In our soul we are loved and okay.

I elected, for your sake and mine, to demonstrate that the most outrageous assault, as judged by the ego, does not matter. As the world judges these things, but not as God knows them, I was betrayed, abandoned, beaten, torn, and finally killed. It was clear that this was only because of the projection of others onto me, since I had not harmed anyone and had healed many. T-6.I.9:1-3

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Crying is a response to reading this paragraph. It is so sad and tragic.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person. What did Jesus ever do that was so bad that the Romans would arrest him and crucify him? His inherent worth and dignity shone forth in spite of the physical humiliation, degrading, and harm when he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus was able to rise above the torture and execution of his physical body because his spirit was healthy. This was the point of the drama of the crucifixion, that the spirit is beyond the physical. We can choose the world of the ego or the world of the Kingdom of God.

Today it is suggested that we decide to no longer make other people and circumstances responsible for our unhappiness. We take responsibility for our own spiritual orientation and we know that in our soul we are loved and okay.

What is Unitarian Universalism’s primary message to the world?

Society and the world are in grave trouble when logic, reason, and the scientific method are disregarded. Rejection of science and lack of critical thinking exists in both the right and left. Anti-science in the far right is commonly associated with creationism and climate change denial. Areas of anti-science in the far left include being anti-GMO or anti-nuclear and rejecting scientific knowledge that conflicts with postmodernist social justice ideologies. (Salzberg 2016) (Pearce 2012) (Shermer 2013)

Cycleback, David. Against Illiberalism: A critique of illiberal trends in liberal institutions, with a focus on Unitarian Universalism (pp. 42-43). Center for Artifact Studies. Kindle Edition. 

Some of us have moved on to what is being called “post postmodernism” recognizing that there is Truth beyond social construction. The bumper sticker is “Reality doesn’t care anything about your beliefs.”

Unitarian Universalists covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. The emphasis can be on “responsible” instead of “free.” Most UUs agree that not just anything goes. If a religion teaches that you can believe everything you’ll fall for anything.

The UUA has not articulated any clear vision or mission for the denomination. What is UUs message to our contemporary world? It seems to be about social justice which is not unique and too limiting for a religion. While social justice can be an application of a religion’s values it doesn’t answer the question of why those applications were chosen as a manifestation of the values.

The first principle is the affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person and this principle springs from a belief in the unconditional love of Life’s creations by the Transcendent Source. Not everyone believes this and certainly don’t act on this belief. There is a lot of work to be done if UU wants to share this message with the world.

What values do you place on your interior altar?

A church is where an altar is, and the presence of the altar is what makes the church holy. A church that does not inspire love has a hidden altar that is not serving the purpose for which God intended it. I must found His church on you, because those who accept me as a model are literally my disciples. Disciples are followers, and if the model they follow has chosen to save them pain in all respects, they are unwise not to follow him.T-6.1.8:4-7

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

Jesus tells us in this passage that on the altar of his church there is the model of love. Jesus told his followers that the way to the Kingdom of God is to love as I have loved. When we follow his example we find peace and joy instead of pain.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us covenant together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. This search will bring us eventually to what the Beatles sang, “Love is all there is.”

Today it is suggested that we ask ourselves, “What is it that I am deep down looking for?” What values do I place on my interior altar?

Discerning God’s will.

I am sorry when my brothers do not share my decision to hear only one Voice, because it weakens them as teachers and as learners. Yet I know they cannot really betray themselves or me, and that it is still on them that I must build my church. There is no choice in this, because only you can be the foundation of God’s church.T-6.I.8:1-3

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

The one Voice is the will of God which is communicated through the Holy Spirit. In the Christian prayer, the Our Father, the phrase is “...Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We can ignore it, but the Voice of God is always there whether we listen to it and pay attention to it or not.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. For some that means searching for the will of our Transcendent Source.

Today we can ask when faced with a decision, “What would love have me do?” What Love would have us do is the Voice of God.

The Transcendent Source loves us unconditionally.

Help me to teach it (resurrection, rebirth) to our brothers in the name of the Kingdom of God, but first believe that it is true for you, or you will teach amiss. My brothers slept during the so-called “agony in the garden,” but I could not be angry with them because I knew I could not be abandoned. T-6.1.7:5-6

A Course in Miracles . Foundation for Inner Peace. Kindle Edition. 

When we realize that our body can be killed and eventually will die one way or another but our soul is immortal, we become aware that we can not be abandoned.

In Unitarian Universalism some of us join together to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and the encouragement to spiritual growth. Spiritual growth entails a growing awareness of the immortality of our souls.

Today it is suggested that when we are anxious we take three deep breaths, close our eyes, and go within to commune with our Transcendent Source within us that loves us unconditionally.

What’s the message of our UU faith?

Most modern churches of my acquaintance have during my lifetime undergone the highly significant change of delivering their message, whatever it is, by affective means, designed—yes, designed—principally to make Christianity attractive to an audience of predetermined character, rather than to preach and teach a universal and unchanging gospel without consideration of how or whether it might strike a congregation of every mind and estate, leaving its application to a transaction of God and man carried on in the inner chambers of the heart, invisible and inaccessible to those who wish to address a certain kind of audience (e.g., to certain ethnicities, classes, or attitudes).

Dogma and Death, S.M. Hutchens, Touchstone: A Journal Of Mere Christianity, September/October, 2022, p.8

Reading the above passage made me wonder and then laugh, “What is the message of Unitarian Universalism?” If people will believe everything, they will fall for anything.”

Two things strike me as important in the Unitarian Universalist faith: the Universalist unconditional love of our Transcendent Source, and the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. There are other aspects of the UU faith as well, but without these two components, the faith would dissolve and disappear as an organized religion.

White people are not ipso facto racists in spite of what the UUA administration is teaching.

UU minister Rev. Thandeka said there is “the errant assumption that white America works for white Americans. Anyone who cares to look will quickly discover that it doesn’t—at least, not for the vast majority of them. The privilege that, according to the anti-racists, comes with membership in white America, actually belongs to a tiny elite.” (Thandeka 2009)

Cycleback, David. Against Illiberalism: A critique of illiberal trends in liberal institutions, with a focus on Unitarian Universalism (p. 42). Center for Artifact Studies. Kindle Edition. 

The second principle of Unitarian Universalism is that some UUs join together to affirm and promote justice, equity, and compassion in human relations. Cycleback makes the point in his book Against Illiberalism that the current administration of the UUA doesn’t apply this principle to white people because they teach that white people are oppressors and privileged and don’t deserve to be treated with justice, equity, and compassion. They are to be squelched, canceled, marginalized, and excommunicated not because of what they think, say, and do but because of who they are: white.

This position of the UUA administration is, of course, untenable because it is unjust, inequitable, and non compassionate. The most disturbing observation is that the UUA administration doesn’t appear to be aware of the irony of their position.

The current UUA administration who holds these positions on Critical Race Theory and white supremacy are best ignored, encapsulated, as UUs with a higher state of consciousness rise above this dysfunctional thought system and work to enhance and share the fundamentals UU faith.