Will Rev. Cynthia Cain Of The Lexington KY U*U Congregation Own Her Problem With Republicans aka Address Her Anti-Republican Intolerance And Bigotry?
In a blog post titled Recession-Proof Religion on her Isten Aldjon, Y'all blog Rev. Cynthia Cain of the Lexington KY U*U "church" references The Oregonian's recent article about the serious financial problems of the First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon in an effort to convince her Lexington KY U*U congregation, if not other U*U congregations, to take up the practice of "tithing" albeit "not necessarily giving ten percent, but giving a percentage of income right off the top to charity (church first)." Apparently speaking primarily in terms of persuading her own and other tightwad U*U congregants, who she claims "hate words like tithing" and have a habit of giving "out of discretionary income" alone, to fork over more of their less than hard earned money to her own KY U*U "church" and other U*U congregations Rev. Cynthia Cain says, "But I do think we in leadership will need to work even harder to help people act from generosity and compassion and not from fear." Needless to say I can think of other things that U*U ministers would be very well advised to help their U*U congregants to respond to with generosity and compassion rather than fear and even paranoia. . . Rev. Cynthia Cain says, "I think a whole entire culture shift will have to take place, and I have a few ideas about how it can happen." I could say the same thing about "The U*U Movement" but I would be saying it about a number of things above and beyond how U*U congregants should do more to financially support their sometimes "less than deserving" ministers and "churches". . . Rev. Cynthia Cain's "sermon" comes across as rather cynical "enlightened self-interest" to me, especially when she says, "I know, because I commit five percent of my salary & housing to the church, that unless my income changes dramatically, my pledge will not change either." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. . .
One public statement of the FUCP's senior minister Rev. Margaret Sewell "jumped out" at Rev. Cynthia Cain just as it jumped out at me when I read it several days ago -
"the congregation needs to own the problems and understand the consequences."
Without further ado here is the comment that I just submitted to the 'Recession-Proof Religion' blog post Rev. Cynthia P. Cain's Isten Aldjon, Y'all blog -
:What jumped out at me from the article was Rev. Sewell's comment to the congregation, "the congregation needs to own the problems and understand the consequences."
For some strange reason, actually for a whole lot of good reasons. . . that public statement of the First Unitarian Church of Portland's senior minister Rev. Marilyn Sewell leapt off the virtual "page" at me too when I read it a few days ago Rev. Cain. Financial problems, such as the deficits of the First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon and no doubt a good number of other U*U "churches", are by no means the only problems that U*U congregations need to *own* and understand the consequences of. . . I am not convinced that financial problems are the worst problems of the U*Us, far from it AFA*I*AC. There is in fact an embarrassingly long list of problems that both individually and collectively U*U congregations need to *own* by responsibly acknowledging and, understanding the potential or actual consequences of. . . work hard to correct and/or redress. Amongst these many problems is the anti-Republican sentiment that is aired in too many U*U congregations, or on the blogs of U*U ministers for that matter. . . that make many U*U congregations anything but welcoming to Republicans and/or other political conservatives who have the audacity and temerity to seek "a liberal religious home within Unitarian Universalism". Au contraire, too many so-called U*U "Welcoming Congregations" are anything but genuinely welcoming, nurturing, and sustaining, to say nothing of *accepting*. . . of the spirits of religiously liberal political conservatives.
Since you are clearly and unequivocally part and parcel of that particular problem of the U*Us, albeit not the only U*U minister to ever so liberally insult and defame Republicans. . . I hereby yet again call upon you to responsibly *own* that problem, and understanding the potential and actual consequences of that problem, work hard to address it and correct it. You could start by finding something nice to say about Governor Sarah Palin. I am sure that if you try a little bit you can find a reasonable number of nice things that you can say about Sarah Palin even if it galls you to do so. . . Personally I think that Rev. Meg Riley did a very good job of *owning* the problem of anti-Republican sentiment within U*Uism, or what The Oregonian called "The Church of the Far Left" when reporting on the 2007 UUA GA in Portland Oregon, in her sermon titled "Invisible Fences" which she then blogged about on the UUA Washington Office's 'Inspired Faith, Effective Action' social justice blog in a post titled 'UU Republicans'. Maybe you can take a cue from Rev. Meg Riley and deliver a sermon apologizing for your blanket condemnation of Republicans that borders on, if not actually publicly displays. . . anti-Republican intolerance and bigotry that would never be acceptable by U*Us or other people of intelligence and conscience if the same or similar words were used in a blanket condemnation of Jews or African-Americans or Unitarian*Universalists for that matter. . .
