Special guests/speakers
Faith leaders from across the country will be joining us for this event, including the following speakers:
Rabbi Amy Schwartzman, Senior Rabbi, Temple Rodef Shalom, Falls Church, VA
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Rabbi Schwartzman was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She received her Masters of Hebrew Literature in
1988, and ordination in 1990, from the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City.
Following ordination, she joined Temple Rodef Shalom as its first assistant rabbi, and then became its first associate rabbi. In June 1998, Rabbi Schwartzman was installed as senior rabbi, giving Temple Rodef Shalom the distinction of being one of the largest congregations headed by a woman rabbi.
Rabbi Schwartzman is involved in the leadership of many Jewish organizations and has served on the executive
board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and co-coordinated the Women's Rabbinic Network
of Reform Judaism. She has also worked with many community organizations including the Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice, many national and local housing organizations, and has been active in community AIDS
projects.
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Serving 1,600 household in Northern Virginia, Temple Rodef Shalom is an inclusive, diverse, tolerant, sacred, loving Reform Jewish congregation, highly regarded in the Washington, DC, area for its commitment to social justice.
Rev. Chris Buice, Senior Minister, Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, Knoxville, TN
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Chris Buice is senior minister of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville, TN. He is the author of the books, "A Bucketful of Dreams: Contemporary Parables for all Ages" and "Roller-skating as a Spiritual Discipline and Other Meditations." Rev. Buice worked in the field of mental health and as a director of religious education before attending theology school at the Earlham School of Religion, a seminary associated with the Society of Friends (Quakers), in Richmond, IN.
He has served Unitarian Universalist congregations in Oxford, OH; Spartanburg, SC; and Knoxville. He was senior minister and trauma recovery leader in the aftermath of a shooting at the Knoxville church in 2008 that killed two people, wounded eight others and traumatized the congregation and the community.
Rev. Buice's ministry combines a desire to offer a pastoral response to victims of gun violence while also working for systemic change through responsible gun safety legislation. Rev. Buice's writings and commentary about a range of social justice issues, including gun violence, have been featured widely in national media. You can read one of his reflections here.
Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, Senior Minister, Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, D.C.
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Rev. Graylan Hagler is an African-American pastor and activist. Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Rev. Hagler received a bachelor’s degree in religion from Oberlin College, Ohio, in 1976. Rev. Hagler is currently the senior minister of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Washington, D.C., and the immediate past national president of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice (MRSEJ). Rev. Hagler is a long-time social justice advocate and is active in the Palestine solidarity movement.
Imam Ali Siddiqui, ​Muslim Institute (Interfaith Studies & Understanding), Lorton, VA
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Imam Ali Siddiqui is a classically educated Imam, Khatib, interfaith leader, organizer, chaplain and advocate for mutual understanding and respect, peace, economic justice and humane immigration with 43 years of interfaith experience working with Jews, Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Quakers, Buddhists, Sikh, Unitarian Universalist and the other faiths in the area of community service, educational development, interfaith coordination and service to low-wage workers, the sick and the incarcerated. Imam Siddiqui is deeply engaged in the Northern Virginia community and previously in California, and frequently delivers invocations, benedictions, baccalaureate lectures and teaches Islam, comparative religion, History of Islam and Muslims of Americas, contemporary issues to Muslims and non-Muslims at the institutions of higher learning. He served as visiting faculty at Sonoma State, Santa Rosa Community College, School of Religion (Claremont Graduate University), California Baptist University, Disciple of Christ Seminary, School of Theology, La Verne University and Open University Denver, among others. He has been on many successful speaking tours to Belgium, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Iran, Pakistan, Spain, Switzerland and across the US.
Rev. Dr. Felicia Y. Thomas,Visiting Assistant Professor of History, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
An ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches, USA, Rev. Dr. Thomas is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York and holds the Doctor of Philosophy degree in History from Rutgers University. She also previously served on the ministry team at Union Baptist Church in Montclair, NJ, and as pastor at First Baptist Church in Princeton, NJ.
Abhi Janamanchi, Senior Minister, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, Bethesda, MD
Before coming to Cedar Lane UU Church in 2013, Rev. Abhi Janamanchi served UU congregations in Clearwater, FL; Madison, WI; and Park Forest, IL.
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He has been actively involved in interfaith, multicultural and social justice work for over two decades including serving as president of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), as a member of the Executive Team of Montgomery County’s Interfaith Community Working Group and the Internal Review Board of the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
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Rev. Janamanchi was born in India and raised in the Brahmo Samaj, a liberal Hindu movement with close ties to Unitarian Universalism. Rev. Janamanchi received his master in divinity from Meadville Lombard Theological School, a Unitarian Universalist seminary in Chicago.
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Rev. Janamanchi says he consider himself a UU-Hindu; flavored by the Islamic heritage of his father, Buddhist spiritual practice, and the study and exploration of other world religious traditions. “My Unitarian Universalism helps me be a better Hindu, a better human being. It celebrates my identity as a religious hybrid and a theological crossbreed,” he says.
Rev. Jason Shelton​, Unitarian Universalist Minister
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Rev. Jason Shelton will serve as music leader for this event. Rev. Shelton served as associate minister for music at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville, TN, from 1998-2017, and is now pursuing a freelance UU music ministry in the broader world. In addition to his work as a composer, he is an active choral conductor and worship leader, and an advocate for using music as a means of creating community in multi-faith, multi-cultural environments. Formerly a Franciscan brother, Jason received an MDiv from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2003 and was ordained to the Unitarian Universalist ministry in 2004.