Rev. Dr. Fred Muir

Parish Minister

Rev. Dr. Fred Muir grew up in Oak Park, Illinois. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary (NY) and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary (DC). He began his parish ministry over thirty years ago by serving a congregation in a small town in Maine. Since 1984, he has served the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis.

He is the author of three books: A Reason for Hope: Liberation Theology Confronts a Liberal Faith; Heretics' Faith: A Vocabulary for Religious Liberals; and Maglipay Universalist: The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Philippines. He is co-editor of and contributing essayist to The Safe Congregation Handbook: Nurturing Healthy Boundaries in Our Faith Communities. He has also contributed essays to: Redeeming Time: Endowing Your Church with the Power of Covenant; With Purpose and Principle: Essays about the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism; and Creating Safe Congregations: Toward an Ethic of Right Relations.

In 1989 he published "Annapolis On the Bay: Camelot or Crisis? (Housing and Community by Race and Population, 1950-1988)." Fred served on the Annapolis Human Relations Commission for four years. He frequently testifies and witnesses in support of anti-racism, an end to discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, and leads and supports his faith community and others who seek to "affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of all people with justice, equity, and compassion." Since 9/11/2001, Fred has given considerable effort to working for interfaith understanding among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. In 2007 he was honored with the Martin Luther King Peacemaker aware "for substantial and sustained leadership in furthering the cause of social justice in our community."

He has done extensive work for the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) on sexual misconduct and safe congregations. He is a board member of the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of MD. He has been a co-facilitator of the Empowerment Workshop for the Department of Faith in Action, UUA. He has served on the UUA's Joseph Priestley District's anti-racism team and also the South-East Regional Sub-committee on [Ministerial] Candidacy. Until recently, he was the vice-president of the UU Partner Church Council and now is a member of the UUA International Advisory Committee. He works with the UU Service Committee as a member of the Ministers Advisory Group. He currently serves on the UU Minister's Association Executive Committee with the portfolio of Good Offices.

He is married to Karen, who teaches social studies for AACPS; they have two adult children, Kristina and Andrew, who attended Georgetown East Elementary, Annapolis Middle, and Annapolis Senior High.