Welcome!
The Auckland Unitarian Church is an open, progressive and welcoming faith community. We walk diverse spiritual paths to find purpose and meaning in our lives, but we are united in our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Whatever your spiritual journey, you are welcome here.
Rev. Clay Nelson is our minister. Some Sunday sermons are delivered by members and guest speakers.
Our regular Sunday Services start at 10.30am. Additionally, Continue reading Welcome!
When did immigration become a bad word?
with Rev. Clay Nelson
Video to come
Audio to come
Read below or download the PDF
Clay Nelson © 19 May 2019
Continue reading When did immigration become a bad word?A meeting in Dunedin presided over by the mayor unanimously called for a ban on further Chinese migrants.
New Zealand in the 19th century strived to be a ‘Britain of the South Seas’ and Pākehā saw non-white migrants as undesirable. The discovery of gold in California, Canada, Australia and later New Zealand attracted many Chinese men wanting to make their fortunes before returning home.
In the 1860s the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce sought to replace European miners who had left Otago for the new West Coast fields. Chinese were seen as hard-working and law-abiding, and they were also willing to rework abandoned claims. The first 12 men arrived from Victoria in 1866; 2000 more had followed by late 1869. Chinese women seldom migrated to New Zealand. In 1881 there were only nine women to 4995 men, raising fears that white women were at risk from Chinese men.
The need for identity
with Rev. Clay Nelson
Read below, or download the PDF
Clay Nelson © 12 May 2019
When the man stopped for the amber light as he legally should instead of gunning through the intersection trying to beat the red light, the woman behind him laid on her horn, opened her window screaming abuse at him while giving him the universal finger of outrage for preventing her from running the light. While waiting for the light to change there was a knock at her window. It was a constable inviting her out of the car. He put her under arrest. At the station she was finger-printed and put in a holding cell.
Continue reading The need for identityRevisiting Ramadan
with Rev. Clay Nelson
Read below, or download the PDF
Clay Nelson © 5 May 2019
If you live in Aotearoa New Zealand there are a few positives that have resulted from the horror of March 15, which doesn’t mean the price wasn’t way too high. New gun laws passed nearly unanimously within a couple weeks that have banned automatic and semiautomatic weapons. National and international efforts are ongoing to reign in social media as platforms for hate speech. In depth debates to distinguish free speech from hate speech fill public discourse. And in my mind, a greater recognition by non-Muslims that Muslims are not the threat they have been painted to be since 9/11 and continue to be by Trump and other politicians. They are more often the victims of violence than its perpetrators. They need protection from every religion’s far right fundamentalists as much as anybody else. The outpouring of support for the victims and the Muslim community shown at vigils, burying the local mosques with flowers of condolence, the raising of money for the victims’ families, concerts in support of the Muslim community, the government’s paying for the funerals and fast-tracking visa applications, non-Muslim women wearing hijabs in solidarity with their sisters, and mosques opening their doors to their non-Muslim neighbours to share their faith to build bridges have been transforming acts. We are not who we used to be. From my perspective, we are better than we used to be before March 15.
Continue reading Revisiting Ramadan