UUFSMA: “Searching for Truth in the Pandemic”

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Online Service
“Searching for Truth in the Pandemic”

Speaker: Dr. Dan Neuspiel

Sunday, June 21, 2020
10:30 am

Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/414604040 

Password: 294513

By Joseph Plummer

UUF Secretary

During the current pandemic, the media is filled with scientific claims that are often difficult for the lay public to understand. Established investigators compete with less reputable and self-declared “experts” who spout advice about prevention and treatment of Covid-19. Conspiracy theories about the origins of the pandemic are widespread on social media. When this information bombards us, how do we determine the truth?

In this Sunday’s UUFSMA service, Dr. Dan Neuspiel, President of the UU Fellowship, will draw upon Unitarian Universalism’s 4th Principle – commitment to a free and responsible search for truth and meaning – to help us understand the importance of science today. Defining each term—free, responsible, truth and meaning—he will debunk dangerous pseudoscientific theories about the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Neuspiel will also address the hazardous antivaccine movement, which allies with armed right-wing militias to oppose sensible social-distancing policies. He urges us to be critical readers of alleged scientific facts and not to accept them at face value. Science, he argues, is a process, not a set of dogmas. The 4th UU Principle provides blocks to build understanding of science and the universe.

Dr. Neuspiel grew up in Newark, NJ, and completed undergraduate and medical school at Rutgers University. He trained in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and completed a fellowship in epidemiology and master’s degree in public health at the University of Pittsburgh. He practiced general pediatrics in New York City and Charlotte, North Carolina, for 33 years, serving poor and immigrant families. He was on the medical school faculties of Albert Einstein and the University of North Carolina.

In 2016 the American Academy of Pediatrics awarded Dr. Neuspiel a lifetime achievement award for evidence-based pediatrics. Retiring in 2017, he became the first Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at Atrium Health in Charlotte, NC. Dr. Neuspiel is Vice-President of the Latin American Relief Fund and tweets about migrant justice. A Unitarian Universalist since 1997, he lives with his wife Cathy Cánepa in San Miguel de Allende.

To participate in our online Sunday Service, visit the Fellowship’s website at www.uufsma.org and click on the Zoom Service button displayed on the home page. If requested, enter password: 294513. Sign-in between 10:15-10:25 am.

UUFSMA donates fifty percent of all income it receives to support nonprofit organizations that provide health, educational, and environmental services for underserved communities in the San Miguel region. Please support this work by clicking on the website home page’s Donate button. Now more than ever, your support is essential.

Due to the coronavirus, UUFSMA has suspended in-person Sunday services and other gatherings. The UU Fellowship welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

To join our Yahoo group site click on this link:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

Posting a notice on the Yahoo site is easy. Just go to your regular mail browser, type in the address line: uufsma@yahoogroups.com , type your message and hit send!

We encourage you to use this site to communicate with other local UUs.