Chalicefire

We don't think alike but we all go to the same church

2008-07-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

Video lasts 00:40

Islam and Unitarian Universalism

2008-06-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

The word Islam means submission to the will of God. Muslim means those who submit. Allah, the Muslim name for God means, the Almighty.

Historically, Unitarians believed in One God as distinguished from a trinity. Unitarians describe Jesus as a holy man and a prophet but not God just as the Muslim's do.

Universalists believe that everybody is going to heaven and Muslims seem to me to pretty much believe the same thing. It says in the Qur'an,

"We believe in God and that which has been revealed to us, and also that which was revealed to Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes, and in that given to Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to God do we submit our will." Surah 3:84

So, I am curious why there isn't a greater affinity between Unitarian Universalists and Muslims. I know that Christianity, historically, has a stronger root for UU than Islam, but when I compare religions it appears that Islam may have more in common with contemporary Unitarian Universalism than UU does with Christianity.

I would appreciate any comments on this observation.

Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) - Heaven/Where True Love Goes Video lasts 4:50

The day Texas tried to say that Unitarian Universalism was not a religion

2008-06-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

I missed this story when it happened (2004) but apparently a recent Texas Comptroller attempted to remove the tax exempt status of the Unitarian Universalist Church, by denying that it did not fit Texas' definition of a church because it did not advocate one strict doctrine. This put the state of Texas in the business of defining what a religion is, and specifically stating that it must involve belief in a higher power. Without such belief, the religion is "creedless" and not a religion in the eyes of the state.

From the blog, The Weaker Party. To read more about this situation click here.

Muslims meet Unitarians in Port Angeles, Washington

2008-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Muslims meet Unitarians for Islam 101 at Olympic Unitarian Universalist Church at Port Angeles, Washington on August 25, 2007. Video lasts 3:11

The 5 Pillars of Unitarian Universalism

2008-06-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

Jaume de Marcos Andreu said on 06/14/08

This is just an experiment, but if the 5 pillars of UUism follow the pattern of Islam (1 belief + 4 practices), then they could be:

1. Every person has inherent worth and dignity (this is a belief, no scientific experiment proves it to be true)

2. Join others in religious congregations and attend worship gatherings and celebrations

3. Pay respect to your spiritual ancestors by remembering them, at least once a year

4. Learn about and honor the ways of religion from all cultures and traditions

5. Participate in your society by doing actions in pursuit of freedom, peace and justice, where you live and everywhere

David G. Markham said on 06/14/08

Hi Jaume:

Thanks for your ideas. They are great. Supposing we tightened them up a bit and make them more prescriptive:

1. All UUs acknowledge the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

2. All UUs support one another in their search for religious and spiritual "truth" by attending religious services at least once per month and more often if possible.

3. All UUs participate in religious study at least 20 hours per year to understand and sustain the memory of the history of our religious tradition.

4.All UUs study and be able to pass a religious literacy exam which demonstrates their knowledge of at least the five major world relgions at an introductory level if they are intellecually capable of mastering such knowledge.

5. All UUs are expected to engage in charible works donating time and money as they are able to improve the lives of the poor, the oppressed, and to rectify social injustice. Suggested minimal levels of donation are 5% of net income, and a minimum of 2 hrs. per week.

What do you think?

All the best,

David Markham

Are Muslims Unitarians?

2008-06-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me this morning that Muslims are Unitarians. They believe in one God not a trinity. They believe that Muhammad is God's messenger but they also acknowledge other prophets such as Jesus and Abraham. In some ways it appears that Islam may be closer to Unitarianism than Chrisianity in terms of the understanding of the presumed nature of God.

5 Pillars of Islam - Relevance to Unitarian Universalism?

2008-06-13T19:22:00.001-07:00

The 4th principle of Unitarian Universalism is the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Part of that responsible search is to become religiously literate. According to Stephen Prothero, in his book Religious Literacy, there is a core set of concepts that a religiously literate person should know. I will be periodically describing these concepts on this blog and I will be tagging these items "Dictionary of Religious Literacy."

