Religion in the public square - By their fruit you will know them

By their fruit you will know them

From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly—not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it. When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.

George Packer, “Underlying Conditions,” Atlantic, June, 2020

Not since the prosecution of immoral wars based on bogus claims of "weapons of mass destruction" and war crimes such as  torture and indefinite incarceration without due process in Guantanamo, the United States has  seen such immoral behavor in its Federal government.

Even more immoral has been the political and public support which has enabled the U.S government rendering all the American people guilty off aiding and abetting unethical, immoral, and illegal behavior.

The United States is no longer a self governing nation based on the rule of law. U.S. values and principles have been sabotaged and corrupted insidiously by people motivated by money, power, special interest, and status. The social contract has become so unjust, illicit, and corrupted that most Americans and other peoples around the world no longer recognize the people the American people claim to be and have been in the past.

In some instances religious groups have supported and promoted such leadership in return for support for parochial values and preferences rather than the common good.

And so, spiritual people are left with lawless and immoral communities in which they are living like the yeast in the dough, the salt of the earth, the light on the hill.

Now more than ever before, spiritual people need to articulate their values and work for systems that support lawfulness, justice, equity, and peace among all people.

President Trump has declared churches "essential businesses" so that their members can congregate, infect each other, spread the virus, and kill each other and their loved ones. Perhaps this is social darwinism at its best. Jesus said, "By their fruit, you will know them." The Trump supporters and enablers will die off and their charming and manipulative leader will be voted out of office because of the immoral acts which have caused such suffering and death. Indeed, by their fruit you will know them.

The Moral Unitarian Universalist - Acedia - Unitarian Universalism's great sin.

Topic Eight

Acedia - Unitarian Univeralism’s great sin.

Unitarian Universalism has eschewed a sense of the sacred for a sense of the profane. Unitarian Universalists, apart from the transcendentalists, have become a cynical people who stress the utility of the profane rather than the mystery and awe of the sacred. This is one reason why congregations and the denomination remain very small.

Unitarian Univeralism does not move people, does not have an ideological meta narrative that binds people together in a covenantal relationship that they claim is the foundation of their faith. And so Unitarian Universalism teeters on the brink of moral and spiritual bankruptcy.

Most Unitarian Univeralists can’t tell you in any coherent way what it is that their church stands for, what its mission is, and what its vision is for the future. It is this moral failing that results in a feeble and frail tradition. Where are the modern day heroes and saints? Where are the modern day narratives that describe inspiring and courageous work. UUs laughably are better known for their quibbling in committee meetings over arcane issues than in carrying out a viable mission to achieve an inspiring and uplifting vision.

The lack of an inspiring and motivating ideological narrative while morally deficient in itself, is also further demoralizing because of the lack of recognition and efforts to rectify the situation.

If Unitarian Universalism is a path to salvation both individually and societally, how does it work? This lack of explanation is a dereliction in duty and an example of the sin of acedia which in everyday language is “not really giving a shit.”

The moral problem is best summed up as “shit or get off the pot.” People can sit on the pot longer if they wish, but to claim that they are the yeast in the dough, the light shining in the darkness, and then not to act on these claims is to lie to oneself and to others so that one can rest in comfort and not be bothered to help make the world a better place by perfecting oneself.

The lack of a sense of the sacred, a Higher Power that is beyond the individual ego, sabotages and deflates the power that could be generated when Unitarian Universalism is often presented as nothing more than another profane civic organization like Rotary, Kiwanis, and the Lions. It is this lack of appreciation and empowering of the sacred that leads to acedia which is Unitarian Universalism’s great sin.

The Spiritual life, When holiness abounds and is contagious.

Topic Thirty five

When holiness abounds and is contagious.

“Love is not as valuable as freedom is. Love is a great value, but not higher than freedom. So one would like to be loving but one would not like to be imprisoned by love.” p.79

Osho is referring, in this passage, to conditional love and conditional love is always suffocating in the end once the transaction is complete or no further transactions are desired by one of the partners in the relationship.

“I’ve fallen out of love. They are a good person, but I don’t love them any more, I’m sorry to say.” What has happened? The relationship no longer meets the person’s needs and desires and so what’s the point, what’s the purpose? At this point continuing the relationship is done out of duty, obligation, responsibility and abandoning these things engenders guilt. When is guilt the basis of love? Never.

Osho teaches that freedom is a higher value than conditional love.

But what about unconditional love? Unconditional love as compared to conditional love is already imbued with freedom. Unconditional love is shared, no strings attached. Unconditional love is not transactional but the opposite. Unconditional love is always one-sided. It flows from abundance not scarcity. Unconditional love is freeing in and of itself.

Unconditional love is rare and is practiced with intention and a purity which is precious. The person radiating unconditional love does not possess it themselves but is merely a conduit for a magnanimous source. People who radiate unconditional love are “old souls”, very mature, very wise, full of peace and joy. When you are in their presence you know there is something special flowing which is empowering and liberating. Holiness abounds and is contagious.

Should national service be a requirment for citizenship?

Should service learning be a requirement of coming of age programs in UU?

Are We All Soliders Now? by Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar

America is standing at a moral crossroads. Many people are likening this pandemic to a war. That analogy is highly problematic. The idea that we, as citizens, are soldiers who should follow the commands of our politicians is troubling. Our current leaders do not have the capacity or character to make the kinds of life and death decisions that we are being called upon, as a nation, to make at this


time.

Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar is a prophetic voice in these turbulent and stressful times.

Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar cuts through the nonsense, the insanity, what in more vulgar and impolite society is called "bull shit."

Rev. Dr. Marlin Lavanhar teaches that the war metaphor is highly problematic when dealing with a public health, economic, and social crisis. We are not fighting a war where national lines are drawn and there are good guys and bad guys and where nationalistic security and pride are at stake.

