Judith Evans Chases Up Some British Unitarian "Snakes" In The Guardian For St. Patrick's Day
Nothing like chasing up some U*U "snakes" in the British Isles aka the United Kingdom on St. Patrick's Day. . . Here is a comment about the truth and meaning of contemporary Unitarian*Universalism that I just freely and responsibly submitted to a Judith Evans 'Comment Is Free' Opinion Editorial titled 'Strength in unity?' and questioningly, if not questionably, subtitled 'Unitarians are radically open-minded. But do they offer more than simply a religion of everything and nothing?' that was published in The Guardian, even if it is already tomorrow over there. . . I have corrected some typos and will add some embedded hyperlinks at my in*discretion later -
RobinEdgar
18 Mar 09, 1:04am
Judith Evans sure picked a good day to point out some of the "snakes" in the Unitarian "Church". . . With any luck this Guardian article will help to chase these "serpents" out of what famous X-Unitarian Ralph Waldo Emerson once described as "corpse-cold Unitarianism". Hardly a paragraph gets written that does not touch upon the fact that British Unitarians have pretty much replaced a once respected monotheistic religion with secular humanist politics. Much of this story could just as easily apply to Canadian Unitarians and American Unitarian*Universalists, to say nothing of Unitarian*Universalists elsewhere in the so-called U*U World.
If only Unitarians could refrain from booing, hissing and rattling at those who they perceive as villains. I would not be surprised at all if Andrew Pakula delivered this sermon precisely because he is well aware of how Unitarian*Universalists, including U*U clergy and prominent lay leaders such as the "Life President" of the Padiham Unitarians Joyce Thompson, quite regularly boo and hiss, and insult and defame, those people they perceive as "villains" in spite of their pretense of affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every human being.
I am not the least bit surprised that Silverwhistle found Unitarianism appealing and felt comfortable with many aspects of it. Contemporary Unitarianism has been heavily influenced by secular humanism aka atheism. Many Unitarian ministers are atheists and some of them, along with no shortage of U*U lay members, have all the tolerance and respect for God believing people as that pompous ASS* Richard Dawkins. . . Imagine coming to a Unitarian Church one Sunday only to hear the fundamentalist atheist, if not Atheist Supremacist, "pastor" dogmatically asserting that God is "a non-existent being" and preaching to the proverbial choir of "Humanist" U*Us that belief in God seems primitive. Imagine trying to discuss a profound spiritual experience of one kind or another with your U*U minister and, at best, being politely ignored and brushed off by an atheist "pastoral specialist" who is neither ready, nor willing, nor even able to *minister* appropriately to you and, at worst, being contemptuously labeled as psychotic and facing angry demands from a self-described "pastoral specialist" to seek "professional help" immediately. Yes, everything I have related here has actually happened in the U*U World. These are not hypothetical "scenarios", these are actual events that have occurred, and they are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what I and other God believing people have reasonable grounds to call "corpse-cold Unitarianism", just as Ralph Waldo Emerson did over a century ago now.
The Unitarian*Universalist Association of Congregations was described as "the Church of the Far Left" by The Oregonian newspaper when the UUA held its annual general assembly in Portland Oregon in 2007. American Unitarian*Universalists have no qualms as describing themselves as "the religious arm of the Democratic Party." Perhaps British Unitarians might be quite reasonably described as the religious arm of the Labour Party. Left-wing politics have effectively replaced "liberal religion" in most if not all of the Unitarian Church world-wide, and I say that as a moderate political and religious liberal who usually votes for the Liberal Party or New Democratic Party in Canadian federal elections.
For all their empty talk about hating the sin, not the sinner, Unitarian*Universalists display plenty of hate towards their perceived enemies, be they God believing people who expect to be as welcome as anyone else in the so-called "Unitarian Church", or political conservatives who are far from genuinely welcome in U*U "Welcoming Congregations". The openness of U*Unitarians is greatly exaggerated and their "edge" can be quite painful, and even quite damaging, when they have an axe to grind with you. . . I know this from bitter personal experience of the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of secular "Humanist" Unitarians, but many others can say the same thing.
I am not a political conservative but some U*U attacks on Republicans and other conservatives can be properly described as hateful and hate-filled, if not outright hate speech. . . Here is just one recent example of it -
http://istenaldjon.blogspot.com/2008/09/omg-mean-people-do-suck.html
As I rule I am someone who really is very tolerant but I will not tolerate the obvious intolerance of outrageously hypocritical Unitarian*Universalists be it manifested in Canada, the U.S.A, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else in the so-called U*U World. Their intolerance insults my intelligence. . . I have been exposing and denouncing U*U anti-religious intolerance and bigotry and other U*U injustices, abuses and hypocrisy for over a decade now, and will continue to do so until such time as U*Us stop passing me the ammunition of their own intolerant words and actions.
