Videos and forums, Obama and Wright, and more

New ways to share Unitarian Universalism online

There's a new resource for finding Unitarian Universalist videos online. UUPlanet.tv, created by Peter Bowden, showcases high quality videos about Unitarian Universalism. Bowden explains the purpose of the site: "It is two fold, to make it easier for newcomers to our faith to sit down and explore what we are all about, and to make it easier for existing Unitarian Universalists to show their friends and colleagues the same."

The site has special sections of videos related to the UUA presidential election, "UU outreach," and other topics.

It's long been known that newcomers to Unitarian Universalism ask questions about our faith at Beliefnet's Unitarian Universalism forum. But it turns out that Yahoo! Answers is also a hotbed of discussion about UUism, too. Recent questions asked by users include "Has anyone been to a Unitarian Universalist service?" and "Are you a Unitarian Universalist?" Ted Pack, of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stanislaus County in Modesto, California, has been answering inquiries on Yahoo! Answers for at least a year, and other Unitarian Universalists also contribute.

At Amazon.com, religious educator Maurine Harrison has created a book list featuring children's books related to the UUA's Seventh Principle ("Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part"; here's all seven). According to Harrison, "These books are also recommended for use in any curriculum or purpose that seeks to promote an awareness, love and care of our natural world." Harrison serves as co-director of Religious Education at the First Unitarian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Barack Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech

Unitarian Universalist bloggers and leaders reacted in recent weeks to the controversy surrounding Senator Barack Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and spoke out in praise of Obama's recent speech.

At "Rev Rose," the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt writes:

I felt he articulated on my behalf the wound of slavery in a way no contemporary public person has in a generation. And in articulating it so clearly, and in its full context, he invited me and other African-Americans, to risk putting aside its memory for the sake of something more important: the future of my country. The brilliance of his speech was that he did not simply do the same old thing and ask black people to get over it. He asked us to own the truth of our experiences, to acknowledge the truth of the experiences of whites, and to recognize that some of what troubles us is our collective ignorance about race , about history and about one another. (March 20, 2008).

UUA President William G. Sinkford, in a statement on the UUA's website, called Obama's speech "that rarest of opportunities":

Much of the conversation about race is so filled with political correctness that truth is hard to come by. Whites move so easily to denial, citing the progress that has been made in recent decades and glossing over the glaring disparities in opportunity, income, even incarceration that remain. African Americans and people of color generally, including myself, show up defensive, afraid that the reality of our lives will, yet again, be deemed unimportant, that we will, yet again, be made invisible. Honesty has been simply too hard to come by, at least in mixed company.

Obama's speech, by naming the honest concerns and fears on both sides of the racial divide, presents us with that rarest of opportunities, an invitation to re-engage with an issue many people would prefer to ignore. I hope and pray that we have the courage to take advantage of this gift. (March 24, 2008)

Chris Walton of "Philocrites" analyzes the controversy around Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama:

Now perhaps earlier generations of preachers would have condemned the nation's sinfulness in slightly more orotund ways than Wright's "God damn America," but that's hardly a new sentiment from the pulpit. Wright said God damns America for its violence, its oppression, its racism. Republican-aligned or right-leaning pastors routinely say God damns America for a different set of "sins" ranging from legalized abortion to gay marriage to liberalism. Sadly, what will probably startle many white Americans is the discovery that resentment and anger about white racism is very much alive and well in the black church, and in the church that Obama belongs to. (March 16, 2008)

Holy week concludes

On Easter, the Rev. A.C. Miles of "Auspicious Jots" writes that, to her, "resurrection is about the slow invisible pulse of life that flows in our seasons and quickens in Spring."

Resurrection is people who live in the dark and endless tunnels of depression who see a glimmer of light and have the courage and the stamina to start running for it. And the darkness is so much more than that little flicker of light, but they run and run and run . . .

Resurrection is leaving a little bit of room in your life for the impossible to take root and become possible. (March 23, 2008)

Meanwhile, David Markham at "Chalicefire" reflects on Holy Saturday and Steven Lingwood at "Reignite" suggests a Unitarian approach to Good Friday.

Reactions to 'UU World'

Steve Thorngate at Utne Reader's Politics blog highlights James Loewen's UU World article on "sundown towns" (Spring 2008) and publicizes Loewen's tips for finding out if a given town excluded African Americans. Thorngate writes:

Loewen offers some savvy strategies for getting information that people might not be thrilled to share. And he urges those who do uncover damning evidence to publicize it and force their communities to own up to their ugly pasts, because doing so also can compel people to address the segregation and discrimination that still exist today. (March 21, 2008)

UU Pagan blogger Jason Pitzl-Waters of "The Wild Hunt" notes Patricia Montley's article on Persephone (March 24, 2008). Pitzl-Waters observes, "While I might quibble with the idea of Winter being 'gray' and 'fallow', after enduring a snow storm the other day, I truly hunger for the 'joy' of a true Spring" (March 24, 2008).

Columnist Doug Muder invites reader feedback to his essay, "Unfinished with Christianity," at his blog "Free and Responsible Search" (March 24, 2008).

Not to be missed

The Rev. Debra Haffner of "Sexuality and Religion: What's the Connection" asserts that, despite media hype to the contrary, women can enjoy having both a career and a family. The Rev. David Gillespie of "David's Dish" suggests a change in vocabulary for Unitarian Universalists. And Jacqueline of "Moxie Life" tells a poignant story of being "duped" by a car salesman when she was a teen.