Religious literacy - Snapshot of religious knowledge of Americans

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Do you think Unitarian Univeralists could do any better or worse than the average American when it comes to religious literacy?

Lenten Reflections, Day Fourteen, Second Tuesday of Lent, Becoming exalted.

Day Fourteen, Second Tuesday of Lent

Becoming exalted on the path of the Spirit.

Matthew 23: 1-12
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “ The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father— the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Jesus is clear that vanity and egotistical display doesn’t cut it. Jesus tells people not to be impressed with pomp and circumstance, social pretense and posturing, and displays of social status to dominate and coerce.

Jesus tells people to get off of the path of the ego and embark on the path of the Spirit. The Tao Te Ching teaches the same thing saying that people who strut and intimidate, and even charm and are loved, are not as good leaders as people who facilitate and nurture so that people come to be aware of their own power and abilities.

Jesus is telling people that it is love of the Divine Spirit which empowers people not the social characteristics of ego. More directly, Jesus is suggesting that people shed the ego and embrace the Spirit and if they do this they will be exalted as they become One with All.

Lenten Reflections, Second Monday of Lent, Claim your natural inheritance of unconditional love

Day Thirteen, Second Monday of Lent

To claim our natural inheritance of unconditional love we must forgive not judge.

Luke 6:36-38
36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. “ Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Judging separates and divides and forgiving unites and joins.

Jesus wants us to recognize that we are all One with the Father of Creation. We all are extensions of God’s unconditional love.

The ego would have us judge and separate to prove our innocence and expunge our guilt. It is the old game of “one or the other,” and “what about them?” Jesus tells us that these games create and maintain hell. It is in forgiveness that we enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus tells us that we are loved unconditionally and that we, in turn, should share this unconditional love with others. To regress into attacks, put downs, projection of guilt onto others is to make a hell on earth and deprive ourselves and others of the peace, and bliss which is our natural inheritance.

Virtue development - Humility, part three, the paradox of humility

Part three - the paradox of humility

To say, “Look how humble I am” is obviously not to be humble. To be vain and proud of one’s humility is a trick of the ego. Gratitude for the talents and abilities one has been given and achieved is the more humble way to enact this virtue.

In verse 17 of the Tao Te Ching it is written:

And so the humble person knows others and respects them. The humble person empowers others by sharing information, by teaching skills, by facilitating opportunities for people to use this knowledge and skills in ways that are satisfying and fulfilling.

A person of humility is often unrecognized for their contributions and needs and wants no recognition credit, but rather takes delight in the blossoming of others and oneself. It is this witnessing of positive developments that is enough.

Religiouis literacy - Religious composition of people in the U.S.

Religious identification in the U.S. in 2014 according to PEW research study.

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The percentage of the population in the U.S. in 2014 identify as Christian = 71%

• The percentage identify as mainline Protestant Christian = 15%
• The percentage who identify as evangelical Christian = 25%
• The percentage who identify as black Protestant = 7%
• The percentage who identify as Catholic = 21%
• The percentage who identify as Mormon = 2%

The percentage who identify as Jewish = 2%
The percentage who identify as Muslim = 1%
The percentage who identify as Buddhist = 1%
The percentage who identify as Hindu = 1%
The percentage who identify as nothing ("Nones") = 23%

How do you think the religious identification of Americans influences the culture in the U.S. when it comes to education, health care, criminal justice, social welfare, politics?

When it comes to religious identification where would you put Unitarian Universalism?

Most UUs were raised in another faith. If UUs are to understand each other and act on their third principle which is to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations, it would behoove UUs to be more religiously literate than members of other denominations and religious traditions to order to understand their fellow congregants.

Lenten Reflections, Second Sunday of Lent, Experiencing the world of the Spirit.

Day Twelve, Second Sunday of Lent

Experiencing the world of Spirit.

Luke 9: 28 - 36
28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesusa took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake,  they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,  one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; a listen to him!” 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Peter had an enlightenment experience. He experienced Jesus not as a body but as Spirit.

Peter liked it. Peter wanted to stay in the physical space and camp out. But as he was overwhelmed further by the spiritual experience, he at first was terrified having to give up his ego, but as Peter understood the experience as cosmic consciousness, an enlightenment experience, he was at a loss for words. Peter couldn’t describe what had happened to him. Peter wasn’t keeping secrets, he just couldn’t find the words or metaphors to communicate to others trapped in the ego world what he had experienced in the Spirit world.

Peter’s experience is very similar to Plato’s allegory of the cave where one of the prisoners who has spent his life watching the shadows on the wall, finally escapes the cave and becomes aware of a whole different world. This person returns to the cave and tries to explain to his former companions what he has witnessed and experienced, and they have no idea what he is trying to describe, and scoff at him as if they think he is mentally ill.

Peter’s experience is indescribable. The Tao Te Ching starts off with the verse, “The Tao that can be described is not the real Tao.” The teachings of Jesus that can be described are not the real teachings. Jesus is one with the Father and Jesus tried to tell people that they are one with the same Father, too. Most people think Jesus is nuts and dismiss Him and in the end support His execution.

But Peter, James, and John have this indescribable experience. And in learning of their experience, it is implied that we can have this experience too if we would leave the path of the ego and embark on the path of the Spirit.

Religious literacy - Three common misunderstandings about religion