“At core I am a contemplative. The work I do–in art, in spirituality, in community–is rooted in listening.”
Scott Neely serves as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, SC. He also directs the Faith Initiative To End Child Poverty, a coalition of congregations working to end child poverty in Spartanburg County. He is a graduate of Wofford College and Harvard Divinity School.
Neely has helped with the development of these community initiatives:
- Speaking Down Barriers, an organization that uses art and facilitated dialogue to build our life together across the differences that divide us. As part of the Speaking Down Barriers team he presented a TEDx talk on race and racism entitled “What Will I Teach My Son?“
- The Fund to Support Latinx Immigrants, a statewide coalition of immigration advocacy groups to provide direct assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic to individuals and families who are Latinx immigrants in South Carolina.
- LGBTQ Theologies, a coalition of people of faith – individuals, congregations, and clergy – building a network of support for the LGBTQ+ community and issues in Upstate SC.
- The Project for Community Transformation, an initiative to help individuals, organizations, and congregations energize and thrive, for the purpose of serving their communities more effectively. This project merged with Speaking Down Barriers in 2017.
Neely has taught religion and the humanities at the University of South Carolina-Upstate and Wofford College. He is co-author of the book Into the Field of Suffering: Finding the Other Side of Burnout with David Schenck, published by Oxford University Press. A practicing artist, his work may be found here