Is?” by Roger Brewin
Response: Emily Gage
“Stem Cell Research & The Temptations of Alchemy” by Susan Smith
Response: Catherine Torpey
“Healthcare: Who Gets What and Why?” by Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn
Response: Catherine Torpey
2006 – Jesus
“From Resentment to Justice: The Son of Mary as a First Century Hebrew Prophet Faithful to the Torah” by Mark Belletini
Response: Valerie Mapstone Ackerman
“The Parables of Jesus: Is There a Message Here?” by Linda Anderson
Response: Richard Venus
“Who Do You Say That I Am? Unitarian Universalist Views of Jesus” by Cynthia Landrum
Response: Kate Walker
2005 – Crime & Punishment
“Life on the Inside from the Outside: Working in Our Correctional System” by Emily Gage
Response: Mark Belletini
“Theologies of Parish Ministry” by Catherine Torpey
“Prison Ministry – Why Do It?” by Jane Thickstun
“An Eye for an Eye: Murder Victim’s Families Speak Out” by Nana’ Kratochvil
Response: Kathryn Bert
“Journey to Hell: Juvenile Justice from the Inside Out” by Lisa Presley
Response: Carol Huston
2004 – Science, Religion, Darwinism, and Evolution
“Evolution in Vain: Darwin Among the Unitarian Universalists in Worship and Culture” by Susan Ritchie
Response: Lisa Doege
“Learning from the Cosmos: Thoughts on Science, Religion, and Evolutionary Spirituality” by Laurie Proctor
Response: Kate Walker
“Charles Darwin: Grandson of Lunar Men, Progenitor of the Interdependent Web” by Gordon Gibson
Response: Emily Gage
“Evaluating Unitarian Universalism as an Emissary Between Science and Religion” by Scott Prinster
Response: Roger Brewin
2003 – Emerson
“Neo-Transcendentalism: Emerson and Transcendental Thinking in Postmodern Times” by Kathryn Bert
“The Soul’s Forgotten Ministries: A Musing on the Post-Modern Era and Emerson” by Hilary Krivchenia
“A Lengthening Shadow: Emerson’s Influence on Unitarian Universalism” by David Herndon
Response: Gordon Gibson
“A Conversation Between Waldo and Margaret” by Carol Huston
Response: Lisa Presley
“Emerson as Nature Writer” by Richard Venus”
Response: Valerie Mapstone Ackerman
2002 – Food
“Eating as an Agricultural Act” by Emmy Lou Belcher
“Food and the Politics of Manipulation” by Roger Brewin
Response: David Herndon
“Yoking the Word to the Bread: Diversity and Love in Saecula Saeculorum” by Mark Belletini
Response: Nana’ Kratochvil
“Where There is Food, There is Power” by Nancy Arnold
Response: Emily Gage
2001 – Postmodernism
“The Promise of Postmodernism for Unitarian Universalist Theology” by Susan Ritchie
Response: David Herndon
“Postmodernism and Practical Piety in Unitarian Universalism” by Valerie Ackerman
Repsonse: Bruce Johnson
“The New Postmodern Ethics: A Dialogue in Cyberspace” by Vail Wller
“Postmodernism: A Critique” by Laurie Proctor
Response: Susan Smith
2000 – Religious Themes in Literature
“Coming of Age” by Lisa Presley
“The Middle Way School of Mahayana Buddhism in a Western Literatry Context” by Mark Belletini
Response: Laurie Proctor
“The Sacred and the Profane: Using Literature to Map a Boundary” by Gordon Gibson
Response: Valerie Ackerman
1999 – Islam
1998 – Classism
1997 – UU Traditions
1996 – Death and Dying
1995 – God
1994 – African American Literature
1993 – Evil, Sin, Repentance & Forgiveness
1992 – Sex
1991 – War
1990 – William James