The first concept is "5 pillars of Islam."

The five pillars of Islam are:

Shahadab - There is no God but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.

Salat - prayer in the direction of Mecca 5 times per day.

Sawm - fasting from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan

Zakat - almsgiving to the poor

Hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one's lifetime.

One of the criticisms of UU is that there are no distinctive disciplines of religious practice except coffee hour. Islam is a religion that emphazises practice and behavior more than credal beliefs. When you consider the 5 pillars only the first one has to do with theology or belief. All the rest prescribe behavior and practice.

If UU was to learn this lesson of a world religion from Islam what might some of its prescribed and unique practices be?

Video lasts 48 seconds

Following the 4th principle can be costly

2008-06-13T04:49:00.000-07:00

Here is part of a sermon by Rev. Victoria Weinstein delivered on 12/02/07. It is a true story about what it costs sometimes to bring into application the 4th priniciple of Unitarian Universalism - "a free and responsible seach for truth and meaning."

I'd like to tell you the story of the Rev. Carlton Pearson, a Pentecostalist bishop from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Pearson was becoming a huge success ministering and preaching the standard conservative evangelical message that hell is a painful place and you'll go there if you don't accept Jesus as your lord and savior. Oral Roberts considered him his "black son." He served a congregation of five-thousand souls and was a popular speaker all over the country, well-admired, bright, funny, very charismatic (personality-wise, not just theologically).

One night Carlton Pearson was watching television and saw Rwandan mothers and their children following the genocide of ethnic Tutsis by the Hutus. Children diseased and starving, mothers with shriveled breasts and vacant stares. Pearson was sick about it – especially as he compared those children to his own healthy, bouncing baby girl. And as sometimes happens with people of faith, Pearson got into an argument with his God. He said, "I don't know how you can call yourself a loving and sovereign God and let these people suffer and then suck them into Hell."

And an answer came back to him. Here is what he heard. He heard a voice say, "Is that what you think we're doing?" And he said to the voice, "That's what I've been taught." Because he had indeed heard all his life that the way to save souls is to teach them the gospel and witness to them and get them to be born-again. It was the cornerstone of his faith. All his life he believed that people who are not born-again into Christ Jesus go to Hell. So he says this to God in his mind, and God replies, "Okay, then. If you think that's the only way we get them saved, then put your baby down and get on a plane and let's go save them. You go ahead. Let's go."

Carlton Pearson burst into tears, "Don't put that guilt on me. I can't save the whole world. And God said to Carlton Pearson, "That's right, you can't. You can't save this world. That's what we do. You think we're sucking them into Hell? Can't you see they're already there? You are the ones who are creating Hell all the time for each other? We're taking them into our presence."

And in that moment, the preacher had an epiphany. He felt that he had been shown that Hell is not a location that God casts us into for all eternity but a condition that we cause for each other and for ourselves through our ignorance and our sin. And for the first time in his life, Pearson says, he did not see God as the inventor of Hell. Pearson was a man of study as well as prayer, and he began to see that he had been as wrong about the nature of God as he could be.

He continued to seek out the truth as best he could, through a combination of study and honoring his own spiritual experience. These are all ways that our own tradition teaches and has always taught one finds truth – and it's not always an easy path. In fact, if we take the search for truth and meaning seriously, it's highly unusual that we will have an easy time of it. This was no easy time for Carlton Pearson.

It's amazing to think of how far from his foundation he was moving during this time. He came to the disturbing conclusion that the God he had been preaching is a monster: worse than Osama, worse than Saddam, even worse than Hitler. And the more Carlton started to think about it, the further away from his own church's teaching it led him. He rejected some of the major doctrines of his religious tradition. Now this is radical: he concluded that it didn't matter if you were a Christian, it didn't even matter if you went to church, you were going to be taken into the presence of a loving God at the end of your life, because the grace of God is for everyone, just everyone. He had become a Universalist.

