Religious literacy - The third source of the UU "Living Tradition"

Evangelical pollsters have lamented for some time the disparity between Americans’ veneration of the Bible and their understanding of it, painting a picture of a nation that believes God has spoken in scripture but can’t be bothered to listen to what God has to say. 

The Democratic presidential aspirant Howard Dean, when asked to name his favorite New Testament book, mistakenly cited an Old Testament text (Job) instead. 

But such confusion is not restricted to Dean’s home state of Vermont. According to recent polls, most American adults cannot name one of the four Gospels, and many high school seniors think that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. 

A few years ago no one in Jay Leno’s Tonight Show audience could name any of Jesus’ twelve apostles, but everyone, it seemed, was able to list the four Beatles. No wonder pollster George Gallup has called the United States “a nation of biblical illiterates.”8

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 6). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

It is easy to play the game of "Ain't it awful" and yet when one steps back and gets these observations into perspective, one might simply laugh, tsk, tsk a bit, shake one's head at America being a nation of hypocrites or at least those who identify as "Christian."

One pundit called most of the people who identify as "Christain" as "cultural Christians" meaning that they identify with Chrisitanity if forced to name a religion with which they identify, but beyond the nominal identification know nothing about Christianity, let alone practice it.

Whether a person who identifies as "Christian" actually practices the religion, it behooves such a person to at least know something about the religion with which they identify, but alas, their Christian identfication is little more than a pretense.

Indeed, atheists are more likely to know the four main authors of the books of the New Testament and to recognize the letters of its major evangelist, St. Paul. To not be able to name any of the apostles is pathetic. You might expect they at least would know Peter and Judas the primary characters in the drama of Jesus' crucifixion,

Ignorance of the major characters and themes and practices of world religions, hampers a person's ability to participate as a full citizen in their country and the world. Unitarian Universalism lists "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life" as one of its six sources for its "living tradition." However, based on my experience in three UU churches, I have seen very little attempt to educate members of their congregations about the major features of these world religions.

When it comes to the congregational life and education of UU congregations, it seems that religious literacy is not better, in spite of its professed respect of world religions as a source, than in American society at large. Is this something that UU congregations should recognize, acknowledge, and address?

Climate justice - Ultimately climate justice is a spiritual problem.

Chapter Seventeen

Climate justice, ultimately, is a spiritual problem.

Politics has produced gestures of tremendous global solidarity and cooperation, then discarded those promises immediately. It has become commonplace among climate activists to say that we have, today, all the tools we need to avoid catastrophic climate change—even major climate change. It is also true. But political will is not some trivial ingredient, always at hand. We have the tools we need to solve global poverty, epidemic disease, and abuse of women, as well.

Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 44). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

There is something perverse about politics and that something is incentives. The incentives of greed, power, comfort, safety. As a species we have intelligence and self awareness, and when it comes to the ecosystem which we inhabit we understand the major dynamics of how it works. We could ameliorate the problems were it not for the perverse incentives of the powerful 1% and the desultory acquiescence of the 99%.

Some of the 99% sound the alarm and bitch and complain but they haven’t as yet found ways of disincentivizing the behavior of the 1% who stand to profit from carbon emissions contributing to the warming of the globe.

As smart as some of the 99% are, the 1% is smarter and continue to rig the political system for the maintenance of the status quo.

Climate justice is not achieved by individual behavior alone. It takes groups of people changing the incentives of those in power. The machinations of the powerful are often hidden from awareness and thus can be continued without the unaware of even knowing what is happening. If some of the 99% question these machinations they are silenced by marginalization, mocking, intimidation of various forms, misinformation, and propaganda leading to confusion, conflict, divisiveness, and isolation.

Upon a deep analysis, climate justice while it is a political problem, at its roots is a moral and a spiritual problem. Will we, as a species, be divided and separated into warring factions, or will we work together for our mutual welfare? Do we see our brothers and sisters as allies with whom we stand in solidarity or rivals for scarce resources?

The bottom line is a matter of faith. Who do we think we are and who are our fellow humans and other species to us?

Unitarian Universalists have already decided this question and covenant together to affirm and promote respect for the interdependent web. Would that we act upon our faith and share it with others.

Daily Reflections, Day Seventy seven, Perfect moment when time has no meaning.

Day Seventy seven

Perfect moment where time has no meaning.

“The basic decision of the miracle-minded is not to wait on time any longer than is necessary. Time can waste as well as be wasted. The miracle worker, therefore, accepts the time-control factor gladly. He recognizes that every collapse of time brings everyone close to the ultimate release from time, in which the Son and the Father are One. Equality does not imply equality now. When everyone recognizes that he has everything, individual contributions to the Sonship will no longer be necessary.” ACIM.T-1.V.2:1-6

The end to time will be when everyone loves everyone all the time. That is a definition of salvation. Until the end of time comes, we continue to find ways of connecting with one another which we sometimes refer to as the “meeting of the minds.” Another phrase for “meeting of the minds” is  “kindred spirit ship.” 

A “perfect moment” which A Course In Miracles calls the “Holy Instant” is when we connect with another person to let them know what they mean to us.

What do other people mean to you? Are they your enemy, the means to your satisfaction, an object to be used for good or evil or are they part of your own being, a part of the Divine Spark, the Ground of Being, the Life we all share together?

When we recognize that the inherent worth and dignity of every person is a worth and dignity we all share, we hasten the end of time for it is coming to this recognition which is the purpose of life.

The purpose of life is to remember from what we have come and to what we yearn to return. When we all have returned to that from which we have come, time will end because it will have no more meaning.

