One Big Fat U*U Mess. . . Rev. Victoria Weinstein's Heated Criticism Of A Liberal Christian Church's Web Site Blurb

Rev. Victoria Weinstein aka Peacebang has gone and put her foot in it again by self-righteously criticizing the online publicity of a non-U*U liberal Christian church while blithely ignoring the fact that many U*U "churches" market themselves in very similar ways. This latest "rant" of Peacebang is not unlike her previous strident finger pointing at the Roman Catholic church over comparatively minor alleged sexual misconduct, specifically Republican Congressman Mark Foley's allegation that he was once fondled by a Catholic priest, at a time when Richard Buell aka Dick Buell, one of her own parishioners at the First Parish Norwell Unitarian Universalist Church, had recently been convicted of the forcible rape of minors including "a female family member" who is most probably one of his own grandchildren.

Peacebang's 'Church Web Site: Would You Visit?' blog post takes the UUC First Church in Pembroke to task for the following "blurb" on it's web site -

Welcome to First Church: We are a growing congregation with big ideas; sharing Christ’s love and mercy as often as we can. Free parking and pew space! Delicious Fair Trade Coffee following the service. Nurses in the congregation... minimal guilt...a great choir... good hymns... relatively short sermons... and lots of children to liven things up! Join us any Sunday!

Here are Peacebang's typically cranky and insulting "Beauty Tips" for First Church in Pembroke -

I have a very mixed reaction to this. “Sharing Christ’s love and mercy as often as we can?” Okay, that sounds humble… and not very committed. Free parking. Wow. That’s a draw. And … free pew space? Is this a kind of nerdy attempt at humor? If so, I’m more confused than amused. The coffee is good and Fair Trade. Um, that’s nice. Nurses in the congregation?? What does this even mean? Minimal guilt… relatively short sermons. Yuck. At this point I know I am so not visiting this church. The cutesy ellipses, the emphasis on low or no-commitment, the bizarre sloppiness of the order of priorities…
I think this is one hot Christian mess. What do you think?

end quote

Here is my response to Rev. Victoria Weinstein's question that has yet to appear on her Peacebang blog because she has managed to block comment submissions from me for the time being. . . I attempted to submit it without any embedded hyperlinks but was unable to do so for now. Needless to say Peacebang will "memory hole" it within minutes or hours of my posting this or any other comment but, for various reasons, I none-the-less like to go through with that exercise in fU*Utility. . .

I think this "one hot Christian mess" is trying very hard to emulate *the* "tiny, declining, fringe religion" known as Unitarian*Universalism especially in the free pew spaces and "minimal guilt" department. BTW Why do you say "Yuck" to minimal guilt Peacebang? I thought minimal guilt was one of your specialities. . .

"The First Parish Unitarian Church of Norwell is a liberal church in dialogue with the religious questions of the modern world, yet still honoring the best within our Judeo-Christian heritage."

Let me guess. . .

Incest and rape of minors?

Obscene sodomy fantasies?

Gratuitously insulting and defaming people?

Refusing to accept responsibility for bad behavior aka "minimal guilt" aka shamelessness?

I could go on but that will do for now. . .

end quote

So allow me to go on a bit here. . . Rev. Victoria Weinstein interprets the First Church in Pembroke's assertion that -

"We are a growing congregation with big ideas; sharing Christ’s love and mercy as often as we can."

in a negative manner by suggesting that "as often as we can" means "not very committed"; but that public statement can be interpreted in a very positive manner, and is probably meant that way. Just how well the congregation of the UCC's First Church in Pembroke actually lives up to that promise is open to debate but everybody in the whole wide U*U World knows just how hard ever so "Christian" U*U Rev. Victoria Weinstein aka Vicki The Impaler aka Vicky She-Wolf of the U*Us strives to share Christ’s love and mercy as often as *she* can. . . don't they?

The "free pew space" bit probably is a kind of nerdy attempt at humor. God forbid that a liberal Christian church should insert a bit of self-deprecating humor into its online publicity, but not surprisingly Peacebang is "more confused than amused".

"The coffee is good and Fair Trade. Um, that’s nice."

No kidding. I doubt that there is a "church" in the whole wide U*U World that couldn't advertise "Delicious Fair Trade Coffee following the service." Why do U*Us suppose that I talk about U*Us waking up and smelling the proverbial coffee, to say nothing of the occasional coffins. . . from time to time?

As far as "Nurses in the congregation" goes, I suppose that it means that there are in fact "Nurses in the congregation", although it might be a typo aka spelling error and the really meant to say nursery in the congregation. But let's stick with taking "nurses in the congregation" at face value. . . I expect that there are no shortage of U*U "churches" that might do well to advertise that they have nurses in their congregation and no, I am not referring to the fact that Jim David Adkisson II may yet walk into yet another Unitarian*Universalist "church" and answer to liberal U*U "wind", including but not limited to anti-conservative hate-speech, with a "whirlwind" of blasts from a shotgun or other item that may be reasonably defined as a gun aka firearm, nor am I suggesting that Rev. Bill David's "worries" that UU Pagan Charles Rowe might start stabbing him with his hunting knife are anything more than paranoia and related hysteria and alarmism.

No, what I am talking about is the readily observable fact that U*Us U*U World-wide are getting older, albeit not necessarily wiser. . . It might be handy to have a nurse or two in the congregation if an aging U*U parishioner keels over in their seat in the middle of a Sunday service because they are suffering from a stroke, or a heart attack, or simply passing out from acute boredom and/or exhaustion brought on by a lengthy overly "intellectual" lecture, I mean "sermon". Believe it or not, the Unitarian Church of Montreal wanted to emulate the Unitarian Church of Ottawa by building an "Old People's Home", or whatever PC terminology U*Us use to describe such things these days, on the lot adjoining the "now UCM now U*Us don't" so that its seriously aging parishioners could hobble into "church" in their walkers on Sunday. Not that the potential much needed extra revenue such a venture might bring to their alleged "church" wasn't a consideration either. . . So I expect that First Church in Pembroke was simply reassuring aging and/or ailing people that if they needed medical attention during a Sunday service that qualified medical personnel were on hand. U*Us might be well advised to take a cue from First Church in Pembroke rather than sneering at it. . .

"Minimal guilt… relatively short sermons. Yuck."

Yuck? But I thought that Rev. Victoria Weinstein and no shortage of other U*Us, such as Rev. Dr. Tracey Robinson-Harris and Rev. Beth Miller just to name two such U*Us aka "kill" two U*U birds with one well aimed virtual "stone", firmly stand on the side of love for minimal guilt aka utter shamelessness. . .

"At this point I know I am so not visiting this church."

I think I just heard a gigantic sigh of relief emanating from the congregation and religious leaders of The First Parish of Pembroke all the way up here in Montreal. . . I am sure that they are all thinking, "Thank God that the U*Us have to deal with the big fat U*U mess of the ever so "Christian" Rev. Victoria Weinstein." In light of this most recent outbreak of U*U "foot-in-mouth disease" courtesy of The Peacebang Virus can U*Us say "quarantine"? Oh, I forgot, the UUA and some U*U churches seem to believe that the words "quarantine" and "sabbatical" are completely interchangeable. . .

"The cutesy ellipses, the emphasis on low or no-commitment, the bizarre sloppiness of the order of priorities…"

What? I thought U*Us just loved their own emphasis on low or no-commitment and the bizarre sloppiness of the order of U*U priorities. . .

Big fat U*U wedder, to say nothing of "less than cool" U*U mess. . . Rev. Victoria Weinstein just can't get enough of The Emerson Avenger's U*U World-famous "Eat Your Words Diet" can she?