Category Archives: Liberal religion

Asking the right question

Researching today’s sermon, I came across an undated typescript by Duncan Howlett in our church’s archives. This typescript appears to date from between 1938 and 1946, when Howlett was minister in New Bedford, and in it Howlett anticipates some of the points he made a few years later in a pamphlet he wrote for the Pamphlet Commission of the American Unitarian Association. What makes this typescript interesting is that Howlett makes an explicit reference to process theology, and he links process theology with his assertion that Unitarianism is concerned with the process of thinking, not with determining correct belief. Here’s an excerpt from the typescript:

“No really satisfying answer to the question, ‘What is Unitarianism?’, is possible because of the assumptions that are implicit in the question itself. Alfred North Whitehead used to say, and I’m quoting, ‘If you cannot agree with a man’s conclusions, but cannot find anything wrong with the argument by which he reaches them, look at his premises — spoken or unspoken — admitted or unadmitted — and there you will find the answer to your question.’ I believe the difficulties we encounter [in] describing Unitarianism are found in the assumptions that we bring to the question itself….

“Our error lies in the fact that we, like the orthodox [Christians], have always taken the creed structure of Christendom for granted. We have tried to explain ourselves in terms of it and apparently it has never occurred to us to do otherwise…. [But] You don’t say anything really significant about a Unitarian when you give a summary of the theological opinions he happens to hold….”

And later in the typescript, Howlett continues:

“Unitarians, rejecting fixed creeds and confessions of faith, hold that the task of religion is to state its first principles, constantly to test the validity of those principles in open encounter where every voice may be heard, and to be ready to restate them whenever clarity requires. The Unitarians believe that truth in religion, as in all things, lies at the end of the process of inquiring. Every possible facet of humane xperience must be brought to bear upon such an inquiry if any approximation of truth is to be acheived as a result of it. Unitarians believe that religious differences between men [sic] ought to be measured by their belief in this process or by their lack of it.”

Volunteer management for churches: outline

Of all the things I do as a minister (and used to do as a Director of Religious Education), I’m best at volunteer management. The basic principles of volunteer management in churches are not complicated — no, volunteer management is not rocket science. However, the the devil is in the details, and there are many details in volunteer management. For years, I’ve been meaning to write out some of those devilish details of basic volunteer management principles for churches. I have lots of notes on the subject, and even an outline….

At this point, I’d love to have some feedback from my readers. Many of you are long-time church volunteers yourself, many others are involved in some aspect of volunteer management, and the rest of you are just plain smart people. Below, you’ll find my outline for a Web-based resource page on volunteer management. I’d love it if you, dear reader, would look it over and tell me what I’ve forgotten.

Once I get some feedback on the outline, I’ll start writing. And I’ll post what I write here so you can comment on it further. For now, here’s the outline…. Continue reading →

Festival

I spent this past weekend at the Nutmeg Dulcimer Festival, an annual gathering of mountain dulcimer and hammered dulcimer players. I have to tell you, a whole festival with nothing but dulcimers is too many dulcimers. This time, I brought my guitar as well as my dulcimer. When there are ten dulcimers playing in one room, another dulcimer is too many, but a guitar is welcomed like rain in a drought.

At lunch today, I was talking with Chuck about this phenomenon. I knew he’d understand because he plays hammered dulcimer and guitar. “Yeah, I do know what you mean,” he said. “The last two years, I never took my hammered dulcimer out of its case.”

Yeah, there’s a metaphor here, or a moral, or whatever — you can make it up to suit whatever ideology you’re trying to push. Or just take my advice:– if you go to a dulcimer festival, bring a guitar, not a dulcimer.

Trite

A few days ago, I was walking down by the waterfront late in the day, hoping the low dark-gray clouds wouldn’t dump any rain on me. Suddenly the sun, low in the western sky, came through a break in the clouds, and the low clouds began to dissipate, revealing clouds higher up that the sun turned a luscious pink color. Twentieth century American writers and painters taught us to ignore sunsets : we were supposed turn our attention inward to thoughts and emotional processes and small emotional dramas, or turn our attention outwards to signs, or turn our endlessly recursive attention to self-referential mass media. Sunsets were supposed to be trite. But I’m tired of hearing about every single thought Leopold Bloom had in the course of a single day; I’m tired of paintings of soup cans; I’m tired of mass media that is about nothing except mass media. So what if they’re trite by 20th C. standards, I want more luscious pink sunsets.