You can imagine that this was problematic for his congregation of 5,000 and the eight pastors on staff. They still can't talk about it to this day, this was so devastating. Pearson told his staff that he wanted to rewrite the theology of the charismatic world. Oh, sure! No problem!

Attendance fell from 5,000 to 200. Carlton Pearson was denounced and actually named as a heretic by the council of African-American Pentecostalists. He lost his fame, he lost his fortune, he was mourned as one dead by dear friends and former allies; even by people whose careers he had launched. The congregants who stayed with him and traveled the path from born-again to Universalist Christian preaching the gospel of inclusion were stopped in the streets of Tulsa and fussed over by those who denounced Pearson. "Your minister doesn't believe in Hell? You don't want to go messing with Hell," they'd say.

I'd like to tell you that there's an entirely happy ending to this story, but it's mixed. Carlton Pearson's new congregation is called New Dimensions. His old building went into foreclosure and the congregation worships at Trinity Episcopal downtown, with 400 seats, but they're packing them in every Sunday. New Dimensions welcomes everyone: Christians, Muslims, saved, not saved, gay, straight, liberal, conservative, rich, poor, black, white. It has a beautiful website and a thriving congregation, offering coursework and worship, a prayer and praise site. I expect good things for them.

But this is important: Carlton Pearson says that if he knew how much it would cost him to stray so far from his theological tradition, he never would have opened his mouth. He said God doesn't show you everything at once for a reason. I'd say that that's an honest reflection coming from an incredibly courageous man.

So there's a living example of what we are talking about this morning, which is to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning; the fourth Unitarian Universalist principle.

Free and responsible.

You can read Rev. Weinstein's whole sermon by clicking here.

Religious literacy is quite a challenge for UUs

2008-06-12T05:44:00.000-07:00

"...Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion. They are Protestants who can't name the four Gospels, Catholics who can't name the seven sacraments, and Jews who can't name the five books of Moses. Atheists may be as rare in America as Jesus-loving politicians are in Europe, but here faith is almost entirely devoid of content. One of the most religious countries on earth is also a nation of religious illiterates."

Stephen Prothero, Religious Illiteracy, p. 1

I think it was Forrest Church or John Buehrens who asked, when a person said they were athiest and didn't believe in God, "What kind of God is it that you don't believe in?"

I wonder how "responsible" most Unitarian Universalists are when it comes to the 4th principle - "A free and responsible search for truth and meaning?" Do most UUs have at least a passing understanding of the world's religions so that they understand what the religions are that they don't believe in?

Most religions don't have this expectation - that their adherents be knowlegable about the world's religions. In fact most religions are threatened by this and even forbid it. What makes Unitarian Universalism unique in my experience is that Unitarian Universalism not only expects it but encourages it.

What kind of programs exist in your church promoting Religious Literacy? How well do we facilitate the sharing of religious knowledge within our own congregations by people who have come to UU from different backgrounds. Is this ecumenical knowledge and understanding celebrated, valued, appreciated, and promoted?

I have experienced passive acceptance of religious knowledge and experience, but I see little hunger for it or a desire to be more "responsible" as our 4th principle calls for.

So, I wonder, how "responsible" are we to inform ourselves and increase our level of religious literacy. It seems quite a challenge and we have a long way to go.

Video of birth and spread of religions of the world. Lasts 1:55

If Unitarian Unviversalism is to become a World Religion Religion, UUs must educate themselves

2008-06-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

"If we want to be a world religion religion, we must take the study of them far more seriously and make education in world religions a staple of our adult religious education offerings."

Peacebang, 11/28/07

Stephen Prothero in his book, Religous Literacy, points out that most Christians don't know the four main books of the New Testment, think Sodom and Gomorha were brother and sister, and think that "God helps those who help themselves." comes from the bible.

Further, very few Americans can name the five largest world religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism) and have no idea what the 5 pillars of Islam are, the four noble truths of Buddhism, or who is the father of 3 of the world religions(Abraham).

