Member Testimonials

Life Can Be MagicJohn Kouns, Photographer

I am proud and glad to be a Unitarian Universalist because when I was photographing in the deep South, there were UU churches in Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; New Orleans, Louisiana. In these places brave ministers and congregations offered me an oasis in a desert of racial hate.

I am proud and glad to be a Unitarian Universalist and that I participated in the 1965 voting rights demonstrations in Selma and Montgomery, Alabama with about 500 other Unitarian Universalists and more than 100 UU ministers.

I am proud and glad to be a Unitarian Universalist and to be associated with UUCM and the Social Concerns Committee that reaches out to the community, to the poor, to the homeless, to the children, and the elderly.

I am proud and glad to be a Unitarian Universalist and because I met my beautiful wife Anne over a decade ago at the Southern Marin Fellowship of Unitarians, where I was showing photographs and talking about the Civil Rights movement.

Life can be magic.

As a child, I attended All Soul’s Unitarian Church in Washington D.C. for Sunday School, but left at age ten and only began attending again once my children had grown. At that time I felt disconnected from any kind of community. Read the full testimonial.

I first became aware of UU in 1969 when as a Family Service Social Worker my office was housed in William Ellery Channing’s birthplace in Newport, Rhode Island.   Read the full testimonial.

I love my UU congregation. The Nine o’clock Circle is always a joy. I learn more about the participants and hear about the life experiences that make them the people they are today! We create our own topics, rotate leaders and have periods of quiet to think about the questions raised. It’s very stimulating and makes me feel thankful that I belong to this community.

 

This Congregation, this community means so much. The reasons I keep coming to UU Marin: the fantastic people, the wonderful music, the strong social justice action, and the spiritual connection that makes this church my home. I am so fortunate to have many supportive friends here. Here, I can be me and people see me for who I am and value me, as we all try to value each other.