Looks like Unitarian Universalism is about to enter into another denominational conflict. Some folks are questioning plans for this year’s General Assembly, our annual denominational meeting. In this video, I outline the conflict, and (in imitation of King Solomon who said “cut the baby in half”) I offer my own novel resolution to the conflict.
4:35.
Mr. Crankypants’s post yesterday prompts me to try to put together a creative, positive statement of what emergent Unitarian Universalism might look like. Below you’ll find some brainstorming on the topic. Add your own ideas in the comments.
The context — Emergent Unitarian Universalism recognizes that the culture around us is changing rapidly. We know that our core theological message is a saving message for these postmodern times, and we have no interest in adapting our theological truth to fit these times. But everything else we do is up for grabs — worship styles, organizational structures, hymnody, management, openness to newcomers, everything — as long as it doesn’t compromise our core theological message.
The core theological message — Our core theological message is not a single statement, but a web of ideas. Historically, our core message grows from liberal theology of the Christian tradition. The insights of feminist, African American, and Two Thirds World liberation theologies have become central to us. Based on liberation theologies and other theologies of freedom, we value our differences of age, gender, race, national origin, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, and theology. We are bound together, not by a creed, but by covenants: We come together in the Spirit of Love to seek truth and goodness, to find spiritual transformation in our lives, to care for one another, and to promote practical goodness in the world. We know that all human beings (indeed, all sentient beings) share the same ultimate destiny, and we know that we have the free will to effect change in our lives and in the world.
We share our core theological message with Unitarians and Universalists and other religious liberals around the world, and we recognize (and value) the global diversity of our message.
Theses for change
Worship services need not take place only on Sunday morning. Ministers, other staff, and lay leaders who resist holding worship services at other times may be viewed as reactionary holdouts from the 1950s.
The emergent generations value mystery and tradition, so traditional church buildings and candlelight and ritual are assets.
The emergent generations often have never been a part of a church or religious institution before, so church leaders must assume a complete absence of knowledge about religion and religious practice at all times.
The surrounding culture is faceless and anonymous, and people are crying out for a sense of community. Thus our churches must stop being Continue reading
This morning I had to drive the six blocks to work. It was gloomy, gray, rainy, and raw. When lunchtime rolled around, I was tired of sitting in the office staring at email and talking on the telephone, so I wanted to walk back home for lunch. But when I got outside, it was snowing.
Snow, I thought. Blah.
I decided that I had better drive the car back right then and put it in the parking garage, in case there was enough snow to make the roads slippery. So much for my lunchtime walk. I walked over to the car feeling low, and just as I arrived at the car a snowflake landed on the driver’s side window. It was huge, as snowflakes go, perhaps an eighth of an inch across. It was fluffy and fat and white, and I could clearly see its six outstretched arms.
Wow, I thought.
I got inside the car, and looked at the snowflake from the inside for a moment. It looked as if its crystalline structure was fantastically complex, but it was really too small for me to see clearly without a magnifying glass. Then I started the car and drove off to the parking garage, completely forgetting about the snowflake until now.
For once, Mr. Crankypants is somewhat proud of his stupid alter ego, Dan. Back on December 6, Dan wrote about the new Jewish independent minyanim as reported in a New York Times article (link). Dan commented on how some of us have noted the similarities between these minyanim and some of what was going on in the Unitarian Universalist young adult movement a dozen years ago, back when Dan was still a young adult (Mr. Crankypants refuses to admit that he will ever be anything but a young adult).
Turns out that back on November 26, the Jewish blog Synablog noted the same New York Times article, and drew the connection between the minyanim and the evangelical Christian emergent church movement (link). Synablog’s post is titled “Emergent — Yes It’s Happening Among Both Christians and Jews.”
It’s happening among the Jews and the evangelical Christians, but of course not among Unitarian Universalists — who are theologically liberal but methodologically rigid — who seem to be ignoring the fact that the world is changing rapidly around us;– rapid change which requires that Unitarian Universalist worship services and the very structure of all religious communities must change as well.