Prothero's point is that it is hard to be a responsible, knowledgeable citizen of the world if you don't understand the 5 major views of the world's people. If George Bush had understood the difference between Sunnis and Shites before he started the pre-emptive and immoral war in Iraq, America and the world would not be in the mess we are in.

We have seen 8 years of regression in our social and cultural evolution because of the influence of the religious right on our government and its social policies something which most Americans don't understand, but are slowly and belatedly learning about.

It would behoove us as Unitarian Universalists who profess in our 4th principle to encourage and support a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning" to educate ourselves and one another about the major religious views of the world's citizens. Without this understanding we cannot participate as responsible citizens in the community of nations or, as Peacebang puts it, to aspire to be a world religion religion.

What makes one a Christian?

2008-06-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic."

W.A. "Billy" Sunday

Hellfire and brimstone preached by Billy Sunday. Video lasts 2:47.

Sentimentality, ignorance, and prejudicial distortion are sins against the fourth principle of UU

2008-06-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

On November 28, 2007 Peacebang had an interesting post on her blog about the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Here is what she said in part:

For those who see UUism as a smorgasbord of world religions, this seems a particularly important principle. For instance, how do we “responsibly” or in a disciplined way engage with Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Sufism, Native Americans spirituality in our congregations and as individuals? Is it responsible for me to include a Muslim reading in worship? I like to think so. However, it is important for me to take responsibility for the fact that many Muslims would vehemently disagree with me. Therefore, as part of my religious discipline I am obligated to study and try to understand more about the various religions I am quoting or referencing of a Sunday morning beyond convenient “we are the world” sentimentalism.

It’s hard work. And it’s work we don’t do well enough.

It seems to me that UUs have yet to acknowledge the fact that while we have made it our “good news” to affirm and proclaim the essential harmony between world faith traditions, we have done so with little or no input or consultation with adherents of those faith traditions. We therefore operate on the assumption that religions “belong” to everyone and anyone who wants to claim them. I wish this was so, but it is not. Religions can only be responsibly understood in their time, place and cultural context. If we want to be a world religion religion, we must take the study of them far more seriously and make education in world religions a staple of our adult religious education offerings. I know that some congregations do this, but not many. Nor has the UUA provided curriculum to help with this knowledge deficit.

(Bold emphasis is mine.)

Stephen Prothero in his book Religious Literacy points out that most Americans are woefully illiterate about the world's religions.

I think that probably the first definition of "responsible" is that the speaker knows what he/she are talking about. As Peacebang seems to imply the first sin against being responsible is "sentimentality", the second is ignorance, and the third would be prejudicial distortion leading to judgmentalism, exclusion, demonizing, disrespect, and exclusion.

What is the meaning of life? The Resident recites the answers given by several thinkers. Video lasts 1:28.

One of McCain's spiritual guides is Pastor Ron Parsley

2008-06-10T16:54:00.000-07:00

Video lasts 1:47

"A moral compass", "a spiritual guide" says John McCain about Pastor Ron Parsley. God save us from John McCain.

Pastor Ron's preaching sounds irresponsible to me.

Spiritual peope have no need of false prophets

2008-06-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Happiness on this earth makes happiness in the next less attractive. If happiness in the next looses its appeal what is the need of the priests, the pastors, the Imans who promise it? The clergy offer grand promises and if you feel insecure, inadequate, lonely, these promises are very appealing.

True spirituality is nourishment in the here and now, not in the hereafter. A spiritual person has no need of clergy making false promises and threatening with false punishments. Peace comes from the liberation from supersitions and delusions. Peace comes from being at one with cosmic consciousness.

Jesus told us to be aware of false prophets. An irrevernt saying in Buddhism is "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him." And being in touch in our hearts with the Tao relieves our fears, our lonliness, our depression, our anger, and we achieve serenity here on earth as it is in heaven.

