Why Is There Something Instead of Nothing?

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 9:11 am By Carl Gregg

Does the universe have a purpose? I am not sure. Anyone who expresses a more definitive response to the question is claiming access to knowledge not based on empirical foundations…. To assert that the universe has a purpose implies the universe has intent. And intent implies a desired outcome. But who would do the desiring? And what would a desired outcome be? That carbon-based life is inevitable? Or that sentient primates are life’s neurological pinnacle? Are answers to these questions even... Read more

Another World Is Possible: Repealing the Death Penalty

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 9:10 am By Carl Gregg

Inconsistency: Since 1978, less than 1% of Maryland’s 13,000+ murders resulted in a death sentence. Are those individuals truly the “worst of the worst” or simply those with the worst lawyers, wrong skin color or wrong geographic location? Most capital prosecutions occur in Baltimore County, which is more than 13 times more likely to seek the death penalty than Baltimore City. However, only 6% of Maryland’s homicides occur in Baltimore County. Racism: Blacks charged with killing a white victim in... Read more

Zero Dark Thirty: Torture, Disavowal, and the Oscars

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 9:09 am By Carl Gregg

This is what should be done by those who are skilled in goodness, and who know the path of peace: Let them be able and upright, straightforward and gentle in speech, humble and not conceited, contented and easily satisfied, unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways, peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful, not proud and demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove. Wishing: in gladness and in safety, may... Read more

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness

Last updated on: February 13, 2013 at 2:34 pm By Carl Gregg

Imagine you are Emma Faye Stewart, a thirty-year-old, single African-American mother of two who was arrested as part of a drug sweep in Hearne, Texas. All but one of those people arrested were African-American. You are innocent. After a week in jail, you have no one to care for your two small children and are eager to get home. Your court-appointed attorney urges you to plead guilty to a drug distribution charge, saying the prosecutor has offered probation. You refuse,... Read more

Giving Up Lent (for Lent?!)

Last updated on: December 27, 2014 at 9:23 am By Carl Gregg

One of the most interesting parts of my transition from being a pastor in a Progressive Christian church to being the minister of a Unitarian Universalist congregation is the shift from the Christian tradition being the central point of reference to Christianity being one among many sources of authority. Unitarian Universalism explicitly draws from Six Sources: Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness... Read more

A Single Garment of Destiny: MLK and Savoring the Victories for the Dream Act and Marriage Equality

Last updated on: January 25, 2013 at 9:30 pm By Carl Gregg

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, Maryland, where I am the minister, recently hosted a celebration for the recent victories in Maryland for Marriage Equality and Immigration Justice. We were grateful that almost 200 people attended, and that the event was covered by both the also fortunate that both the local paper and a local TV station. This post is an annotated version of my remarks for the occasion. As a religious people who affirm human compassion, advocate for human... Read more

The Stories We Choose to Tell Matter: Highlights from Unitarian Universalist History

Last updated on: January 25, 2013 at 9:18 pm By Carl Gregg

Unitarian Universalists may not believe, with Henry Ford, that history is bunk, but many probably do believe that history is for historians — not a matter of concern for the average member of a local congregations. We tend to ignore the warning of George Santayana that those who forget their history may be condemned to repeat it, or the admonition of Rebecca Parker (president of the Starr King School for the Ministry, our West Coast seminary), that there is a... Read more

A Whirlwind Tour of Liberal Religious History: Compilation

Last updated on: January 25, 2013 at 6:19 pm By Carl Gregg

This post is a compilation of my five post series on Unitarian Universalist history in preparation for a course I audited recently on “Unitarian Universalist History & Polity.” Part 1: The Radical Reformation Part 2: The 18th and 19th Century Part 3: U.S. Unitarians in the 19th Century Part 4: Unitarian Expansion and Transformation Part 5: Major Developments in Unitarian Universalism The Rev. Dr. Carl Gregg is a trained spiritual director, a D.Min. graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary, and the minister... Read more

A Whirlwind Tour of Liberal Religious History: Major Developments in Unitarian Universalism

Last updated on: January 25, 2013 at 6:11 pm By Carl Gregg

This post is the final entry in a five-part series on Unitarian Universalist history in preparation for a course I audited in January on “Unitarian Universalist History & Polity” with The Rev. Dr. Nicole Kirk. For those following along as I seek formal fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association, you may be interested to see the full Ministerial Fellowship Committee “Required Reading List” and “Encouraged Reading List and Resources.” In 1983, a study was published on “Unitarian Universalism and the Quest for... Read more

Future Me: Not All Resolutions Are Created Equal

Last updated on: January 7, 2013 at 8:46 pm By Carl Gregg

Lodro Rinzler is twenty-nine years old. He is also a longtime Buddhist practitioner. As a Westerner who was drawn to Buddhism as a child, he spent his teens and twenties experimenting with meditation and Buddhist precepts. He also spent his teens and twenties experimenting with sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. The fruit of this tension can be found in his new book The Buddha Walks into a Bar: A Guide to Life for a New Generation and in his... Read more