The radically inclusive theological stance of Unitarian Universalism has kept us growing, ever so slightly, in this postmodern world;– but we continue to aim our advertising and our worship services squarely at the people who are already here. We do religion as if it were still the 1950’s, when civic religion ruled, when everyone got the basics of religion from the surrounding culture, when a town could vote the town’s only Jew as “most Christian citizen,” when you didn’t have to market your church because the surrounding culture acted like a dumptruck that backed up to your front door each week and dumped off tons of potential church members (with no effort on your part). Today, Unitarian Universalists live in a 1950’s time warp: Let’s just forget about the postmodern generations, they don’t really belong here anyway (and besides, who wants all those young adults in our churches?).
Grrr.
Oh my. Has Mr. Crankypants been ranting again about the same old topics? Given how methodologically rigid Unitarian Universalists are, ranting would seem to be a waste of Mr. C.’s time, except that it is sooo satisfying. There’s something about throwing a good hissy-fit that just makes you feel good all over….
In the church office today, Linda, the church secretary, mentioned that her allergies are bad.
“Mine too,” I said. “My eyes are itchy.”
“I know,” she said. “My eyes are really bad.”
“I just want to claw my eyes out,” I said. Which will sound disgusting, unless you too suffer from allergies in which case you’ll fully understand why I said that.
“Yup,” said Linda, “claw them out, put ’em in a glass of water, and rinse ’em off. That would be great. I’m using my eye drops all the time. I wonder what’s causing it, though. Usually when we get the first snow, that’s the end of allergies. But not this year.”
“Maybe mold?” I said. Mold is a huge problem in old buildings in New Bedford, because the climate is so damp. “Except that we live in a brand new building with no mold at all, and my eyes have been itching at home, too.”
“Well, I noticed a lot of the trees still have leaves on them,” said Linda.
“Leaf mold?” I said.
“I’ll bet that’s it,” she said.
“You know,” I said, “I thought I’ve had some kind of lingering cold for the past month, but I’ll bet it’s allergies. Itchy eyes, congestion,…”
“…Headaches, tired all the time, fuzzy thinking. Yup, sounds like allergies, doesn’t it?” Linda said. “We need a good cold snap to put an end to this.”
I’ve never had allergies in the winter before. This may be a small but unpleasant side effect of global climate change:– perhaps allergy sufferers will no longer be able to count on respite from allergies in the winter.
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has become well-known for its plan to distribute huge quantities of laptop computers to children in the developing world. The non-profit organization aims to improve education by providing inexpensive (US$100) laptops to schoolchildren. The innovative XO laptop design is rugged, it can access the Web easily, and it can serve as an e-book reader allowing schoolchildren to have access to an entire library of e-books for just the price of the laptop.
OLPC has come under a great deal of criticism, particularly from those who say that far more basic things are needed in the schools of developing countries, that laptops are a luxury. BBC quotes the Nigerian minister of education as saying, “What is the sense of introducing One Laptop per Child when they don’t have seats to sit down and learn…?” OLPC replies that small, incremental changes have not changed the educational situation in many developing countries, and then challenges those countries to think big: “You’ve got to be big, you’ve got to be bold. And what has happened is that there has been an effort to say ‘don’t take any risks – just do something small, something incremental’,” says Walter Bender of OLPC in an interview with BBC. Link.