The 4th principle/value of Unitarian Universalism is "A free and responsbile search for truth and meaning." The key word here is responsible. What do you suppose that means? That would make a good topic for a sermon or a study group discussion question. Do you think that George W. Bush has used his faith in God in a responsible way to lead our nation and the world?

What is your sense of how John McCain and Barack Obama's faith will inform their judgement and leadership?

Video of Charlie Gibson asking George W. Bush about God which lasts 1:57

What does your theology say about others?

2008-05-30T03:26:00.000-07:00

I am involved in a multi-denominational/interfaith chaplaincy and recently had a wonderful lecture by my supervisor. He spoke of the moral compass, and the goals of our joint chaplaincy.

Then he pointed out that on our identifying markers we carry our blood type and religion. He asked if I saw what his happened to say. I responded, "Baptist." He chuckled and said, "It says: A Positive Baptist!" What followed was amazing. He spoke of being positive in all our actions before God and man and the acceptance of those whom we serve - both in the world and in the ministry. He encouraged me to share my faith and sheppard to the best of my ability.

We had a great time and shared laughs as well as some low-points.

Then he asked me my denomination - "What did you say you were? A Trinitarian?" Well, I don't believe in a single god equaling three gods. In my world, that is three gods. If I am asked to interpret the Bible literally, I read at least two gods (assuming that one holds Jesus to actually be a god). My response? "No, I'm Unitarian - I believe there is one God."

"What about Jesus?"

"Excellent man from whom we could all stand to learn quite a bit about life, but no more or less divine than you or I."

"Oh."

He then hopped on his motorcycle and rode away.

So much for a personal faith having value. I guess my moral compass evaporated due to the fact I believe in a single God....

Let us share peace amongst kin, a peace born of understanding and tolerance.

So say we all.

Integrity Takes Courage - Beware of wolves in sheeps' clothing

2008-05-29T10:32:00.000-07:00

I often think of the slogan, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating." or as it says in the Gospel of Matthew in Chapter 7, verse 20, by their fruits you will know them.

Matthew 7:14 - 20

But the gate is narrow (contracted [k]by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you dressed as sheep, but inside they are devouring wolves.

You will [l]fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [[m]worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit.

A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear [n]excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.

Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits.

And I think at this election time of the fruits of the Republican administration: devastating war in Iraq, increased negativity and nastiness in our civil discourse, loss of respect around the world, more poor people in poverty while the rich have gotten richer, no health care for 47 million Americans, the devastation of New Orleans and the lack of governmental response, and yet all the God talk and God bless America in political speeches to get votes from naive evangelicals who aren't aware of how they are being manipulated by the "false prophets" who are dressed as sheep but inside are devouring wolves.

We are bombarded with all kinds of opinions from pundits, preachers, politicians, celebrities, and experts. What is the ordinary person to think, to do? Listen with your head and your heart and act with integrity. Integrity comes from wisdom, courage, timing, perserverance, and a willingness to suffer in an open hearted way for justice and truth. This way is narrow and unfortunately there are few who find it. I pray that you and I be ones who do.

Bruce Cockburn - Let the bad air out. Song lasts 5:50 and well worth listening to.

Forrest Church, Senior Pastor, All Souls Church, New York City

2008-05-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

Profiles in courage: Forrest Church, Senior Pastor, All Souls Church, NYC. video lasts 4:17.

Catholic Church only path to God?

2008-05-18T15:10:00.000-07:00

Humanity's team gives a univeralist message at a time when Pope Benedict XVI claims exclusive path to God through the Roman Catholic Church. Video lasts 2:31.

Nana was a wise woman

2008-05-16T06:46:00.000-07:00

My Nana passed at the age of 106. There is no reason to feel sorrow for her passing, as it is nothing new (I was in my early teens at the time) and she lead a life to be celebrated. Her venue was El Segundo, CA where she held many positions, from town clerk to police matron.

