tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post1367206032283133110..comments2023-08-23T08:27:08.039-04:00Comments on UU A Way Of Life: Are you dying to share your UU faith with others?David G. Markhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08336565533124142690noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-3246873836444593882009-09-23T10:31:41.374-04:002009-09-23T10:31:41.374-04:00Dear Tom:
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. ...Dear Tom:<br /><br />Thank you for your thoughtful comment. I agree with you. While UUs value the right of individual conscience, we also have values which bind us together. I think your articulation of what the interdependent web and the inherent worth and dignity of each person means when it is operationalized in the making war is right on the money.<br /><br />It is in the application of our values in making decisions about right action that engenders disagreements and conflicts but these disagreements and conflicts are worth having in respectful ways.<br /><br />I wonder if you would join our online discussion group so we can discuss your ideas further with further input from serious minded others?<br /><br />All the best,<br /><br />David MarkhamDavid G. Markhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08336565533124142690noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8647562459433740241.post-90842805001443125782009-09-23T07:54:52.204-04:002009-09-23T07:54:52.204-04:00As a UU, I am increasingly troubled by this lack o...As a UU, I am increasingly troubled by this lack of nomos (if I understand the word correctly) - a fairly clear relationship between what we say we collectively value (as articulated in our principles) and how we speak and act collectively, day-to-day, in the world.<br /><br />I have written in my own blog (mypropheticimperative.blogspot.com) against war because I believe that wars shatter the interdependent web of all existence and destroy the worth and dignity of the people killed. By practicing war we renounce justice, equity, and compassion. Three of our principles are violated.<br /><br />This violation seems pretty clear to me no matter what the justificatin for a given war but many in our church disagree - embracing the concept of "just war" as a means to reconcile our principles with supporting wars in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br />Some would say that this disagreement is not all that important. "We all agree that war is evil (the important thing), we simply don't agree whether, at times, it is a necessary evil. We can agree to disagree on the 'necessity' part so long as we agree on the 'evil' part."<br /><br />But isn't disagreement on the "necessity" part really a fundamental disagreement? In my opinion, wars kill just as awfully regardless of their justice and anyone can come up with logical reasons to justify war - Hitler certainly did, so did George W. Bush (with 80% or more of the American public behind him - there had to be some UU's in that 80%).<br /><br />By leaving it up to each of us to decide whether a war is justified, we make it impossible for us to speak and act collectively. We leave each of us to stand alone with her / his own conscience on this fundamental issue of human life. In this way, far from binding people together, as a religion should do, we foster separateness.<br /><br />I didn't write this to convince anyone to become a pacifist but to illustrate a problem. In our zeal to promote diversity of views on fundamental issues as one of our highest goods, we UU's make it impossible for us as a church to bind ourselves more closely together through collective indentification with our values.<br /><br />I think this is why we fail to grow as a religion.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com