Scott Neely serves as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He also directs the Faith Initiative To End Child Poverty, a coalition of congregations working to end child poverty in Spartanburg County.
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He is a graduate of Wofford College and Harvard Divinity School, and has helped to develop several community initiatives:
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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?”
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The Fund to Support Latinx Immigrants, a statewide coalition of immigration advocacy groups that provided direct assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic to individuals and families who are Latinx immigrants in South Carolina.
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LGBTQ Theologies, a coalition of people of faith—individuals, congregations, and clergy—building a network of support for the LGBTQ+ community and related issues in Upstate South Carolina.
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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.
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Neely has taught religion and the humanities at the University of South Carolina–Upstate and Wofford College. He is author of A Good Road To Walk (Holocene, 2001), editor of This Threshold: Writing on the End of Life (Hub City, 2007), and co-author of Into the Field of Suffering: Finding the Other Side of Burnout (Oxford University Press, 2023), written with David Schenck.
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A practicing artist, Neely creates paintings, drawings, and digital works that explore simplicity, color, and presence. His art seeks what is essential—a quiet meeting of expression and spirit. He is honored to share studio space and show work at Blue Spirit Studio and Gallery