*Atheist Supremacist Spokesperson
RobinEdgar
18 Mar 09, 1:04am
Judith Evans sure picked a good day to point out some of the "snakes" in the Unitarian "Church". . . With any luck this Guardian article will help to chase these "serpents" out of what famous X-Unitarian Ralph Waldo Emerson once described as "corpse-cold Unitarianism". Hardly a paragraph gets written that does not touch upon the fact that British Unitarians have pretty much replaced a once respected monotheistic religion with secular humanist politics. Much of this story could just as easily apply to Canadian Unitarians and American Unitarian*Universalists, to say nothing of Unitarian*Universalists elsewhere in the so-called U*U World.
If only Unitarians could refrain from booing, hissing and rattling at those who they perceive as villains. I would not be surprised at all if Andrew Pakula delivered this sermon precisely because he is well aware of how Unitarian*Universalists, including U*U clergy and prominent lay leaders such as the "Life President" of the Padiham Unitarians Joyce Thompson, quite regularly boo and hiss, and insult and defame, those people they perceive as "villains" in spite of their pretense of affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every human being.
I am not the least bit surprised that Silverwhistle found Unitarianism appealing and felt comfortable with many aspects of it. Contemporary Unitarianism has been heavily influenced by secular humanism aka atheism. Many Unitarian ministers are atheists and some of them, along with no shortage of U*U lay members, have all the tolerance and respect for God believing people as that pompous ASS* Richard Dawkins. . . Imagine coming to a Unitarian Church one Sunday only to hear the fundamentalist atheist, if not Atheist Supremacist, "pastor" dogmatically asserting that God is "a non-existent being" and preaching to the proverbial choir of "Humanist" U*Us that belief in God seems primitive. Imagine trying to discuss a profound spiritual experience of one kind or another with your U*U minister and, at best, being politely ignored and brushed off by an atheist "pastoral specialist" who is neither ready, nor willing, nor even able to *minister* appropriately to you and, at worst, being contemptuously labeled as psychotic and facing angry demands from a self-described "pastoral specialist" to seek "professional help" immediately. Yes, everything I have related here has actually happened in the U*U World. These are not hypothetical "scenarios", these are actual events that have occurred, and they are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what I and other God believing people have reasonable grounds to call "corpse-cold Unitarianism", just as Ralph Waldo Emerson did over a century ago now.
The Unitarian*Universalist Association of Congregations was described as "the Church of the Far Left" by The Oregonian newspaper when the UUA held its annual general assembly in Portland Oregon in 2007. American Unitarian*Universalists have no qualms as describing themselves as "the religious arm of the Democratic Party." Perhaps British Unitarians might be quite reasonably described as the religious arm of the Labour Party. Left-wing politics have effectively replaced "liberal religion" in most if not all of the Unitarian Church world-wide, and I say that as a moderate political and religious liberal who usually votes for the Liberal Party or New Democratic Party in Canadian federal elections.
For all their empty talk about hating the sin, not the sinner, Unitarian*Universalists display plenty of hate towards their perceived enemies, be they God believing people who expect to be as welcome as anyone else in the so-called "Unitarian Church", or political conservatives who are far from genuinely welcome in U*U "Welcoming Congregations". The openness of U*Unitarians is greatly exaggerated and their "edge" can be quite painful, and even quite damaging, when they have an axe to grind with you. . . I know this from bitter personal experience of the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of secular "Humanist" Unitarians, but many others can say the same thing.
I am not a political conservative but some U*U attacks on Republicans and other conservatives can be properly described as hateful and hate-filled, if not outright hate speech. . . Here is just one recent example of it -
http://istenaldjon.blogspot.com/2008/09/omg-mean-people-do-suck.html
As I rule I am someone who really is very tolerant but I will not tolerate the obvious intolerance of outrageously hypocritical Unitarian*Universalists be it manifested in Canada, the U.S.A, the United Kingdom, or anywhere else in the so-called U*U World. Their intolerance insults my intelligence. . . I have been exposing and denouncing U*U anti-religious intolerance and bigotry and other U*U injustices, abuses and hypocrisy for over a decade now, and will continue to do so until such time as U*Us stop passing me the ammunition of their own intolerant words and actions.
