She came from Providence, the one on Rhode Island. . .
Well it looks like some rather godless, intolerant, and abusive fundamentalist atheist "Humanist" Unitarian Universalists (aka U*Us) are intolerantly bashing a 'Pagan Pride Day' event put on by Pagan U*Us in Providence, Rhode Island. Why am I not surprised?
From the page: Pagan Pride Day event
Some Unitarian Universalist church members are questioning why the congregation is hosting a day to "educate the public about what paganism is and isn't."
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 15, 2006
BY RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal Religion Writer
PROVIDENCE -- stirs church controversy
The First Unitarian Church plans to host a Rhode Island Pagan Pride Day tomorrow, but not everyone in the church is pleased.
The daylong program has drawn fire from critics who say that Unitarian Universalism is a rational congregation that has tried to steer clear of superstition.
In a letter being circulated among members, one critic called the scheduled series of pagan workshops "a potpourri of flaky spiritualities and ancient occult practices resembling a medieval Dungeons and Dragons festival."
"The sad and scary thing," the critic wrote, is that it will probably draw a bigger crowd than discussion on how Unitarians might lead a "long overdue reform" of liberal religion.
The writer added: "On the other hand, we are supposed to be committed to diversity. Therefore, instead of criticizing this travesty, maybe we should contribute to it, say, by providing booths to promote Voodoo, Santeria and the ancient Greek Olympian deities. . . . After all, what better way to exorcize the God myth than to adopt and worship a couple of dozen deities."
Update: September 19 11pm
It turns out that a few other U*U bloggers were aware of this incident before I was. I am posting Joel Monka's take on it verbatim below -
Friday, September 15, 2006
Humanist Vs. Theist redux
Well, the old battle between the UU Humanists and UU Theists hasn’t ended yet. Thanks to The Wild Hunt and WitchVox for pointing out these articles about an event at a UU church in Rhode Island. Pagan Pride Day event and Unitarians spark controversy with Pagan Pride Day .
In this case, it isn’t the Pagans stirring up the controversy as much as the UU’s; it seems that this congregation hosts a CUUPS chapter who has organized a “Pagan Pride” day, and the Humanists aren’t happy about it. They quote a letter being circulated, but any UU Theist already knows what it says without having to read it; we’ve heard it so very many times before- “superstition”, “flakey spirituality”, “occult practices”, “the God myth”... the only one they missed is “psychotic break”. And actually, even that may be in there; they didn’t print the full text. It’s good that UU is such a welcoming religion.
I’ll tell you old-school UU Humanists out there something: you should thank Bertrand Russell that you don’t always get what you wish for... if all the UU Christians and UU Pagans left, the average age of the average congregation would approach triple digits, and the membership list would drop down to double digits- and half of them would be Buddhist. We irrational, superstitious psychotics are keeping your doors open; the least you can do is sneer at us behind our backs instead of right in our faces.
The Wild Hunt blog's take on it may be read here.
ChaliceChick's transparent (and remarkably lame. . .) attempt to Deny, Ignore, and Minimize the glaringly obvious anti-Pagan, if not more broadly anti-religious. . . intolerance of some U*U "Humanists" in Providence, Rhode Island may be read here.
From the page: Pagan Pride Day event
Some Unitarian Universalist church members are questioning why the congregation is hosting a day to "educate the public about what paganism is and isn't."
01:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 15, 2006
BY RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal Religion Writer
PROVIDENCE -- stirs church controversy
The First Unitarian Church plans to host a Rhode Island Pagan Pride Day tomorrow, but not everyone in the church is pleased.
The daylong program has drawn fire from critics who say that Unitarian Universalism is a rational congregation that has tried to steer clear of superstition.
In a letter being circulated among members, one critic called the scheduled series of pagan workshops "a potpourri of flaky spiritualities and ancient occult practices resembling a medieval Dungeons and Dragons festival."
"The sad and scary thing," the critic wrote, is that it will probably draw a bigger crowd than discussion on how Unitarians might lead a "long overdue reform" of liberal religion.
The writer added: "On the other hand, we are supposed to be committed to diversity. Therefore, instead of criticizing this travesty, maybe we should contribute to it, say, by providing booths to promote Voodoo, Santeria and the ancient Greek Olympian deities. . . . After all, what better way to exorcize the God myth than to adopt and worship a couple of dozen deities."
Update: September 19 11pm
It turns out that a few other U*U bloggers were aware of this incident before I was. I am posting Joel Monka's take on it verbatim below -
Friday, September 15, 2006
Humanist Vs. Theist redux
Well, the old battle between the UU Humanists and UU Theists hasn’t ended yet. Thanks to The Wild Hunt and WitchVox for pointing out these articles about an event at a UU church in Rhode Island. Pagan Pride Day event and Unitarians spark controversy with Pagan Pride Day .
In this case, it isn’t the Pagans stirring up the controversy as much as the UU’s; it seems that this congregation hosts a CUUPS chapter who has organized a “Pagan Pride” day, and the Humanists aren’t happy about it. They quote a letter being circulated, but any UU Theist already knows what it says without having to read it; we’ve heard it so very many times before- “superstition”, “flakey spirituality”, “occult practices”, “the God myth”... the only one they missed is “psychotic break”. And actually, even that may be in there; they didn’t print the full text. It’s good that UU is such a welcoming religion.
I’ll tell you old-school UU Humanists out there something: you should thank Bertrand Russell that you don’t always get what you wish for... if all the UU Christians and UU Pagans left, the average age of the average congregation would approach triple digits, and the membership list would drop down to double digits- and half of them would be Buddhist. We irrational, superstitious psychotics are keeping your doors open; the least you can do is sneer at us behind our backs instead of right in our faces.
The Wild Hunt blog's take on it may be read here.
ChaliceChick's transparent (and remarkably lame. . .) attempt to Deny, Ignore, and Minimize the glaringly obvious anti-Pagan, if not more broadly anti-religious. . . intolerance of some U*U "Humanists" in Providence, Rhode Island may be read here.
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