In my web explorations I’ve recently stumbled upon Caute, a blog by a Unitarian minister in Great Britain. It is interesting and thoughtful, exploring radical religion through a liberal Christian lens. I highly recommend it.However, this entry is not about Caute, even though that could be an interesting reflection, his thinking is so compelling; but rather this entry is inspired by a link I stumbled upon at the Caute blog.Baruch Spinoza is one of my heroes. As Jorge Luis Borges… Read more

Today is the anniversary of King John Sigismund’s Edict of Torda in 1579. It established the right of ministers to preach the gospel as they best understood it, and, as well, for congregants to reserve their own opinions in these matters. In contemporary Unitarian Universalism (as in one or two other places) this has come to be called “freedom of the pulpit” and “freedom of the pew.”It represented a major shift in thinking that was, perhaps of course, already beginning… Read more

Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, “These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father’s) domain.”They said to him, “Then shall we enter the (Father’s) domain as babies?”Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will… Read more

Survey: 0.3 percent of adults are Unitarian Universalistsby Philocrites(for important embedded links, go to the original article. In addition I recommend a visit to Transient and Permanent for another interesting reflection on these statistics and what they might mean. Important stuff, I feel, for those of us concerned with organized (if that’s actually possible) liberal religion.)There’s some intriguing news for Unitarian Universalism-watchers in the Pew Forum’s fascinating new U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. (Yup, it’s time for some religion statistics!) The… Read more

Zen Sourcebook Traditional Documents from China, Korea, and JapanEdited by Stephen Addiss, Stanley Lombardo, and Judith RoitmanIntroduction by Paula AraiMarch 2008 312 pp.I’ve just seen this announced and don’t have it yet, although I immediately ordered it… Let me say flat out, I’m an enormous fan of Judith Roitman and have high expectations. Both she and Stanley Lombardo are senior teachers within the Kwan Um School of Zen, a large and very important Western Zen institution. The blurbs at the… Read more

Some years ago there was something of a fad among Christians, at least here in North America, who liked to ask the question “if Christianity were illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?”Others have taken up this exercise, including from time to time, Unitarian Universalists. If being a UU were illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you?In some ways it is a bit over the top, at least I tend to see it that way; a… Read more

You Are a Caramel Crunch DonutYou’re a complex creature, and you’re guilty of complicating things for fun.You’ve been known to sit around pondering the meaning of life…Or at times, pondering the meaning of your doughnut.To frost or not to frost? To fill or not to fill? These are your eternal questions.What Donut Are You?Thank you Hafidah! Read more

I have as those who follow this blog know after much coming and going thrown my lot in with Barack Obama. And no regrets. I think he’s going to become the next president of the United States. And, I can’t wait…That said, I for one, continue to feel quite positively about Hillary Clinton. (And wish she would become vice-president…) First, a quote (thank you Wild Hunt) from Starhawk, advising Senator Clinton on how she should approach the campaign. Great advice,… Read more

The term Universalism is most commonly reserved for those Christians who hold that in the end all souls will be saved. It is also one of the two currents of that stream of Western liberal religion that became the Unitarian Universalist Association.Within Unitarian Universalism there has been a dynamic engagement with what it means to be a spiritual or religious person. Following this path the institution that is Unitarian Universalism moved in the past century from being a liberal Christian… Read more

Danny Fisher posted the following at his blog. I couldn’t rewrite it better. So, here it is…Yesterday, Amnesty International put out an urgent action appeal regarding U Gambira, the 27-year-old Buddhist monk who led last year’s monastic uprising in Myanmar as head of the All-Burma Monks Alliance (A.B.M.A.). Amnesty considers U Gambira and two other protest leaders (including his brother) to be prisoners of conscience in danger of (further) torture and ill-treatment and even death.Buddhist monk U Gambira and his… Read more