There is a moral revolution under way where we can choose to value the sanctity of every life and work together in solidatiry on the whole planet for the mutual welfare of what Christians call, "The Body of Christ," the "community of saints, and Unitarian Universalists call the interdependent web of all existence."

Just when my faith in Unitarian Univeralism flags because of the insipid sermons full of psychobabble and sentimental cliches, my faith is reinvigorated with a teaching touching on the real deal.

Religion in the public square - The moral corruption of America on Memorial Day 2020

The moral corruption of America

When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills—a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public—had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms. It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity—to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category.

The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus—like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering.

George Packer, Underlying Conditions, The Atlantic, June 2020, p. 9

Those with eyes to see and ears to hear have seen and heard the collapse of the American democracy coming. There were signs all over the place; the immoral wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, the war crimes of torture, Abu Ghraib, Guantonamo, the growing income and wealth inequality, police violence, mass incarceration of minority populations, Citizens united, corporate and mercenary health care for profit, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, media illiteracy, lack of educational opportunities, child care, job training,  and the list goes on and on.

In themselves these signs and symptoms could be dealt with and minimized if not eradicated, but systematically ensconced in a mean spirited social contract, they have continued to weaken us, separate us, divide us, and brought us to national collapse.

The Trump administration is not the problem with its lies, corruption, racism, cruelty, bullying, and sycophancy but rather a flowering in the moral soil which has nurtured and brought these political leaders to power.

We, the American people, have done this to ourselves and we have no one else to blame. Our hubris, arrogance, greediness, and militarism has ironically made us brittle, fragile, and on the verge of collapse. It didn’t take much to tip the house of cards over the edge into the abyss of destruction.

And here we are - having made our own bed, we have to lie and die in it.

Will the current crisis be enough to bring us to our senses or will more pain and suffering be necessary? Predictions are that the next six months things will only get worse because the majority of Americans still haven’t learned the lessons that Mother Nature is trying to teach.

Unitariann Univeralists know the answers which are embodied in their seven principles but they are a small voice pissing the ocean and farting into a hurricane, and they have a tendency to be too nice not wanting to speak the truth if it would offend anyone, and the truth offends the majority of Americans who voted to Make America Great Again.

America is a failed state supported by a failed people who have lost their moral compass. They have bought into Capitalism and the worship of the Almighty Dollar and the demonization of their brothers and sisters upon whom to project their fear, anger, resentment, and grievance. They have elected corrupt people into office to represent them based on their corrupt values and principles.

The great American way has always been about the money and competing and screwing the next person to get a little bigger share of the pie. The people who have won at this game are the ones we admire, the ones we vote for and support, the ones we want to be associated with. What America needs at this point is a miraculous change of heart and it doesn’t seem that they are ready for it yet.

How can UUs help America get ready to embark on a better way? By teaching people that better choices are available and helping to change the incentives so that people will be more inclined collectively to do the right thing. A good place to start, is simply with the truth, and the truth is, that we have sinned. We cannot be forgiven and rectify the mistakes if we cannot name the sin. What America’s sins have most affected you and your family and friends? Can you name them? Where can you start? What is one thing you could do today to improve the moral environment in your family, your neighborhood, your community, your state, your country, the planet? Start where you are.

On Memorial Day we are encouraged to fetichize our military exploits. Let's use this opportunity to do a life review and consider where our military might has actually gotten us. This review, if done honestly, will make you cry not so much for those who have been needlessly killed but for the insanity of our behavior.

The Moral Unitarian Universalist - The cheerleaders vs the task masters.

The cheerleaders vs the task masters.

Achieving group goals can be very challenging. Many fears arise to block progress and provide obstacles to achievement. Maintaining morale, preserving self esteem, avoiding conflict, and preventing hurt feelings is also important.

In small group psychology these two kinds of leadership are called, “the task -  instrumental leader,” and the “social - emotional leader.” Usually these two functions are divided between two people, but rarely they are combined into a single leader who is called “charismatic.” The charismatic leader can both get the job done and also maintain group morale and cohesiveness.

Of the two functions which is most important for group success? It is the task - instrumental leadership. The path to hell, so the saying goes, is paved with good intentions.

Some sexists say that these two functions of leadership are gender determined in a patriarchal society with the male role being task - instrumental and the female role being social-emotional. These role assignments seem to be more the result of socialization rather than biologically determined.

In the moral domain, the foundational pillars that these functions of leadership rest on are fairness and reciprocity, and loyalty and self sacrifice for the good of the group. Unitarian Universalists talk a good game when they promote and affirm their second principle which is justice, equity and compassion in human relations, and their third principle which is acceptance of one another and promotion of spiritual growth in our congregations. When it comes to self governance, these principles are rarely enacted in a viable way and so congregations and the denomination continue to be very small and shrinking in relation to a percentage of the larger population in which they are ensconced.

The moral issue which Unitarian Universalists struggle with, but haven’t resolved, is whether they would prefer to be liked or be respected? They prefer to be liked and when conflict arises they are quick to avoid it by walking away. Is walking away a moral decision or is it immoral?

There is a place for rejection and abandonment when situations contain violence and great harm, but when they are merely uncomfortable due to disagreement and the egotistical need to be right, walking away and shunning people and exiling them is immoral.

The maintenance of group morale and esprit de corps is an important function of leadership but not as important is truth, honesty, genuineness, and right action. Prostituting truth, honesty, and right action just to maintain pseudo rapport is malignant and toxic and impedes growth and integrity.

The bottom line is captured in the slogan, “Keepin it real.” Pretentiousness, sycophancy, and false praise and appreciation are the path to hell.