My church: meeting with the Quincy Historical District Commission
The Massachusetts-based
Patriot Ledger reports ...
QUINCY - A plan to drape a large banner supporting same-sex marriage from the facade of the city’s historic Church of the Presidents has lost a crucial regulatory battle at city hall.
The Quincy Historical District Commission, which raised objections about the banner’s size and proposed location streamed across perhaps the city’s most important landmark, shot down a request by the United First Parish Church to hang a 34-foot-by-4-foot sign reading ‘‘People of Faith for Marriage Equality’’ in front of the church. ...
And from yours truly ...
Paul Wilczynski, one of nine parishioners at the meeting, said, ‘‘I’d hate to leave this room tonight feeling that our ability to send a faith-based message will be impeded by the fact that we’re in a historic building.’’
UU White Allies
Boy In the Bands points out a new Unitarian Universalist group:
UU White Allies. According to their web site, their mission is
to be accountable to people of color in building a movement among white UUs committed to unlearning white privilege/supremacy and to confronting racism in all its forms.
Apparently they're aware that
they don't have the best name. But even discounting that, what I see after looking at the site for about 5 minutes is a group of people beating their breasts.
I'm sure a lot of people would consider me naive, but I don't see racism everywhere I look.
Classism, maybe ... but that's a different story.
Church radio ads
If you're looking for ideas for radio ads for your church, here are a couple of interesting samples:
Monster Truck Liturgy and
Airline Liturgy.
Thanks to the Church Marketing Sucks blog.
Quincy church wants to unfurl huge pro-gay marriage banner
Here's what our church is up to these days, courtesy of
The Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts ...
QUINCY - The city’s defining historic landmark is about to be thrust into one of the most divisive modern political debates by means of a huge banner proclaiming support for same-sex marriage.
The United First Parish Church - widely known as The Church of the Presidents - has petitioned city officials for permission to hang a 34-foot-by-4-foot banner reading ‘‘People of Faith for Marriage Equality’’ above its main entrance on Hancock Street in the heart of downtown Quincy.
The church, a long-time Unitarian-Universalist congregation and home to the crypts of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, needs city approval to hang the banner because its proposed size is more than twice that allowed under city code. ...
Gonna be some very interesting meetings in City Hall in the next month or so. Please come by the meetings to show your support.
Black Box Voting reports 100,000 errors in FL election
BlackBoxVoting.org reports ...
The internal logs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Black Box Voting successfully sued former Palm Beach County (FL) Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore to get the audit records for the 2004 presidential election.
After investing over $7,000 and waiting nine months for the records, Black Box Voting discovered that the voting machine logs contained approximately 100,000 errors. According to voting machine assignment logs, Palm Beach County used 4,313 machines in the Nov. 2004 election. During election day, 1,475 voting system calibrations were performed while the polls were open, providing documentation to substantiate reports from citizens indicating the wrong candidate was selected when they tried to vote.
Another disturbing find was several dozen voting machines with votes for the Nov. 2, 2004 election cast on dates like Oct. 16, 15, 19, 13, 25, 28 2004 and one tape dated in 2010. These machines did not contain any votes date-stamped on Nov. 2, 2004. ...
As much as I'm a technology-oriented person, I've always believed it's way too easy to insert fake election results into computerized voting machines.
In case you thought things weren't going well in Iraq
Here's the good news that I somehow managed to miss, courtesy of
GOP.com ...
More news today that Iraq is closer to recovery: The New York Times reports “mail carriers at 349 post offices across Iraq hand-deliver thousands of letters, to greetings so warm that they often include dances and high-pitched warbles of sheer joy… The mail also offers evidence of recovery. In 2001, before the American invasion, Iraqis sent 148 tons of mail…In 2003, the year of the invasion, the figure plummeted to 37 tons. But it has been rising ever since, with Iraqis sending 43 tons in 2004 and 54 tons last year, according to post office statistics.”
The GOP managed to forget to link to that New York Times article, but I'm sure it was every bit as glowing and positive as the GOP seems to believe. I'm a trusting soul.
The UU-FAQ VIII: Politics
Doug Muder presents Number 8 in his UU-FAQ series, entitled
Politics.
He answers these questions:
- I’ve heard that Unitarian Universalism is an optimistic religion. What does that mean?
- I’ve heard UUism described as a "liberal" religion. Does that mean conservatives aren’t welcome?
