Outsourced Morality

October 20, 2016 By David Breeden

True confession: I understand Trump voters. I come from that place. We’re the same people who voted for Andrew Jackson—duel-fighter, bigamist, slaveholder, and native-killer. As a matter of fact, when I was a kid, we would go to his plantation in Nashville, Tennessee on Sunday afternoons. The Hermitage. The story of Jackson told us that—no matter how poor you were born—if you intimidate enough people and steal enough stuff, you too can be president! The duel-fighter, bigamist, slaveholder, and native-killer.... Read more

Public Service Reminder

October 18, 2016 By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard An invitation to think about how we are spending our days – for this is how we are spending our “one wild and precious life” ( A Summer Day by poet Mary Oliver). [With gratitude to Berwick “Mahdi” Davenport of the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond for the reminder during an Undoing Racism training this month!] Read more

One Hundred Years of Humanism

October 13, 2016 By David Breeden

Humanism is a product of Unitarian thought. The first Humanist congregation was a Unitarian one, First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis. The group that would become First Unitarian Society began meeting in the 1870s under the auspices of an association known as the Liberal League, a secularist gathering of freethinkers, agnostics, and atheists advocating for the separation of church and state. The Minneapolis Chapter began studying the writings of Charles Darwin, and invited a Unitarian minister named Henry Symmons to lecture on Darwin... Read more

Theology is Words, Words Matter

October 6, 2016 By David Breeden

When people first visit First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, a very common first response to walking into what we call our Upper Assembly Hall is, “Wow! Beautiful sanctuary!” To which, as a minister of the place, I am duty bound to respond, “We call it our “Upper Assembly Hall.” By insisting for sixty-five years that we have an Assembly Hall, not a sanctuary, the people of First Unitarian Society have followed the Seventh point of the first Humanist Manifesto: “The... Read more

The War of Positions and Communities of Resistance

September 29, 2016 By David Breeden

Antonio Gramsci was an early twentieth-century neo-Marxist who died in the 1930s as a result of imprisonment by the Italian Fascists. Gramsci described the inner-working of social systems as “the war of positions.” To simplify a bit, Gramsci thought that labels—cultural norms—create the positions oppressed groups must inhabit. These are the structures that keep certain groups in power and other groups out. Just as those whom the gods wish to destroy first they make mad, those whom the ruling classes... Read more

How Can You Say You Love Me?

September 27, 2016 By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

The Rabbi Jeffrey Summit [of Tufts Hillel] tells a Hasidic story of the rabbi who watches two Russian peasants drinking together at an Inn. The first asks, “Boris, do you love me?” His friend replies, “Ivan, Do I love you, we’ve worked side by side on our farm for years. Of course I love you!” They return to their vodka and a minute later, Ivan asks, “Boris, do you know what causes me pain?” Boris thinks for a moment and... Read more

Hand Me A Pickaxe, Please! I Need Hope!

September 22, 2016 By Meg Riley

I’ve been thinking lately about despair and hope, especially for people like me who live relatively comfortable and privileged lives. There is always reason for despair in the world, but lately the reasons feel as if they are parading before me with relentless, tedious, insistence. I have been holding in prayer a line from the poet Adrienne Rich, “It is obvious that the destruction of despair is still our most urgent task.” I have been considering how to accomplish this... Read more

Ganesha, Nietzsche, Truth, Consequences

September 22, 2016 By David Breeden

The story goes that Shiva—one of the chief manifestations of divinity in Hinduism—and his wife Parvati had two sons: One was Ganesha, perhaps the most recognizable of the Hindu gods because he has the head of an elephant. Ganesha is the remover of obstacles and the god of creativity in the arts and sciences. His brother, Kartikeya, is the god of war—he’s recognizable because he always rides a huge peacock. The parents—as parents usually do—loved both of their children... Read more

Send Me

September 21, 2016 By Lynn Ungar

Last night I watched the powerful Ken Burns documentary Defying the Nazis: The Sharp’s War on PBS. If you haven’t seen this heartbreaking, beautiful piece, you can watch it online here. In their own words, in the words of historians, and through the memories of those who were actually there, it tells the story of Waitstill and Martha Sharp, who risked their lives in Nazi Europe to bring hundreds of people to safety. It tells of the toll on their... Read more

Trauma Stewardship?

September 20, 2016 By Rev. Deanna Vandiver

Dear Friends, Happy Autumn! On day one of my summer break a dear friend recommended to me some timely sabbatical reading – Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura van Dernoot with Connie Burk. Divine intervention… For all of us working towards collective liberation, I invite us to spend some time with Laura van Dernoot: We who believe in freedom must be real about the impacts of our experience and find... Read more