Do church and politics mix?

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released a survey on August 21 which reveals that for the first time in a decade, the majority of United States residents believe churches should stay out of politics. The overview of the survey begins with these words:

Some Americans are having a change of heart about mixing religion and politics. A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters. For a decade, majorities of Americans had voiced support for religious institutions speaking out on such issues.

The new national survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that most of the reconsideration of the desirability of religious involvement in politics has occurred among conservatives. Four years ago, just 30% of conservatives believed that churches and other houses of worship should stay out of politics. Today, 50% of conservatives express this view.

As a result, conservatives’ views on this issue are much more in line with the views of moderates and liberals than was previously the case. Similarly, the sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats that previously existed on this issue have disappeared….

Full report

I’m part of the majority that believes that churches should stay out of electoral politics. I don’t think churches or clergy should support individual candidates, nor do I think that churches or clergy should even do things like host presidential debates (yeah, I mean you, Rick Warren). Speaking in my role as a minister, I don’t believe that I should get involved in supporting or promoting any candidate or political party, at the local, state, or national level. (Frankly, I don’t even want to be in close proximity to politicains — oh wait, that’s my personal revulsion creeping in — go back into your cave, personal revulsion, this is a serious post!)

My reasons for wanting to stay out of politics are religious reasons. No political party or candidate lives up to my religious ideals. For example, my religion tells me to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of all persons, which means I cannot ignore anyone — whereas politicians can safely ignore those who cannot or do not vote, such as non-citizens, the poor, and the disenchanted. Or here’s another example — both major presidential candidates have proposed health care initiatives that will not cover large numbers of Americans, but I find this unacceptable because my religious values tell me that all persons should have equal access to decent health care.

But while I’m part of the majority that believes churches should stay out of electoral politics, it’s only a narrow majority. What’s your opinion — should churches stay out of politics, or not? You can write your answer in the comments section below — and if you do, tell us what your reasoning is for your answer….

Palin and the religious right

Turns out Sarah Palin is aligned with a church that is affiliated with the “Third Wave,” a religious movement so far to the right it was declared heretical by the religious right:

The pastor [of Wasilla Assembly of God], Ed Kalnins, and Masters Commission students have traveled to South Carolina to participate in a “prophetic conference” at Morningstar Ministries, one of the major ministries of the Third Wave movement. Becky Fischer was a pastor at Morningstar prior to being featured in the movie “Jesus Camp.” The head of prophecy at Morningstar, Steve Thompson, is currently scheduled to do a prophecy seminar at the Wasilla Assembly of God. Other major leaders in the movement have also traveled to Wasilla to visit and speak at the church.

The Third Wave is a revival of the theology of the Latter Rain tent revivals of the 1950s and 1960s led by William Branham and others. It is based on the idea that in the end times there will be an outpouring of supernatural powers on a group of Christians that will take authority over the existing church and the world. The believing Christians of the world will be reorganized under the Fivefold Ministry and the church restructured under the authority of Prophets and Apostles and others anointed by God. The young generation will form “Joel’s Army” to rise up and battle evil and retake the earth for God.

While segments of this belief system have been a part of Pentecostalism and charismatic beliefs for decades, the excesses of this movement were declared a heresy in 1949 by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, and again condemned through Resolution 16 in 2000.

The beliefs and manifestations of the movement include the use of ‘strategic level spiritual warfare’ to expel territorial demons from American and world cities….

Full article.

Well, at least we can say that Sarah Palin isn’t a Biblical literalist. “Strategic-level spiritual warfare” and “Joel’s army” and “Fivefold Ministry” — none of this is in the Bible. They just made this stuff up. I know that as a religious liberal, I’m supposed to be religiously tolerant and all, but this is utter crap. Dangerous crap, too — this is the woman who could be one heartbeat away from the American presidency. God (or someone) help us.