I bring her up because on of her favorite cliches was, "Idle hands are the devil's playground." However, this has nothing to do with what I am using as a topic tonight, so let's look at another one of her favorite phrases: "It's better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and prove it." She used that one on me frequently - I grew up thinking I was a fool.

At any rate, I've been silent for quite some time and the reason is very simple - I had nothing to say. I didn't want to look like a fool, so I just sat back and watched everybody around me.

This brings me to another topic - truisms.

I have just repeated two truisms, and we regularly hear, "...and as my Grandpa used to say...." or "My mother always said,...." My question is, why do none of us speak in truisms? Is the requirement for something to be true that it be spoken by hoary lips? Does the person speaking it have to be dead?

My personal belief is that we, as a culture, have become retarded. I don't mean that in the glib, politically incorrect, "Man, what a retard!" manner of speaking; I mean it in the "Our culture is functioning on a lower level than previously noted." manner of speaking.

Perhaps it is because of the people with whom I deal on a regular basis - they are not the beacons of anybody's society - rather they determine they are blissful in their ignorance (as is proven should anybody call them ignorant - that is a word that, quite literally, could get the speaker killed). Therefore, I come to believe that the majority of society is this way. Perhaps it is that our children are having no adult stimulation upon returning home and instead are being raised by Jerry Springer, Oprah, and Montel - that is if we can pull them away from video games that teach them to pay prostitutes for services then hit them in the head with a board - steal their money - steal a car - shoot at the police. I've yet to enter a drug house where the video consol had something other than GTA....

For that matter, we live in a society which has forgotten the words of the American Declaration of Independence and thinks that the document which defines us as what was once the grand repulican experiment should be altered to cease restricting government intrusion on the individual and begin allowing it to restrict the rights of the individual. Bizarre. Where has the focus of the nation gone? The first ten amendments to the US Constitution are known as the "Bill of Rights" because the "Law of the Land" defines what inalienable rights the citizens (and for that matter all visitors) of this nation enjoy. What shall we call it, should proponents be successful in mutating it into something that begins to, in fact, alienate the rights of the citizen?

Perhaps it is time to begin creating our own truisms rather than simply spout those that are trite and have little meaning in this culture - one that is dominated by speaking fools.

Being judgmental betrays our faith in UUs seventh principle

2008-05-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

The map is not the territory. The symbol is not the reality.

We all misperceive what is in front of our eyes, ears, smell, touch, because we perceive through our filter and lens of experience which skews our perceptions in expected and prejudiced directions. We perceive through the lens of what psychologists have called the "self fulfilling prophecy".

Is the glass half full or half empty? Is that event a blessing or a curse, a good thing or a bad thing? History usually gets written by the victors, the oppressors, the more dominant people in the relationship.

So the wise person is not judgemental because (s)he knows that judgement is flawed, imprecise, skewing interpretation and meaning in an prejudicial direction. The wise person knows that only God, Spirit, Mother Nature, Tao can take the ever flowing, changing, oneness of life into account.

The wise person is aware of the seventh principle/value of Unitarian Universalism - "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part." The meaning we make of our existence very much depends on our perspective, on our limited experience. Recognizing our ignorance we are moved to humility and we become nonjudgmental.

As Jesus said, "Judge not so that you will not be judged." Matthew 7:1

Judgmental people video lasts 2:18

2008-05-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between appearance and reality, between perception and truth, between fact and interpretation? There is more to things than meets the eye. As the bumper sticker says, "Don't believe everything you think."

The human mind loves distinctions, comparisons, contrasts. It makes sense of exerience by comparing the yin and the yang, the right with the left, the light with the dark, the loud with the silent, the sweet with the sour, the pain with the pleasure.

While these distinctions seem "real", they are really only a part of the whole, a component of the overall process we call life, or God.

Jesus said we should love our enemies, and the Buddha said we should acknowledge our suffering and strive to be happy, and as the bumper sticker says, in an irreverent way that makes us laugh, "Shit Happens!"