- Do the UU Principles have political implications?
An organization to fear
Just ran across a scary little group called
The Chalcedon Foundation devoted to Christian Reconstructionism. The section of the site devoted to
their ministry says
We believe that the whole Word of God must be applied to all of life. It is not only our duty as individuals, families and churches to be Christian, but it is also the duty of the state, the school, the arts and sciences, law, economics, and every other sphere to be under Christ the King. Nothing is exempt from His dominion. We must live by His Word, not our own.
Oh great. Apparently there's more than one religiously-oriented group that wants to take over the world.
AP: S.D. Bill to Ban Nearly All Abortions
According to
AP News via Iwon ...
South Dakota moved closer to imposing some of the strictest limits on abortion in the nation, as the state Senate approved legislation that would ban it except when a woman's life is in danger.
The bill, designed to wage a national legal fight about the legality of abortion, passed 23-12 Wednesday. It next returns to the state House, which has passed a different version.
The measure would make South Dakota the first state to ban abortion in nearly all circumstances. Doctors would face up to five years in prison for performing abortions unless a woman needed one to save her life. ...
The bill's main sponsor is a Democrat. Hopefully, if it passes, it will make it to the Supreme Court in record time. I trust precedent still rules there.
Here's what the United Nations is up to these days
According to a press release from
PR Web ...
Perth, Australia (PRWEB) February 22, 2006 -- A former registered nurse who has worked with hundreds of clients, including many children, will be revealing evidence of their encounters with extraterrestrial beings at an upcoming conference in Montreal, Canada.
After a decade of research as a professional counselor and clinical hypnotherapist, Australia’s Mary Rodwell says that there is now enough evidence to conclude that these “beings” appear to come from other planets and other dimensions parallel to our own.
She will be making her presentation at the 31st annual conference of the International Institute of Integral Human Sciences (IIIHS) taking place in Montreal May 5th to 14th, 2006.
The IIIHS is a non-profit organization affiliated with the United Nations Department of Public Information. It serves over 10,000 general members and students from many nations towards the convergence of new sciences with spirituality and universal human values, creating inter-religious and inter-cultural understanding for world peace. ...
I've always believed in the idea of the United Nations, but ...
George Washington's views on religion
New West Network has
an article about Washington's religious views.
There is virtually no evidence in Washington's writings to indicate a firm commitment to the Christian religion. Writing to Lafayette with regard to religious toleration, he states: "Being no bigot myself, I am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to Heaven, which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and least liable to exception."
The author goes on to say
All in all, the evidence shows that George Washington was a religious liberal who believed in God as impersonal Providence. He probably did not believe in any of the doctrines of Christian orthodoxy. In a famous sermon delivered in 1831, Bird Wilson declared that Washington, along with all the other early presidents, was no more than a Unitarian. As a life long Unitarian I am pleased to be associated with this great American.
Helping the Homeless
The February 13-20 edition of The New Yorker has a terrific article entitled
Million-Dollar Murray about homelessness. Murray
is was (he died) a homeless person in Reno, Nevada who, it is estimated, has accumulated some $1 million in unpaid medical bills from having been taken to the hospital so often.
The main point of the article is that only about 10% of homeless people are chronically homeless. The largest group of homeless people is only homeless for 1 day; the second largest group is homeless for 2 days, etc. The article suggests that the best approach for the chronic group is to do whatever it takes to solve - not treat - their problems. That includes handing them a key to an apartment and telling them the apartment is theirs if they follow a few rules.
From the New Yorker
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to sue, and he'll eat for a lifetime.
In 100 years
No one we know will be here.
Just a thought.
Engaging Our Theological Diversity Curriculum
Steve Caldwell was kind enough to point out that the Unitarian Universalist Association has created a curriculum for studying the
Engaging Our Theological Diversity publication that was released at last year's General Assembly.
The report and curriculum are here.
Lo-Fi Tribe: A Good News Manifesto
Shawn at Lo-Fi Tribe writes his
Good News Manifesto.
Shout it from the rooftops? I'll have to convene a committee to talk about that ...