*Atheist Supremacist Spokesperson
Comments
@RobinEdgar: Thanks for the context. Speaking as an interested outsider I found that one of the most engaging aspects of the Newington Green service was its attempt to reconcile political anger with a moral impulse not to demonise anyone. There were some contradictions but I felt the approach of Pakula and the Newington Green congregation was an intelligent one. They also didn't promote atheism - far from it. Do you believe the trends you're describing are integral to Unitarianism? To me, it sounds like they might be more symptomatic of the angry/prejudiced fringe you'll find in any religious organisation, or any organisation come to that. However, I'm ready to be proved wrong. I would say, though, that they didn't seem to represent the Labour party to me.
RobinEdgar
18 Mar 09, 11:55pm
You're welcome for the context Judith. The Newington Green service may well have attempted to reconcile political anger with a moral impulse not to demonize precisely because *some* U*Us are prone to doing just that. Why preach a sermon that is irrelevant to the behaviour of your congregants? When a Unitarian*Universalist minister addresses a subject such as that one it is usually because it *needs* to be addressed. . . Here is an example of the flip-side of Rev. Cynthia P. Cain's intolerant anti-Republican "two cents worth" -
http://uuasocialjustice.blogspot.com/2008/11/uu-republicans.html
Rev. Meg Riley would not be reaching out to U*U Republicans in this manner if they were not in fact "judged as immoral, or stupid, or — evil" by some U*Us.
:There were some contradictions but I felt the approach of Pakula and the Newington Green congregation was an intelligent one.
I will take your word for it. I was not there of course. I certainly hope that UK U*Us pay heed to Andy Pakula's sermon about not demonizing their enemies.
:They also didn't promote atheism - far from it.
Could you qualify your "far from it" Judith? The theological standpoint of U*U congregations varies from church to church, and I have heard that the British Unitarians aren't quite as atheist/Humanist influenced as Canadian and American Unitarian*Universalists are. OTOH I have seen clear evidence of tension between theistic and atheist British Unitarians.
:Do you believe the trends you're describing are integral to Unitarianism?
There is clear tension between theists and atheists aka Humanists within the U*U Movement in Canada and America. The following song deals with this tension between Theists and Humanists in a light-hearted manner but it can and does get nasty.
http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-am-theist-you-are-humanist-song_10.html
I also find that the Theists get the worst of it. I am somewhat biased of course but trying to be very objective. I know what I have experienced and have witnessed plenty of other anti-Christian or more broadly anti-religious intolerance within the Canadian and American Unitarian*Universalist communities. I have seen few cases of comparable active intolerance of U*U Humanists by U*U Theists. Most Theists attending U*U churches are going to be of the kind that are very tolerant and accepting of atheist Humanists, but regrettably there is a subset of Humanists who fit the description of "fundamentalist atheists" who seem to enjoy making life difficult for theists. Not only could Richard Dawkins be a Unitarian*Universalist church member, he could theoretically be ordained as a U*U minister. . . Imagine being a God believing Unitarian and having to sit through Sunday sermons delivered by the Rev. Dr. Richard Dawkins that were derived from 'The God Delusion' and/or some of his more intolerant and obnoxious public statements. It *could* happen. . .
:To me, it sounds like they might be more symptomatic of the angry/prejudiced fringe you'll find in any religious organisation, or any organisation come to that.
Funny you should say that Judith. It might interest you to know that one of the candidates for UUA President, Rev. Peter Morales, described Unitarian*Universalism as a "tiny, declining, *fringe* religion" in his "stump speech" announcing his candidacy. He also wrote off the three Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam, if not most other religions, as "obsolete religions, created for another time" that are only good for contributing to "the darkness" of "injustice, prejudice, ignorance" in this very same "stump speech." What a wonderful choice we have before us. We can choose to join one of those "obsolete religions" or "tiny, declining, fringe religion" known as Unitarian*Universalism aka U*Uism! The problem with contemporary U*Uism is that U*Us all too often choose to condone the words and actions of "the angry/prejudiced fringe" thus repelling many good people.
I take note of the fact that Albionsyd says - "although most of us (at Newington Green anyway) are certainly at the more politically radical end of things. . . For me it is a way of being in my local community in quite a different way from belonging to a residents' association or a political party, that involves a wholehearted acceptance of and support for one another." I can quite reasonably presume that Albionsyd is talking about "wholehearted acceptance of and support for" fellow radicals. What about non-radicals aka moderates. What about the average Londoner who can't in good conscience join a Trinitarian Christian church or a Muslim mosque etc. but is seeking a spiritual community that is a bona fide liberal *religion* and not just a left-wing activist group of some sort.
:However, I'm ready to be proved wrong. I would say, though, that they didn't seem to represent the Labour party to me.
I would be very happy if you were proved 100% right about that Judith. It would indicate that there is still some hope for Unitarianism in the UK.