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.
 

Videos from the Historic 1st NAUA Summit

Nov 1, 2024 | News

We have released all of the videos from the 1st NAUA Summit held in Spokane Wa. Oct 17-20 2024. The videos are available now from the NAUA Youtube channel.

These videos include all of the general sessions and workshops, keynote speech, Sunday worship and a slide show from the Summit. Thanks to John Wunderlund for editing and producing these videos and the slideshow!

NAUA and the Future of Liberal Education

Oct 11, 2024 | News

NAUA & the Future of Liberal Religion As NAUA prepares for this session. Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof shares his thoughts about the direction it should take in its efforts to help Unitarianism and liberal religion to carry on and thrive. This presentation will include his ideas about membership growth, outreach, and future kinds so services and support NAUA might offer.