UN: U.S. Aligned With Iran in Anti-Gay Vote
According to
Human Rights Watch
(Washington, D.C., January 25, 2006) - In a reversal of policy, the United States on Monday backed an Iranian initiative to deny United Nations consultative status to organizations working to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. In a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, a coalition of 40 organizations, led by the Human Rights Campaign, Human Rights Watch, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, called for an explanation of the vote which aligned the United States with governments that have long repressed the rights of sexual minorities. ...
A tip of the hat to
Street Prophets.
Boy Scouts a religious organization?
The
San Jose Mercury News is reporting that at least one judge considers the Boy Scouts a religious organization.
An appellate court panel is weighing arguments over whether the Boy Scouts of America, an organization that has banned gay troop leaders and compels members to swear an oath to God, has the right to use city-owned parkland in San Diego....
The American Civil Liberties Union sued San Diego and the Boy Scouts in August 2000 on behalf of a lesbian couple and an agnostic couple, each with scouting-age sons. They filed the lawsuit after the City Council voted to extend the group's 50-year lease of Balboa Park camp space for another 25 years.
In July 2003, U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. sided with the plaintiffs, ruling that San Diego acted improperly when it leased 18 acres of camp space to the Scouts. The judge ruled that the group is a religious organization and the lease violated federal law that prohibits the government promotion of religion. ...
A tip of the hat to
The Revealer.
Bode not particularly interested in medals
The
BBC reports ...
American skiing star Bode Miller says he is not particularly interested in winning Olympic medals and would be happy to walk away from the sport.
Miller, the overall World Cup champion, won two Olympic silver medals in 2002.
"I could give up tomorrow without having the slightest regret," the 28-year-old told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport.
Hey, thanks for showing up and representing us, you
loser!
McCain vs Obama in the Senate
According to Matt Stoller, John McCain and Barack Obama apparently aren't hitting it off well these days in the Senate.
See
this and
this.
NYT: Avastin @ $100k/year
The
New York Times (free registration required) reports ...
Doctors are excited about the prospect of Avastin, a drug already widely used for colon cancer, as a crucial new treatment for breast and lung cancer, too. But doctors are cringing at the price the maker, Genentech, plans to charge for it: about $100,000 a year. ...
How can they get away with charging that much?
Until now, drug makers have typically defended high prices by noting the cost of developing new medicines. But executives at Genentech and its majority owner, Roche, are now using a separate argument — citing the inherent value of life-sustaining therapies.
Where does the increasing cost of healthcare end? Frankly, Roche's argument disgusts me. Admittedly, it's a classic free-market argument: we'll charge that much because we can. But somehow, it doesn't ... seem ... right.
Their own version of the Big Bang
The
LA Times reports that those who believe in creationism -- children and adults -- are being taught to challenge evolution's tenets in an in-your-face way.
Evangelist Ken Ham smiled at the 2,300 elementary students packed into pews, their faces rapt. With dinosaur puppets and silly cartoons, he was training them to reject much of geology, paleontology and evolutionary biology as a sinister tangle of lies.
"Boys and girls," Ham said. If a teacher so much as mentions evolution, or the Big Bang, or an era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, "you put your hand up and you say, 'Excuse me, were you there?' Can you remember that?"
"Sometimes people will answer, 'No, but you weren't there either,' " Ham told them. "Then you say, 'No, I wasn't, but I know someone who was, and I have his book about the history of the world.' " He waved his Bible in the air.
"Who's the only one who's always been there?" Ham asked.
"God!" the boys and girls shouted.
"Who's the only one who knows everything?"
"God!"
"So who should you always trust, God or the scientists?"
The children answered with a thundering: "God!"
A tip of the hat to
Street Prophets.
UCC Churches being targeted for disaffiliation
Talk To Action has an article about United Church of Christ churches being targeted by religious conservatives for disaffiliation from the United Church of Christ.
A tip of the hat to Street Prophets.
JLR: Understanding Unitarian Universalism's Lack of Mass Appeal
The Journal of Liberal Religion has an article entitled
Developmentally Challenged: Understanding Unitarian Universalism's Lack of Mass Appeal. Its level of analysis befits a publication whose name starts with "Journal".
Among other things, it compares Robert Kegan's Theory of Human Development with James Fowler’s theory of faith development.
