Todd’s Thoughts, September 2018

As I write this article, I’ve only just returned from my second trip to visit our Partner Church in Felsorakos, Romania. I saw old friends and made some new. I visited familiar sites and some places I’d never been, including the fortress where Unitarian founder, Francis David died in prison, the church that Unitarian Prince John Sigismund of Transylvania and his mother, Queen Isabella are entombed, and the Church where Sigismund and his Bishop, Francis David issued the Edict of Torda, the world’s first religious freedom law, in 1568. There were Romanians, Hungarians, Gypsies, and many others from around the world, speaking many different languages. Yet, no matter these slight differences, I was impressed more, as I always am when traveling abroad, by the similarities between us. I saw people wearing T-shirts, shorts or jeans, and sneakers, or jetting about in their automobiles to go to work, stores, and malls. I saw billboards, and parents strolling their children through parks, and people walking their dogs, and eating lunch at restaurants, and shopping for deals at consignment stores, and getting a quick snack or coffee at a gas station, and all I can see are my neighbors, people who deserve the same rights as me, people who deserve to be respected and free and happy.