In a brilliant publicity stunt, OLPC invited anyone in North America to buy the XO laptop for themselves — for $400, you get your own XO, and OLPC sends one to a child in a developing country. I took advantage of this offer myself (you can, too, if you do it before December 31). While the XO won’t solve all education problems, I believe it could be an important and cost-effective part of an overall strategy for improving education. And of course, they look so cool that I want one for myself. Indeed, the BBC reports that “the sheer amount of features crammed in to the device combined with its low price may mean questions start to be asked of PC makers who typically charge a premium for portability” (link) — i.e., the XO could change the way we all think about laptop computers. Not surprisingly, both Microsoft and Intel are seeing the XO as a threat to their profit centers. Microsoft is coming out with a version of their propietary operating system that will run on the XO (currently, all software on the XO is free and open-source); and Intel got worried enough that they began developing their own version of the XO which they call the “Classmate” (they have now united with OLPC). Nigeria may scorn the XO, but Bill Gates is taking it seriously.
Of greatest interest to me was the news that, according to the BBC, Walter Bender has acknowledged that “OLPC had done a deal with Birmingham, Alabama, in the US, to provide the laptop for schools in the city.” I’ve been waiting for this to happen: forget Nigeria, we need the XO in the United States! For example, here in New Bedford there are plenty of families who cannot afford a computer at home, let alone afford to buy a laptop for each of their children. This lack of access to computers can present serious educational obstacles for kids, particularly those who want to go on to college. I’d love to start a “One Laptop Per New Bedford Child” program. Again, it won’t solve all our educational problems, but it might get some more kids through college — right now, the percentage of college graduates in New Bedford is an appallingly low 11%, less than half the national average. However, I predict that the response of New Bedford politicians will be much like that of the Nigerian politicians; like Nigerian politicians, New Bedford politicians are generally risk-averse and generally unwilling to take bold action on education.
One last thought: I also believe that one reason the XO will be successful in schools is that it is a totally cool machine. I liked it enough that I ordered one for myself — my dad did, too. But don’t take my word for how cool it is, see for yourself:– the BBC has 9 video clips of the XO laptop in action, including shots of schoolchildren in Nigeria using them. Link.
P.S. Looks like for a mere $29,900, you can donate 100 XO laptops, and designate that they go to New Bedford: Link.
Under the title “Is This the Silver Bullet?”, the winter 2008 issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) cites recent research showing that narrowing the gap between rich and poor appears to alleviate a wide range of social ills:
What do teenage births, early deaths, homicide, mental illness, underperforming students, packed prisons, and drug abuse have in common? All of them thrive in countries with large gaps between the rich and the poor, report two researchers in the November 2007 Social Science & Medicine.
What is the mechanism behind this? According to SSIR, “inequality exacts its costs by causing people to feel less socially secure and more physiologically stressed.” One result of a wide gap between rich and poor is decreased social mobility, and this can cause persons in less egalitarian countries to feel “deprived,” and can even lead to a shortened life span, compared to poorer but more egalitarian countries. Additionally, a large gap between rich and poor has significant detrimental effects on persons of all income levels — inequality has “a pollution effect” and affects everyone’s health — thus, it is actually advantageous to rich persons to reduce the income gap, to improve their own health and quality of life.
You probably won’t be surprised to know that the United States has one of the worst gaps between rich and poor of any industrialized nation. The policy implications of this study for the United States are significant. Want to improve children’s test scores? The conservatives tell us we must have rigorous testing, the liberals say we must have smaller class sizes, but the social epidemiologists tell us that research shows we should reduce income disparity. Want to reduce crime? The conservatives want fewer restrictions on gun ownership, the liberals want to fund more social programs, but the social epidemiologists tell us that research shows we should reduce income disparity.
Some time before four in the morning, I was awakened by the quiet. The forecast had been for sleet and rain; did they get it wrong? was it quiet because it was snowing? or was it quiet because the storm was going to miss us? I looked out the window: the street was still dry. I checked the National Weather Service Web site: rain and snow in Connecticut, headed our way. I went back to sleep, and within an hour awakened again to hear something — rain, sleet, wind-driven snow — hitting the windows.
By the time I got up, sometime after seven, the street outside our apartment was covered with several inches of windblown snow. By the time I started walking up to the church, the snow had turned to sleet, and then to freezing rain. I shoveled off one side of the front walk, and got a number of calls on my cell phone: “The town plows haven’t even reached out house yet, I won’t be in”; “Just checking to see if someone was at church”; “I’m on my way, I’ll be a little late.”
