Liberal Religion—Is It Time for Hospice?

Dec 12, 2024 | NAUA Academy, News

Religious participation is plummeting. “Church” has become a bad brand. Should we resign ourselves to palliative care for our aging congregations?
Can we find ways to feed the hunger for meaning and community?
 
One thing is certain: We cannot church the way we always have and hope for different results. 

Speaker: Rev Peter Morales is the former president of the UUA. Before becoming UUA president he was senior minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Colorado. Jefferson was one of the UUA’s fastest growing congregations during his tenure. Before entering the ministry he was editor and publisher of a community newspaper in Oregon. He has lived abroad as a Fulbright lecturer in Spain and a Knight International Press fellow in Peru. Peter lives in Sequim, WA with his wife Phyllis.

 

Baruch Spinoza’s ideas – increasing relevance today

Dec 3, 2024 | News

Many of you may be familiar with 17th century Dutch philosopher Baruck Spinoza.  I knew the name and the famous quote from Einstein that he “believed in “Spinoza’s God” but I didn’t have a very clear idea of the resonance his beliefs hold for many Unitarians.  Thus, I was grateful to bump into the video below that overviews his life and his ideas.  Like many Unitarians he came from a religious home and community, but found that his ideas outgrew these religious teachings.

I was also interested in his ideas that ‘God and nature were the same. His expression “God or Nature”, illustrates this.  He also taught that God was in everything  and all living creatures share the Conatus Principle. “Each thing, as far as it can by its own power, strives to persevere in its being” – a nice summary of our shared evolutionary drive.

I hope you enjoy the 13 minute video below.

 

Liberal Religion — Is It Time for Hospice?

Nov 21, 2024 | News

Religious participation is plummeting. “Church” has become a bad brand. Should we resign ourselves to palliative care for our aging congregations? Can we find ways to feed the hunger for meaning and community? One thing is certain: We cannot church the way we always have and hope for different results.
 

Speaker: Rev Peter Morales is the former president of the UUA. Before becoming UUA president he was senior minister at Jefferson Unitarian Church in Colorado. Jefferson was one of the UUA’s fastest growing congregations during his tenure. Before entering the ministry he was editor and publisher of a community newspaper in Oregon. He has lived abroad as a Fulbright lecturer in Spain and a Knight International Press fellow in Peru. Peter lives in Sequim, WA with his wife Phyllis.

 
When:
December 10th, 2024 4:30 PM PST (7:30 EST)
Register Now – Registration necessary to obtain Zoom URL.
 

Nov. 12, 2024 – Overcoming Identity Politics in America: The Organization FAIR

Nov 13, 2024 | NAUA Academy

Previously, Ken Ing traced the roots of the identity centric movement that dominates the UUA, and influences institutions throughout North America. As a follow-up, Sunil Wijeyesekera describes the work of The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR), an organization that counters identity politics. FAIR is a non-partisan civil rights organization based on universal principles of Fairness (not discriminating based on skin color or other immutable characteristics), Understanding (being willing to listen to other points of view) and our Common Humanity. Sunil

Wijeyesekera retired in 2020 after a career in material science/engineering. He has been a UU for 38 years. Sunil is currently a member of the NAUA Hayward Fellowship, as well as a Chapter Leader for FAIR. In describing the work of FAIR, Sunil Wijeyesekera simulates a discussion of how we can apply our NAUA values in the larger society. Download his slides: FAIR Slide deck