SMART Group

Sensible Messaging Activity to Restore Truth

Letters…and MORE! Contact Brad Hardin, 941-408-8401,
deebradhardin(at)netzero.net to start a group in your area.

During the latter years of Bill Sinkford’s presidency, he regularly expressed his
concern about the growth of certain special interests in our country. His concern
was about the growth of very powerful groups that were promoting extremist
views that he believed to be very threatening to the basic human values that we all
treasure. He urged us as Unitarian Universalists to speak out more vocally in public
to ensure that reasoned and caring voices were heard as our leaders struggle with
the complex issues facing our society. Our current president, Peter Morales has
expressed the same concerns and has encouraged us to reach out to engage with
our many like-thinking sisters and brothers who are not Unitarians to promote our
common human values. In encouraging us to be more proactive, both of these men
have asked us to find ways of communicating our views coming from love.

In the spring of 2011, four of us in the Venice Florida area were discussing our
growing concerns similar to those of Bill Sinkford and Peter Morales and agreed
that we should try to do something about it. We started an experiment of sharing
information and encouraging each other to write letters to the editors of our local
newspapers and other publications. By word of mouth we now number over 130
in Sarasota County and have had numerous letters published. We still write letters
to editors but have expanded our communications to include social media outlets
such as Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, and YouTube videos. When we started, all four
of us were Democrats and three of us were Unitarian Universalists. Now we are a
mix of many backgrounds and do not represent any particular organization. What
we have in common is that we believe in fairness, caring for our fellow citizens,
and the promotion of honest and respectful dialogue. We have given ourselves the
title “SMART” for Sensible Messaging Activity to Restore Truth. Other Unitarian
Universalist congregations throughout Florida have been very receptive to forming
similar but independent communication groups in their own areas. We will gladly
share ideas and information with any other groups who see a value in this activity

for their area. We can surely all learn from each other. And we believe it is very
important.