Via.

Church mission statements: hopeless (with exceptions)

The committee on ministry here at First Unitarian has been slowly working on a covenant, mission statement, and goals for our church. Recently, one member of the committee on ministry and I searched the Web for church mission statements. I must have read more than a hundred mission statements of Unitarian Universalist churches. They are not good. They are bad:– unrealistic, verbose, full of insider jargon, boring, uninspiring, —

Instead of just being nasty and snarky, maybe I should say what I think makes for a good church mission statement. My criteria for good mission church mission statements come from two main sources, Peter Drucker and John Carver. I’ll give an overview of Drucker and Carver first, next give you my own six criteria for good church mission statements, and end by giving the only two good mission statements for Unitarian Universalist churches that I was able to find. Continue reading →

Biographical sketch of a Revolutionary minister

Yesterday I posted one of Rev. Dr. Samuel West’s sermons on this blog. Since long 18th C. colonial sermons aren’t to everyone’s taste, today I figured I’d post a shorter and more entertaining biographical sketch of West. Brilliant but eccentric, West was a classic example of an absent-minded country parson. Enjoy…. Continue reading →

A Revolutionary sermon

This is the 300th anniversary year for First Unitarian in New Bedford, and this fall I’ll be preaching a series of four sermons on four great ministers from our past. Next week I’m going to speak about Samuel West, minister at our church in the second half of the 18th C. As part of my research on West, I found a sermon he preached in 1776 in support of the American Revolution. First, a little background on West:

Rev. Samuel West of New Bedford (not to be confused with his contemporary, Rev. Samuel West of Boston) was born in 1730 (1729 O.S.), and ordained in 1761 by the established church of what was then the town of Dartmouth, where he served for the next 42 years. In those 42 years, West was awarded the Doctor of Divinity degree by Harvard, oversaw the creation of a new parish in the eastern section of Dartmouth, moved his own church to the fast-growing city of New Bedford, and moved his church theologically from strict Calvinism to liberal Arminianism. In large because of his influence, his church later became Unitarian.

But the most remarkable part of West’s life had nothing to do with theological controversy. During the Revolutionary era, he was an ardent patriot, in a town dominated by Quakers who opposed armed resistance to Britain for theological and financial reasons. In a biographical sketch printed in Hrealds of a Liberal Faith, Rev. John Morison, one of West’s successors in the New Bedford church, described West thus:

Dr. West was an ardent patriot. He could keep no terms with those who were hesitating or lukewarm, but blazed out against them. After the battle at Bunker Hill he set out to join the American Army, and do what he might as a minister of God to keep up their courage. It was while in the army, serving as a chaplain, that he gained great notoriety by deciphering for General Washington a treasonable letter from Dr. Church to an officer in the British army, of which a full account may be found in the third volume of Sparks’s Writings of Washington, pp. 502-506. In 1776 he delivered a discourse (afterwards printed) before the Provincial Convention at Watertown….

Every year, the provincial government asked a minister to deliver an Election Day sermon at the end of May, and in 1776 this honor was given to West.

West’s Election Day sermon is a classic example of American Revolutionary prose. If the American War for Independence captures your imagination, West’s sermon stands up well even today. He begins the sermon by deriving the right to rebel against Great Britain from natural laws, using human reason and Lockean philosophy. He then derives the right to rebel from the Christian scriptures, and some of his readings of the Bible are noteworthy because of his strong reliance on reason and his willingness to draw on extra-Biblical sources to help gain perspective into the thoughts of Jesus. However, the sermon does contain at least one opinion that should make us feel somewhat uncomfortable today: he believes the government should provide financial support for churches, although he does say there shouldn’t be one established church.

West’s Election Day Sermon, sometimes erroneously titled “On the Right To Rebel Against Governors,” is worth reading today. I’m including it as a separate post (because it’s so long), in case you want to read theologically liberal, politically radical sermon from the 18th C. Here it is.