Some twenty people showed up for the worship service, less than half our usual fifty-to-sixty people. Many of them lived within walking distance, including the two newcomers, but one person made it all the way from Westport, a good half hour drive. After the worship service, he told me, “I started out following the plow, usually that’s the best thing to do in a storm. But it was raining by then, and the plow was pushing water — the water was deeper behind the plow than in front — so I wound up having to pass the plow.” It was pouring rain during the worship service.
Our plowing service still hadn’t showed up by one o’clock as we were leaving the church. Mark, who happened to be driving his truck with the plow on it, volunteered to plow the church parking lot. His plow scooped up water and slush and snow drenched in water, and at the end of each pass when the plow hit the snowbank, there was a huge splash as muddy water went ten or twelve feet into the air. I finished shoveling the sidewalk and stairs; it got up to almost fifty degrees this afternoon, but it’s supposed to dip well below freezing tonight, and any snow left on the sidewalks tonight will turn into a block of ice that will last until spring.
I ate lunch, tired and sore from shoveling that wet, heavy snow. By the time I went back up to the church for the youth group meeting, the rain had stopped. And when we left after the youth group meeting, the temperature was just about at freezing: black ice forming everywhere.
This is just about the worst weather New England can dish out. In the past twenty-four hours we have seen snow, freezing fog, sleet, freezing rain, rain, mist, fog, and what the Weather Service called “unknown precipitation.” The ground is covered with heavy wet snow, which has been made even heavier by all the rain that fell on top of the snow. Now everything is going to freeze solid, and with the short days and long nights nothing is going to thaw out for a very long time. The heavy snow saps your physical strength; the darkness and dreariness saps your emotional strength; and you long for summer, or a trip to someplace warm.
In an article posted yesterday, Mark Ward, technology correspondent for the BBC News website, reports on “Second Life,” the well-known virtual world. According to Ward, Philip Rosedale, a founder of Linden Lab and thus one of the creators of “Second Life,” believes that virtual worlds could even replace the World Wide Web in many instances. Rosedale points out that virtual worlds offer a sense of place and a sense of identity in a way that the Web has never done:
“Virtual worlds are inherently comprehensible to us in a way that the web is not,” said Mr Rosedale. “They look like the world we already know and take advantage of our ability to remember and organise.”
“Information is presented there in a way that matches our memories and experiences,” he said. “Your and my ability to remember the words we use and the information we talk about is much higher if it’s presented as a room or space around us.” Link to full story
Pointing out that some educators and corporations already use Second Life to do online collaboration, Rosedale speculates on the possibilities of a portable online identity, built into some kind of online-world-browser, which would browse online worlds in the way Web browsers now browse the World Wide Web. Rosedale even seems to call for “a sufficiently open platform” that will allow people to “move into it quite rapidly.”
Indeed, one of my big complaints about the World Wide Web is that you never quite know where you are, or how you got to here from the last place you were. In a virtual world, you could move across a virtual landscape to find information/knowlege/social contacts that interested you — and you would know where you are, and how you got there, and how to get back.
Or think about it this way: instead of visiting this blog in your Web browser, you could travel to a virtual place in an online world where my avatar would periodically show up to post new reading matter, videos, etc. If your avatar and my avatar happened to be in that virtual place (a “virtblog”?) at the same time, we could chat; or if I’m not there, you could chat with whatever other avatars happen to be there, and when you got bored you could all head off to some new virtual place.
Or think about virtual online church committee meetings. Or virtual online adult religious education (I’d love to do online Bible study from a liberation/feminist perspective!).
Or who knows how virtual worlds will evolve. Or even if they will evolve. Uh, can someone get Tim Berners-Lee interested in creating VWML (Virtual World Markup Language)?