Faith Communities to Unite Again for Nashville’s Multi-Faith Citywide MLK Service

It is not uncommon for pastors to work together. It is uncommon for various denominations to celebrate a service together. And In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, several faith leaders, communities and congregations are coming together for celebration in a joint service on Sunday, January 20, 2019, from 3-6pm.

This is the annual MLK Day celebration service taking place at the Church of Scientology on Sunday, Jan 20, 2019 and Rev. Brian Fesler feels this is a historic way to help make Dr. King’s dream a reality. “With so many congregations coming together to worship as one, choirs joining each other in song, people of different denominations sitting side by side, and each faith leader participating, it’s a beautiful way to honor Dr. King’s legacy.”

This is the second year the Church of Scientology will host the service.

Faith leaders and congregations scheduled to attend will represent Mount Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church, Corinthian Baptist Church and more. If your church or congregation would like to participate, email the event coordinator, Julie Brinker at media@nashvillehumanrights.org.

“Dr. King stood for diversity and a unity among all people. We are celebrating that in the best way possible –actually coming together in one place and celebrating our differences and similarities,” says Rev. Fesler of the Church of Scientology.

The MLK Celebration service will be held Sunday, Jan 20^th from 3-6pm and ending with a potluck at the Church of Scientology in Nashville. It is open to the public, and members of the media are welcome to attend. For more information or to RSVP, visit tnuhr.org.

Over Ten Faith Communities Unite for Nashville’s Multi-Faith Citywide MLK Service

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, more than ten faith leaders, communities and congregations are coming together for celebration in a joint service on Sunday, January 14, from 3-6pm.

It is not uncommon for pastors to work together. It is uncommon for various denominations to celebrate a service together.

Over ten Nashville congregations are planning on celebrating a worship service together to honor Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy.  It is the annual MLK Day celebration service taking place at the Church of Scientology on Sunday, Jan 14^th and Rev. Brian Fesler feels this is a historic way to help make Dr. King’s dream a reality. “With more than ten congregations coming together to worship as one, choirs joining each other in song, people of different denominations sitting side by side, and each faith leader participating, it’s a beautiful way to honor Dr. King’s legacy.”

This year, faith leaders and congregations are scheduled to represent Brooks Memorial United Methodist Church, Northside Church of Christ, Mount Lebanon Missionary Baptist Church, Caravan Church, City of Grace Church, Congregation Sherith Israel, Unity of Music City and more.  Rev. Enoch Fuzz of Corinthian Missionary Baptist Church will deliver the sermon on “The Eyes of God.” Rev. David Shivers will present a rendition of the “I Have a Dream” speech.

“Dr. King stood for diversity and a unity among all people. We are celebrating that in the best way possible –actually coming together in one place and celebrating our differences and similarities,” says Rev. Fesler of the Church of Scientology.

The MLK Celebration service will be held Sunday, Jan 14^th from 3-6pm and ending with a potluck at the Church of Scientology in Nashville. It is open to the public, and members of the media are welcome to attend. For more information or to RSVP, visit tnuhr.org.

Tennessee Human Rights Day Uplifts Leaders of Tomorrow

The Tennessee Celebration of International Human Rights Day was held in Nashville at the First Amendment Center and acknowledged human rights heroes.  

The Tennessee Celebration of International Human Rights Day took place in Nashville at the First Amendment Center on December 7th with the theme “Human Rights: Our Leaders of Tomorrow.” The planning committee brought together a youth panel to discuss freedom of expression which was moderated by 2016 Human Rights Rising Advocate Justin Jones. The panel was comprised of student leaders from Lipscomb and Belmont Universities as well as the Public Art Coordinator for the Metro Arts Commission.

In addition to the youth panel, there was a spoken word performance by two members of the Tennessee State University Speech & Debate Team.

Human Rights Day is a time to acknowledge leaders who have given their lives to service, as well as those who have done outstanding work and those taking up the torch for tomorrow. Awards went to human rights champions in three categories: Rising Advocate, Outstanding Service and Lifetime Achievement.

Rising Advocate Awards went to three individuals who have made great strides for human rights and show even greater promise for the future. They were Kayo Beshir, an undergraduate student at Middle Tennessee State University who has worked on and off campus to promote human rights; Pratik Dash, who has worked both with Women On Maintaining Education and Nutrition (WOMEN) and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC); and Madison White, a junior at Lipscomb University who has been actively involved in local pro bono legal clinics, and also volunteers her time with nonprofits such as Make a Wish Foundation, Second Harvest Food Bank and Free for Life International.

The award winners in the category of Outstanding Service were Jerry Redman, Co-Founder and CEO of Second Life of Tennessee which is an awareness and advocacy organization working to end human sex trafficking and Zulfat Suara, a strong advocate for minorities who is currently Chair of the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) and President Elect of the Tennessee Women Political Caucus.

The Lifetime Achievement award went to Thelma Harper, the first African-American woman State Senator of Tennessee who has a long history of service and Joey King, a Board Member for Veterans for Peace who has been active in several organizations to promote human rights, diversity and peace.

International Human Rights Day occurs every year to commemorate the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations on Dec 10, 1948. A committee of human rights organizations and nonprofits, including the Tennessee Human Rights Commission, Metro Human Relations Commission, United Nations Association, UNICEF, Amnesty International, Free for Life International, Tennessee United for Human Rights, the Church of Scientology, and others, work together each year to plan the event. For more information or to see event photos, visit NashvilleHumanRights.org.  

Citizens Commission on Human Rights Celebrates Cultures

Mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights distributed materials to people of all cultures attending the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival.

Tens of thousands of people attend the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival each year during the first weekend in October. “This festival is absolutely incredible, and we knew we had to be part of it,” says Meg Epstein, the Nashville Director of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, “Our mission is to end abuses in the field of mental health, and the first step toward this is spreading awareness to people.”

Mental health abuse doesn’t discriminate. Many different types of people have suffered it at the hands of psychiatrists they thought they could trust. So the Nashville Chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) has been on an all-out effort to reach everyone with the facts.

Most recently, volunteers had a booth at the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival, which this year was celebrating its 20^th anniversary. The festival began as the Celebration of Cultures in 1996 at the Scarritt Bennett Center. During that time, the foreign-born population was still small. Now, the foreign-born make up 15 percent of Davidson County, with many Latinos, and also refugees, like Kurds and Somalis. Mirroring that growth, the festival draws some 60,000 attendees. Organizers say that places the event among Nashville’s most popular — and it has become a model for other cities.

CCHR was at the festival distributing information about the common and well-documented side effects of psychiatric drugs, which include mania, psychosis, hallucinations, depersonalization, suicidal ideation, heart attack, stroke and sudden death.

CCHR is a non-profit, non-political, non-religious mental health industry watchdog whose mission is to eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health.  It works to ensure patient and consumer protections are enacted and upheld as there is rampant abuse in the field of mental health.  In this role, CCHR has helped to enact more than 150 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices since it was formed five decades ago. For more information on CCHR, visit cchrnashville.org.