Please spare me the *bother* of having to raise Cain about this particular problem of yours yet again. . . You can begin the process of *owning* your own anti-Republican U*U problem by posting this comment to your blog instead of suppressing it. Be assured that it will be cross-posted on The Emerson Avenger blog.
*Regards*,
The Emerson Avenger
One public statement of the FUCP's senior minister Rev. Margaret Sewell "jumped out" at Rev. Cynthia Cain just as it jumped out at me when I read it several days ago -
"the congregation needs to own the problems and understand the consequences."
Without further ado here is the comment that I just submitted to the 'Recession-Proof Religion' blog post Rev. Cynthia P. Cain's Isten Aldjon, Y'all blog -
:What jumped out at me from the article was Rev. Sewell's comment to the congregation, "the congregation needs to own the problems and understand the consequences."
For some strange reason, actually for a whole lot of good reasons. . . that public statement of the First Unitarian Church of Portland's senior minister Rev. Marilyn Sewell leapt off the virtual "page" at me too when I read it a few days ago Rev. Cain. Financial problems, such as the deficits of the First Unitarian Church of Portland Oregon and no doubt a good number of other U*U "churches", are by no means the only problems that U*U congregations need to *own* and understand the consequences of. . . I am not convinced that financial problems are the worst problems of the U*Us, far from it AFA*I*AC. There is in fact an embarrassingly long list of problems that both individually and collectively U*U congregations need to *own* by responsibly acknowledging and, understanding the potential or actual consequences of. . . work hard to correct and/or redress. Amongst these many problems is the anti-Republican sentiment that is aired in too many U*U congregations, or on the blogs of U*U ministers for that matter. . . that make many U*U congregations anything but welcoming to Republicans and/or other political conservatives who have the audacity and temerity to seek "a liberal religious home within Unitarian Universalism". Au contraire, too many so-called U*U "Welcoming Congregations" are anything but genuinely welcoming, nurturing, and sustaining, to say nothing of *accepting*. . . of the spirits of religiously liberal political conservatives.
Since you are clearly and unequivocally part and parcel of that particular problem of the U*Us, albeit not the only U*U minister to ever so liberally insult and defame Republicans. . . I hereby yet again call upon you to responsibly *own* that problem, and understanding the potential and actual consequences of that problem, work hard to address it and correct it. You could start by finding something nice to say about Governor Sarah Palin. I am sure that if you try a little bit you can find a reasonable number of nice things that you can say about Sarah Palin even if it galls you to do so. . . Personally I think that Rev. Meg Riley did a very good job of *owning* the problem of anti-Republican sentiment within U*Uism, or what The Oregonian called "The Church of the Far Left" when reporting on the 2007 UUA GA in Portland Oregon, in her sermon titled "Invisible Fences" which she then blogged about on the UUA Washington Office's 'Inspired Faith, Effective Action' social justice blog in a post titled 'UU Republicans'. Maybe you can take a cue from Rev. Meg Riley and deliver a sermon apologizing for your blanket condemnation of Republicans that borders on, if not actually publicly displays. . . anti-Republican intolerance and bigotry that would never be acceptable by U*Us or other people of intelligence and conscience if the same or similar words were used in a blanket condemnation of Jews or African-Americans or Unitarian*Universalists for that matter. . .
Please spare me the *bother* of having to raise Cain about this particular problem of yours yet again. . . You can begin the process of *owning* your own anti-Republican U*U problem by posting this comment to your blog instead of suppressing it. Be assured that it will be cross-posted on The Emerson Avenger blog.
*Regards*,
The Emerson Avenger
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