In discussing the UU Principles, the articles says
As apparent through the above noted sources, there is huge variety in the lenses that can be brought to bear in interpreting the Unitarian Universalist principles. While ministers can provide one lens (their own) for drawing on sources of wisdom and in interpreting the principles, there is a central assumption that individuals within a congregation are “self-authoring” and capable of deciding for themselves how they approach and interpret the religion. As Unitarian Universalist minister Steve Edington puts it, “While we are bound by a set of common principles, we leave it to the individual to decide what particular beliefs lead to those principles.” As described above, this level of individual engagement, autonomy, and self-authorship is a characteristic of the 4th order of consciousness. Thus, at the level of religious beliefs, Unitarian Universalism demands a minimum of 4th order meaning making from its adherents.
And we have to be even higher on the list to find UU sermons meaningful:
In a UU worship service, the minister and/or lay worship volunteers seek to highlight universal truths, typically by drawing connections with a reading or two, several hymns or musical selections, and a sermon that would probably include personal reflections on the topic at hand. This gestalt presumes that the worshiper is capable of being in dialogue vicariously with the worship leader over the nature of truth, meaning, and ultimate reality. It assumes that the worshiper is not “closed” in his/her meaning making, as would be the case at a pure 4th order of consciousness in which the individual is content in defining meaning in a purely self-referential way. It assumes an open, dialogic process, in which the worship leader’s take on truth is not considered ultimate or authoritative, but one meaningful experience or viewpoint that we can learn from. This is clearly a 5th order/stage worship experience, as described earlier. For reasons similar to those encountered in our examination of UU adult religious education, in order for this style of worship to be meaningful, 5th order thinking has to have some resonance with the individual; the worshiper needs to be beyond pure 4th order meaning making.
Nobody said being a UU was easy. A tip of the hat to
Radical Hapa.
Sparks in the Dark: What UUs believe
Sparks in the Dark has a good answer to the question of
what Unitarian Universalists believe:
We're not about what we believe; we don't even agree on what we 'believe.' We're about what we do. We share a set of values and principles, and those -- and our heritage -- call us to action, regardless of our belief, doubt, or lack of belief. We are UUs because we feel impelled to act, called to act, obliged to act--for good, for justice. We're about being and growing our community, and the community of all humanity, so that it can be, and is, a tapestry of people living in peace. We do not believe that we all need to believe alike. But we do believe that we can love alike, and that becoming that universal, loving community is what we must work to achieve. Ours is a religion that says 'You must do. You must act.'
What do we believe? Perhaps that's simply the wrong question.
Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad
Many stories have been written about the uproar over
cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad which originated in a Danish newspaper.
My comment is this: I'm afraid to comment. I have a (hopefully irrational) fear that, if I do, I will be physically attacked by someone whose religious belief says that's ok.
Intellectually, I'm sure I wouldn't be attacked. The thought shouldn't even have occurred to me. But it did.
Gay actors shouldn't play Christians?
The
New York Times (registration required) reports that more than 100 pastors of churches across the country signed a letter criticizing the use of a gay actor - Chad Allen - to portray a Christian in "End of the Spear," made by Every Tribe Entertainment, an evangelical film company.
... Many evangelicals are concerned that young people inspired by the movie will look up Mr. Allen on the Web and "get exposed to his views on homosexuality, and that would cause some of them to question Biblical views of homosexuality and every other sin," said Will Hall, executive director of BPNews.net, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has published articles critical of Every Tribe's decisions. ...
Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. Actually, no, it's no unbelievable at all.
A tip of the hat to
SOMA.
Megachurch study
A
press release by
Leadership Network and
Hartford Seminary's Hartford Institute for Religion Research says that many of the most widely held beliefs about megachurches couldn't be farther from the truth.
Note that I don't know these sources, so unless you do, take the information with a grain of salt.
Our effect on Haiti
An editorial in the
New York Times (registration required) sums it up:
Haiti was a deeply troubled democracy when the Bush administration took office. Now it is an even more deeply troubled nondemocracy. ...
It seems we either try to force democracy on countries from the top down, or to destabilize democratically elected governments we don't approve of.
Telegrams bite the dust
For those of us old enough to remember them, here's notice of another passing, from
Associated Press via Iwon ...
For more than 150 years, messages of joy, sorrow and success came in signature yellow envelopes hand delivered by a courier. Now the Western Union telegram is officially a thing of the past.
The company formed in April 1856 to exploit the hot technology of the telegraph to send cross-country messages in less than a day. It is now focusing its attention on money transfers and other financial services, and delivered its final telegram on Friday. ...