Today, I will quiet myself, look past the endless chatter in my mind and relax into the Oneness of my Being. I will look for this non anxious presence in other people and try to connect with it. I will, in a loving way, communicate to another how much they mean to me and relax into a joint awareness of a holy presence which we all share and eventually will become aware. I will aspire to experience a perfect moment which is our natural inheritance where time has no meaning..

Religious literacy - Do UUs understand their faith well enough to go public with it?

All this is to say that the “naked public square” has been, as Wexler puts it, “substantially clothed with religion.” At least in the United States, religion matters. In fact, religion is now emerging alongside race, gender, and ethnicity as one of the key identity markers of the twenty-first century.7

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 5). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

In this day of "intersectionality" how important is religion as an identity marker when it comes to personal identity and social functioning? How proud and important is it to Unitarian Universalists that they are UU? Do they often present themselves as such and what is the hoped for public response if they do?

To what extent do UU understand their faith to go public with it and describe it and explain it to others? To what extent does their covenant with one another to affirm and promote the seven principles animate their lives?

Climate justice - What will we do?

Chapter Sixteen

What will we do?

But while there are a few things science does not know about how the climate system will respond to all the carbon we’ve pumped into the air, the uncertainty of what will happen—that haunting uncertainty—emerges not from scientific ignorance but, overwhelmingly, from the open question of how we respond. That is, principally, how much more carbon we decide to emit, which is not a question for the natural sciences but the human ones. Climatologists can, today, predict with uncanny accuracy where a hurricane will hit, and at what intensity, as much as a week out from landfall; this is not just because the models are good but because all the inputs are known. When it comes to global warming, the models are just as good, but the key input is a mystery: What will we do?

Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth (p. 43). Crown/Archetype. Kindle Edition.

The science of climate warming is not debatable. We have good information and models. Nine of the last ten years have been the hottest on record on planet earth.

We know what is causing climate warming and we know what to do to mitigate it. The question of what our future will be like is not a scientific one as much as it is a moral one. Will we as human beings take responsibility for our behavior and change it to lessen the consequence on the ecosystems we inhabit?

As Unitarian Universalists we covenant together to respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part but many of our political leaders not only do not covenant with us, they do not appear to respect the interdependent web and continue to support policies which damage it.

What are we as Unitarian Universalists called to do? At least three things:

1. Educate
2. Organize
3. Vote
4. Demonstrate and boycott.

What activities and efforts are being enacted in your congregation to mitigate the situation? Climate change with the destruction of our ecosystems is the overriding moral issue of our time.

Virtue development, nonjudgmental attitude, part two - recognition of inherent worth and dignity

Part two - recognition of inherent worth and dignity.

Judgment is inherently dishonest because we are assuming to  know things which we could not possibly know. Truth requires that we recognize and acknowledge that not only are we ignorant of all that goes on with another, we don’t even know what goes on with ourselves. Our unconscious percolates beneath the level of our awareness and so we often are blind to our own motivations and intentions let alone another’s.

In judgment, we must admit when we are completely honest that we have deceived ourselves and lost our faith in God’s unconditional love for God’s creation. Our loss of faith leaves us in anguish, fear, despair, and guilt. We believe the old saying “Judge not that ye not be judged.” Our fear of our own judgment fuels the judgmental process where we unconsciously play the game of “one or the other.” One of us must be guilty and deserve punishment and it is them not me.

Judgment then leads to separation and divisiveness. We have given up our honesty and our faith and in this pit of despair, hopefully, it dawns on us, at some point, that there must be a better way. That better way is in adopting a nonjudgmental attitude and unconditional positive regard for all of our brothers and sisters because we recognize their inherent worth and dignity.

This recognition of every person’s inherent worth and dignity is the hallmark of the virtue of a nonjudgmental attitude.

Daily Reflections, Day Seventy six, No longer choosing to play the victim.

Day Seventy six

No longer choosing to play the victim.

“The emptiness engendered by fear must be replaced by forgiveness.” ACIM.T-1.IV.4:1 “Those who witness for me are expressing, through their miracles, that they have abandoned the belief in deprivation in favor of the abundance they learned belongs to them.” ACIM.T-1.IV.4:8

We always have a choice between the path of the ego and the path of the spirit. The path of the ego involves separation, locality, fear, guilt, anger, resentment, loneliness, and death. The path of the spirit involves joining, Oneness, love, forgiveness, peace, joy, safety, and eternal life. What would you have?

Life on the path of the ego is made up of scarcity and deprivation where we struggle to get more. Life on the path of the spirit is made up of abundance and wholeness where we are content and secure.

The path of the ego is seductive offering false promises from multiple idols which contribute to our forgetting God. Sometimes we even dismiss God thinking that God is too good to be true or we have been taught that God is judgmental and will punish us. This judgmental and punishing God is a false God promoted by clergy who would control and exploit those who believe their lies and foolishness.

The path of the spirit is offering the true God of universal and unconditional love. Access to the awareness of this Divine Spirit is through forgiveness wherein we are willing to give up making other people and things responsible for our unhappiness. We come to realize that the power of salvation lies in our own decision making mind. We can choose the lies of the ego or the promises of the spirit.

Today, I will take several moments when I am upset, fearful, angry, resentful and ask myself if I am going to make this person or this situation responsible for my unhappiness. Becoming aware of the stupidity of this attack, I will laugh, and turn away, and rise above, and praise God for my ability to choose forgiveness rather than to feel like a victim.