The wise person knows that whatever we exerience whether joy or sorrow, whether triumph or defeat, whether great pleasure or great pain, this too shall pass.

We should strive to become aware of the underlying Tao, the Oneness of God, the awareness of enlightenment. The 7th principle/value of Unitarian Universalism is "The respect for the independent web of all existence of which we are a part." This respect involves the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the blessed and the evil. This respect also involves great humility which is a hallmark of wisdom which teaches us that much of what happens to us in life surpasses our limited mortal understanding.

Chalicefire blog statistics

2008-05-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Chalicefire was started on 02/25/08. Since that time up until yesterday, 05/11/08, there have been 1,745 visits by 727 different visitors who had 3,521 page views. This averages to 22.37 visits to day.

I am not sure what this means.

Pullman Memorial Universalist Church is a very small church of about 25 members in Albion, NY which is the county seat of a very conservative rural county of about 45,000 people nestled between Rochester, NY and Buffalo, NY on the south shore of Lake Ontario, or the North Shore of the United States depending on your perspective.

Obviously, Chalicefire has touched the lives of people far beyond our small church and our rural community. Perhaps we could look at PMUC as yeast in the dough and we are hoping that the good news of Unitarian Universalism will spread and improve the quality of life for all life on our planet.

Let us know what you think by leaving comments on the articles on the web site or writing to me at david@davidgmarkham.com.

Thank you for your attention, consideration, interest, and assistance.

Lying is bad behavior which good people, unfortunately, do more than we want to admit.

2008-05-12T10:17:00.001-07:00

Rev. Kaaren Anderson, co-minister at the First Unitarian Church in Rochester, NY, gave a good sermon on Sunday, April 27, 2008 entitled, "Bubble gum, mud, and truth."

After telling some amusing anecdotes about herself when she was 7 years old in 2nd grade, she asks "How do we treat liars?" and goes on to describe the Universalist view that good people do bad things, and the bad things which they do, does not make them bad people.

She compares the traditional view of Christianity that views people as inherently bad having been born with original sin with the universalist view that they are inherently good because they are children of God but sometimes do bad things. It is the behavior which can be criticized and condemned not the inherent worth of the person.

One of the seven principles/values of Unitarian Universalism is the "inherent worth and dignity of every person" and yet contemporary society is filled with the language of stigma, judgement, condemnation, exclusion, and demonizing. The universalist message is the good news which the the world desparetly needs.

To listen to Rev. Anderson's sermon you can go to the Digg web site by clicking here.

Love or justice? Astonished by Mercy a sermon by Rev. Marlin Lavanhar

2008-05-11T17:03:00.000-07:00

Rev. Marlin Lavanhar, Senior Minister at All Souls in Tulsa, OK gave a wonderful sermon on May 4, 2008 entitled "Astonished by Mercy".

Being kind to idiots and bad people does not make much sense, but with many biblical references, Rev. Lavanhar makes the case that love trumphs justice. It is worth listening to and you can access it on the Digg web site by clicking here.

Mercy Street by Peter Gabriel. Video lasts 7:14 and is worth listening to.

Torture and UU values

2008-05-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

During time share today at Pullman, a member talked about a book he has just finished reading entitled, The Interrogators, written in 1984, which is about torture.

His mentioning his recent reading of a book about torture reminded me of Bill Moyer's Journal TV show this past Friday evening when Bill interviewed Philippe Sands about his recently published book entitled, Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and The Betrayal Of American Values. It will take a couple of generations for the United States and the world to recover from the criminal acts and human rights violations perpetrated by the Bush Administration in the last 8 years. Under the guise of making the world safer, the world has become more dangerous because of the illegal and immoral acts perpetrated by our government.

Torture is in direct violation of 3 Unitarian Universalist principles/values such as "The inherent worth and dignity of every person," "Justice equity and compassion in human relations," and "Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part."

I highly recommend that all Americans watch Moyer's interview with Philppe Sands.