Paul Wilczynski's Observations

UUs aren't an extension of the DNC

This past Sunday, my church had a sermon/discussion entitled Reflections on the Election: Where do we go from here?. Our minister spoke briefly, and then turned the microphones over to the members of the congregation to share their feelings about the election.

As expected, everyone spoke of what a wonderful thing it was that Obama won. As much as I agreed with what was being said, the high-level uniformity of the comments started to irritate me, so I put my two cents in. I said something to the effect of this:

I agree with what everyone has been saying. I, too, am exceedingly pleased that Obama won.

That being said, we have to remember that there's a big difference between liberal politics and liberal religion. I've only been a member of this congregation for a short time [exactly a week, actually], but I have a suspicion that there are a number of Republicans attending the service today. I even have a suspicion that some of them voted for their party's candidate. We need to remember to respect equally the opinions of everyone within this congregation.

This is not the time for those of a liberal/progressive political persuasion to merely tolerate those with opposing views. If we're going to believe what Obama says, we need to listen to views that differ from ours and acknowledge that those with different views are as American and patriotic as we are.

Progressives don't have a monopoly on the solutions to our problems. Neither do conservatives. What we share is the ability to look at our current situation, analyze what has worked and not worked in the past, and come up with potential approaches to taking us forward within the goals that the new administration has outlined.

And from a Unitarian Universalist religious perspective, what we need to do is keep party politics out of the discussion. We need to look at everyone's ideas, bounce them against the UU Principles and our own reason, and support those ideas that pass our tests. No matter which political party those ideas come from.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 10:54 AM