Born Again UU

I don't know if y'all have been following the story of the Federal Bureau of Prisons vs. religious texts story at all, but it's pretty insane.

Basically, there were complaints that prisoners had access to radical religious texts that the government believed they shouldn't have, so rather than ban particular books from prison libraries, the Bureau instead created a short list of books that are o.k. All books that didn't make the short list were subsequently boxed up and removed from prisons.

Of course, the list is short relative to the number of books on religion in the world today (seriously, there must be gazillions, right?) and *surprise* not a single book on Unitarian Universalism made the list.

I don't at all think this is because we're considered radical or dangerous, but assume it's more to do with the fact that we're often overlooked, and if not overlooked, written off as "not a real religion."

Of course, this irks me on a personal level, but much more than that it's a huge Constitutional issue. Essentially, this list of "approved" religious texts more or less amounts to approved religions for prisoners, no? If a prisoner is banned from having a book describing Unitarian Universalism (or any of the other religious systems that the governement has decided to ignore), it's going to be very hard for her/him to explore this spiritual option while locked away by the government.

Philocrites really summed it up best saying, "Although one can argue that the government has a limited but real interest in restricting prisoners' access to certain kinds of information, state interest cannot override prisoners' Constitutional right to a free exercise of religion."

I'm going to follow Philocrites advice and contact the Federal Bureau of Prisons through the Sojourners website. I ask you to do the same.

You must watch this.

I haven't yet been to All Souls NYC because I'm intimidated by it's size. I like that First U feels like home and people are familiar and I can be a very integral part of our congregation. Unfortunately, by skipping out on All Souls, I'm also skipping out on Forrest Church, probably the best known (current) UU minister.

Though I've never hauled my butt up to All Souls (to be fair, it's at 80th and Lex - that's 5 blocks further than work, and that takes an hour to get to during rush hour, much less on a Sunday morning when the trains run like crap...), I have listened to several of Forrest's sermons via podcast and really enjoyed them.

My favorite by far, however, is "You Say You're Not Religious," probably because it speaks to me in a very personal way.

I highly recommend you give it a listen if you can (not sure how you download old podcast episodes - I'm not that technically saavy), but if you can't listen, at least give it a read. Especially if you are as scared of the word "religion" as I am was.

( You Say You're Not Religious )

Is it just me or is volunteering within your congregation dangerous?

I've only been a member for one year, yet as soon as I opened my mouth on one project, I find I'm being recruited for at least seven more.... on a weekly basis. Oy. I can't even remember what free time feels like anymore.

But who am I kidding? I love it :)

On that note, there are several great UU activities coming up on this Climate Change weekend in NYC. If you live in the area, check out the info below and consider dropping by for one -- or all -- of them.

( The 11th Annual McKinney Lecture on Social Justice | Putting Justice on Your Plate... from the Local to the Global )

( Free E-Recycling at First UU Brooklyn! )

( Step It Up 2007: Sea of People )

UU Carnival recently asked, "Are you a Pop-UU?" and it's a question I've been thinking about a lot over the past week.

UUism and and of itself is a more academic faith than many. Our members overwhelmingly hold college degrees and our core principles challenge us to be active thinkers rather than passive followers (Principle #4: We covenant to affirm and promote a free and responsible search for truth and meaning").

But are we too intellectual? Too high-brow? Too... snobby?

I've heard from UUs at a variety of other congregations that they often feel like, yes, we could - as a group - stand to tone it down a bit. But I feel lucky in that at my congregation in particular, I don't often get this vibe. Sure, the people I attend church with are, for the most part, very educated in a formal sense, they enjoy the arts and the culture that the East coast offers, and are exceedingly liberal politically. We can share a bottle of wine, talk politics, environmentalism and NPR, and attend the theatre together. But at the same time, we can spend our afternoons knitting and stuffing our faces with junk food, gossiping about the latest celebrity mishap over brunch, or hit the local roller rink, rather than the art gallery.

Maybe it's just because I'm new to UU (one year, officially, and counting) and I just happened to stumble upon a really down-to-earth group of folks, but I'm more intimidated by the UU-intellectualism I've stumbled upon online. I can relate to other bloggers who have said,

"when I try to read other’s blog posts over what I’m sure are interesting, relevant topics to Unitarian Universalism, I get lost in a sea of big words that I’m sure have a meaning and citations that reference scholarly works which although I assume exist I doubt I’ll ever have the chance of hearing about again, much less reading, and much, much less understanding. "

These issues alone were one of the biggest intimidations when I was deciding whether or not to start a UU-themed blog. I really wanted to discuss my relationship with UUism and share my personal development as a UU, but was afraid I would end up sounding too silly for anyone to care.

I've since gotten over that, thanks in some part to Spirituality and Sunflowers' post that inspired this UU Carnival topic.

Yes, I'm "highly" educated, I love a good glass of red wine, and could sit and talk progressive politics for hours. But I'd just as soon split a bottle of Two Buck Chuck (or a cold can of beer), go bowling, watch American Idol, and surf my favorite gossip sites until the wee hours of the morning.

Does this make me a bad liberal? Or worse yet, a bad UU?

Hell no, it doesn't. In fact, I think it just makes me a more interesting one ;)

The one thing I do have to remain aware of is a slip into competing dichotomies. Are there intellectual and non-intellectual UU's? No, there are UU's -- and just like any other group (or perhaps moreso than most) we are a diverse crowd. And we should celebrate that whenever possible, both internally and emotionally, and when in community together.

After all, if we religious misfits can't blend together in a UU environment, where else are we gonna go?