Wednesday, November 25, 2009

We affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person

I am not a theologian. I have no theological training (which may be a good thing) but I have encouraged by our Unitarian Universalist tradition to engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

We live in a world which makes it sport in reality as well as virtually to hunt and kill other people. Torture and extradordinary rendition has become acceptable practices by our government. Eliminating women's reproductive right to choices and discriminating against immigrants, homosexuals, and liberals is not only tolerated, but promulgated daily from our hate talk radio.

At a more personal level, divorce, child maltreatment, the expression of contempt and disdain in music, and the arts is considered acceptable and entertaining.

"Anger management" has become the new panacea for bad behavior. Impluse control and civility are a thing of the past.

Models for forgiveness and repentence have fallen into disuse at a national level as well as a personal level.

What role does Unitarian Universalism have in all this?

There is no theology of sin, repentence, or explanation for the evil which abides in each of us and in our relationships and yet it is endemic. With no explanation for this, no theology or theodicy to explain it, Unitarian Universalism is doomed to never become a world class religion which can serve human kind because it overlooks the primal problems with our human nature.

If we as Unitarian Universalists believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person how do we explain the evil things we do, the suffering we endure and inflict on others, and the way to manage this to minimize its impact or eliminate it from our nature?

Please share your ideas.

2 comments:

  1. Being closer to the "humanistic" side of UU, I do not accept the idea that human nature is evil, sinful, fallen or broken, because I do not believe in an ideal past or absolute standard for us to have fallen from. Rather, our disapproval of so much that we and our fellow humans do results from our ability to create in our minds ever higher standards, ideals and aspirations, which we must strive towards but can never entirely fulfill because the ideals and standards will always be a step ahead of us.

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  2. I've posted my thoughts on this topic on my blog Inner Light, Radiant Life.

    Thanks for bringing this up.

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