An Inclusive Congregation Supporting the Reconciling Ministries Network Since 1992 600 East 50th Street Austin, TX 78751 Telephone: 512-459-5835 Fax: 512-467-9611

email: mail@tumc.org

Links Relating to Ethical Social Action, Justice, and Peace

• Global Exchange - A non-profit research, education, and action center dedicated to promoting people-to-people ties around the world.
• Family Diversity Projects, Inc. - This site celebrates families of every kind, including adoptive families, foster families, divorced families and stepfamilies, single-parent families, multiracial families, families dealing with illness and/or death, lesbian and gay parented families, interfaith families, multi-generational families, immigrant families, families facing physical challenges, and families facing mental challenges.
• Austin Area Interreligious Ministries (formerly Austin Metropolitan Ministries) - an inclusive, interreligious, caring community that generates mutual respect, trust and social justice through education, advocacy, social services and community building.
• Intimate Partner Violence Fact Sheet - from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In recent years, the term "domestic violence" has begun to include other forms of violence including abuse of elders, children, and siblings. The term "domestic violence' also tends to overlook male victims and violence between same-sex partners. Therefore, the CDC uses the more specific term "intimate partner violence (IPV)," defined as actual or threatened physical or sexual violence, or psychological/emotional abuse by a spouse, ex-spouse, boyfriend/ girlfriend, ex-boyfriend/ ex-girlfriend, or date. Some of the common terms that are used to describe intimate partner violence are domestic abuse, spouse abuse, domestic violence, courtship violence, battering, marital rape, and date rape.
• Antislavery International - Anti-Slavery was set up in 1839 with the specific objective of ending slavery throughout the world. Despite many successful campaigns, slavery continues to exist in the 21st century.
• Save the Children Canada
• Hidden Bias Implicit Association Tests - A new suite of psychological tests to measure unconscious bias. Take these tests online and reveal to yourself what may be hidden in your psyche. Each test takes about five minutes. The tests were created by psychologists at Yale University and the University of Washington.
• Ken Bedell and the Religious Research Association - Ken Bedell is a United Methodist Minister and vice president of Seattle's Forum Foundation. He takes special interest in how the Internet unites diverse groups and creates communities. This page is a jumping off place to various sites on the Internet where he has placed content, completed research or developed a relationship to an organization.
• tolerance.org - Fight hate and promote tolerance. Pages include "Hate in the News," "Tolerance in the News," "Track Hate across America," and "Learn the Truth about Hate Sites."
• Break the Chain - Where the goal is to educate people about the e-mail chain letters circulating on the 'net, share the facts, give our interpretations, and provide the tools and information people will need to make their own decision about the validity of a message.
• National Civil Rights Museum An audio clip from MLK's "I Have a Dream" greets visitors to this site, which offers an interactive tour of Civil Rights historical exhibits.
• National Museum of American Jewish History - This museum site presents virtual tours of its exhibits that examine topics from the Holy Land to children's picture books with Jewish themes. You'll also timelines of American, American-Jewish, and world-Jewish histories.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. - Seattle Times site that provides a collection of essays, sound clips, and photos of MLK and the civil rights movement.
• Access America for Seniors - This site, developed by federal agencies, provides organized information on benefits, health, consumer protection, and eduction for seniors.
• Habitat for Humanity - Visit this site to locate chapters of this charitable organization, which aims to provide everyone with affordable housing.
• W3C: Web Accessibility Initiative - This international organization promotes Web accessibility for people with disabilities. Read about accessibility guidelines, training sessions, and alternative browsers.
• Discovery Channel - "Hate and Violence: No Simple Answers"
• Civil Rights.org
• Greenpeace-- "Publishing this magazine is poor substitute for visiting everyone in the United States and explaining what counts in the age of environmental crisis. It is designed to anger, enlighten, enthuse and make possible action at the individual level. Please take advantage of it, write the letters, use it as a resource to educate others, including your local newspaper and organizations. If you wish to reprint the text of an article, just ask. After you are finished, save it or pass it on to friends, a doctor's office, school, retirement home, library, or coffee house. As a last resort, recycle it. If your local recycler doesn't accept the cover, use it as gift wrapping paper."
• Connections - A monthly newsletter, written and published by a lay member of the United Methodist Church, calling the church to faithful new life.
• GreenMoney On-Line Guide - GreenMoney promotes the awareness of socially and environmentally responsible business, investing and consumer resources. Its goal is to educate and empower individuals and businesses to make informed financial decisions through aligning their corporate and financial principles.
• Facing History and Ourselves - Offers a dynamic framework for examining history and human behavior. Facing History and Ourselves is a national educational and professional development organization whose mission is to engage students of diverse backgrounds in an examination of racism, prejudice, and anti-Semitism in order to promote the development of a more humane and informed citizenry. By studying the historical development and lessons of the Holocaust, and other examples of genocide, students make the essential connection between history and the moral choices they confront in their own lives.
• The Southern Poverty Law Center - A nonprofit organization that combats hate, intolerance and discrimination through education and litigation.
• Methodist Federation for Social Action - MFSA is an independent organization uniting United Methodist activists to take action on Justice, Peace, and Liberation issues in the world.
• The Other Side - a lively, bimonthly, ecumenical magazine. "The Other Side's" mission is to uphold a Christian vision that nurtures those who thirst for deeper spiritual rooting, long for justice and peace, and work toward a transformed world. They fulfill their mission through the publication of "The Other Side" magazine and through other efforts that lift up Jesus' radically inclusive message, encourage dialogue, and build community between our readers and brothers and sisters around the world."
• National Association for Socially Responsible Organizations - Uniting non-profits, small businesses, the self-employed, and labor for progressive solutions in employee benefits, policy reform, and political action.
• World Aids Campaign
• Institute for Global Communications - Their mission is to expand and inspire movements for peace, economic and social justice, human rights, and environmental sustainability around the world by providing and developing accessible computer networking tools.
• Other Interesting Websites Concerned with Ethical Social Action
• United Methodist General Board of Church and Society - The denomination's social action and public policy agency
• United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries - A missional instrument of The United Methodist Church, its annual conferences, missionary conferences, and local congregations in the context of a global setting.
• United Methodist General Board of Church and Society - "What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)
• VolunteerMatch - Find a match for whatever you like doing
• Health and Welfare Ministries - A service of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries
• Disability Concerns - A service of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries
• Computerized AIDS Ministries - A service of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries
• Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance - An multi-faith agency of four volunteers who follow four different religious beliefs (Agnosticism, Atheism, Christianity and Wicca). Not affiliated with any religious organization, they rely on the revenue from banner ads, readers' donations, sales of CD-ROMs, and the occasional lecture fee to continue their work. They try to be tolerant of all religious beliefs and attempt to write accurate, balanced, clear, objective and inclusive articles. They often tackle tough religious questions. They don't promote a specific religious viewpoint and don't attack anyone's theological beliefs. They don't value religious beliefs over secularism or vice-versa. However, they do criticize actions that harm people, even if those actions are religiously motivated.
• Interesting Websites for Ethical Social Action
• The Habitat House at 1906 Pennsylvania Ave.
• Texas Impact - A lobbying organization sponsored by Christian and Jewish groups in Texas; advocates public policies that enhance freedom, justice, and economic opportunities for all people.
• Peace Center - Breaking the cycle of violence through circles of peace.
• The Institute for Peace and Justice - An independent, interfaith, nonprofit organization begun as a response to the realities of war, racism, and global economic injustice.

  TUMC's Homepage