HUC-UC Ethics Center and the Graduate College of Union Institute & University are cosponsoring this academic program and have chosen the topic because of recent events in the United States—as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita—which revealed the devastating effects natural disasters can have on a region’s community. Poverty most often is a product of such disasters while existing poverty is accentuated by displacement.

Presentation topics range from biblical themes (“Slave Remission in Jeremiah 34:8-22”) to contemporary issues. One of the presenters has been dealing with displaced persons from the golf region in the Cincinnati area in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. His talk “From the Garden of Eden to Hurricane Katrina: Religion and Displacement” will address the traumatic implications of displacement. Among other symposium presentations are two that will focus on the issue of displacement resulting from World War II, whose consequence included dislocating countless persons from various countries all over Europe.