UUs and believing
The Rev. Fred L. Hammond has a pet peeve about people who say UUs can believe whatever they want.
We have very specific beliefs. These beliefs are as foundational to who we are as any other faith. Our beliefs come in the form of values found in liberal religious thought. We have as our values the five smooth stones of liberal religion that were defined for us by James Luther Adams. These five stones have been given five names: Possibilities, Love, Courage, Responsibility, and Joy. (“A Unitarian Universalist Minister in the South,” August 25)
Bill Baar posts that he disagrees, and then adds this in the comments:
What’s missing for me here though in the other posts I’ve quickly read, is that UUism is a faith that’s practiced it’s not believed. (“Pfarrer Streccius,” August 25)
And he adds in a followup post:
Most people I meet cannot believe in much of anything, and I’m most proud I belong to a Church where the unbeliever, and those torn and unsettled in beliefs, can find a home. (“Pfarrer Streccius,” August 25)
The ‘Ground Zero mosque’
The Rev. Sam Trumbore casts the “Ground Zero mosque” debate in light of what the World Trade Center symbolizes.
Let us recall what the World Trade Center is symbolic of to the rest of the world, particularly the underdeveloped world. It is a symbol of corporate domination of the world through trade and economic exploitation. Whether this is true or not isn’t the issue—it is what it is a symbol of and why the attackers chose it as a target. There is nothing religious or Christian about the World Trade Center. In fact it’s a symbol of the opposite, sacrificing community, values, and the environment in the pursuit of wealth. No religion puts the accumulation of wealth and economic exploitation at the front of its values hierarchy. (“Rev. Sam Trumbore,” August 21)
Paul Oakley suggests trying a different tack when people say they believe President Obama is a crypto-Muslim.
You cannot change the mind of the person who effectively says, “I don’t care what the facts are, I believe X.”
So, if all our explanations and protestations are not going to have the reasonable effect we hope for, why not change tactics? When people go off about Obama being a Muslim, why don’t we reply in the affirmative: “Yeah! Isn’t that great! We live in a country that is able to look past a candidate’s religion and vote based on their political record and promise.” (“Inner Light, Radiant Life,” August 21)
“Obijuan” thinks former Senator Rick Santorum is technically correct but misleading when he described Imam Faisul Rauf as a jihadist. “Obijuan” unpacks the word “jihad.”
Jihad, in strictly literal terms, is an Arabic noun meaning “struggle.” It appears frequently throughout the Qur’an and its commentaries, most often in the context of “struggling in the way of Allah.” In this sense, jihad is the struggle every Muslim goes through to live a correct life as prescribed by God, most especially in the observance of Islam’s five pillars: submission to Allah, five daily prayers, charitable giving, the Ramadan fast, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. (“Returning,” August 25)
Joel Monka compares the statistics of religiously motivated hate crimes to the demographics of the American population. He finds that Muslims are 62.5 times more likely to be a hate crime victim than a Catholic, and 175 times more likely than a Protestant. But there’s another group that is 4.5 times more likely even than Muslims to be the victim of a hate crime.
Jews comprise 1.2% of the population in the US . . . and 66.1% of the religious bias based hate crimes victims. (“CUUMBAYA,” August 25)
Around the blogosphere
The “Greenfield Group” of UU ministers have been having a conversation about the demonstrations in Phoenix against SB 1070. Keith assembles a thread of conversations, including his own contributions:
I still believe that the Arizona campaign was a well orchestrated political event. It was not as well grounded in a theological principle or a spiritual practice as I might [have] hoped possible from a religious organization. It’s motivation came principally from anger, poor mortar for the religious life, but the lifeblood of current politics. I am guessing that your intentions in Arizona were focused on defaming Sheriff Joe and not on cultivating the inner spiritual life, so I might expect that you would be surprised by my critique. I welcome evidence to the contrary. (“UU 2.0,” August 23)
“PolityWonk” extracts some insights from an ongoing Facebook discussion about racism, tribalism, the English class system, and immigration.
The immigration discussion among Americans of African, Asian and European heritages has no fundamental value to an indigenous American whose history is that we-all stole the land. It is a quarrel among ourselves—the non-indigenous. (“PolityWonk,” August 20)
As part of her continuing series of posts about religious education, Kim Hampton takes aim at OWL.
[I]s sexuality education religious education? Yes, you can talk about values and sexuality, but does that make it religious? (“east of midnight,” August 21)
The Rev. Dan Harper has a Public Service Announcement.
In short, bed bugs have become a major public health concern. I suspect a significant part of the problem is that we no longer know how to deal with bed bugs, because they haven’t been a problem for the past half century. Ministers have often been involved in public health initiatives, and since education plays a big role in improving public health, I thought I’d pass on some of what I’ve learned about bed bugs. (“Yet Another Unitarian Universalist,” August 22)
LaVerne Coan answers a question UU Christians often face: “Why not go down the street to the (fill in the blank) church?”
As UU Christians, we get a kick out of the spiritual conversations we have with our fellow UUs who see the One Light through a different window. We like being challenged by the UU principles and diverse spiritual paths as well as by other progressive Christians. I think we’re a bit greedy—we want to have our cake, eat it, and then lick the frosting from the plate. (“Lifting the Spirit: Experience of a UU Christian,” August 23)
“Nagoonberry”’s church had a revival, including communion.
I sat down, put the bread in my mouth, began to chew—and suddenly I was back in all the places where I’ve ever taken communion. In that bread was almost thirty years of religious history. My body literally shuddered from the impact.
It was a strange and powerful morning. Intentionally chaotic, disjointed, lively. The kind of religious ritual that says, “Don’t get too comfortable there, because we’re going to move.” And move me it did. (“nagoonberry,” August 24)
“Massmarrier” is tired of politicians and church leaders lying about the choices they’ve made.
“I had no choice,” “They forced us,” and too many similar variations have become the big lies in public life. Scam artists, politicians, murderers, and church officials each and all try to cloak their iniquities with this deceit. (“Marry in Massachusetts,” August 26)
