Hey NPR...I'm going to a CHRISTmas Party!

Nmysys wrote: Unitarians have no creed or faith. You are supposedly looking for the truth but haven't found it yet, so you are all over the map according to the research I have done. Hillary played the victim so well. Is that where you learned it? You sure didn't learn the guilt part while you were supposedly growing up in the Catholic religion.

Oh, it's one of those feel good meet ups - where they accept sin and anyone interpretation of the Bible? Is this the kind of church that has some guru fly in from California to teach about your inner self?

Merry Christmas!

Nmysys wrote: Unitarians have no creed or faith.

I thought you were against questioning another person's religion. At least, you were as of yesterday. I have no idea how to respond to your "Hillary" comment. If you are talking about Hillary Clinton, I'm not aware what faith she is or what she has to do with this discussion, unless you are trying to drag politics into a religious discussion.

Unitarian Universalism is indeed a creedless religion so it may be easier to understand UUism as a living faith by noting the individuals who have been associated with UUism.

There have been five different American presidents who were Unitarians: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, and William Howard Taft.

* Horatio Alger (1832-1899), writer of rags-to-riches books for boys.
* Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906), organizer of the women's suffrage movement.
* Clara Barton (1821-1912), founder of the American Red Cross.
* Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), inventor of the telephone; founder of Bell Telephone Company.
* Ray Bradbury, science fiction writer.
* William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), author and newspaper editor.
* Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), architect of the United States Capitol building.
* Robert Burns (1759-1796), Scottish poet and song writer.
* e.e. Cummings (1894-1962), 20th century American poet, noted for his unorthodox style and technique.
* Charles Darwin (1809-1882), scientist and evolutionist, author of Origin of the Species.
* Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English novelist.
* Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Unitarian minister, philosopher, essayist.
* Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), scientist, writer, statesman, printer.
* Horace Greeley (1811-1872), journalist, politician, editor and owner of the New York Tribune, champion of labor unions and cooperatives.
* Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), 19th century American novelist, author of The Scarlet Letter.
* Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935), lawyer and member of the U.S. Supreme Court, 1902-32.
* Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), composer of Battle Hymn of the Republic.
* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), poet, author of Paul Revere's Ride.
* John Marshall (1755-1835), Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
* Herman Melville (1819-1891), writer, author of Moby Dick.
* Samuel Morse (1791-1872), inventor of the telegraph and Morse Code.
* Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), British nurse and hospital reformer.
* Thomas Paine (1737-1809), editor and publisher of Common Sense.
* Linus Pauling, chemist, won Nobel Peace Prize, 1962.
* Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), author of Peter Rabbit and other children's stories.
* Joseph Priestly (1733-1804), discoverer of oxygen, Unitarian minister.
* Elliot Richardson, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, and Attorney General (1973).
* Christopher Reeve (1952-2004), actor best known for his role as Superman and activist who raised awareness and funds for spinal cord injury research.
* Paul Revere (1735-1818), silversmith and patriot.
* Benjamin Rush (1745-1813), signer of the Declaration of Independence; physician, considered to be the "Father of American Psychiatry".
* Carl Sandberg (1878-1967), American poet, won Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Abraham Lincoln.
* Ted Sorenson, speechwriter and aide to John F. Kennedy.
* Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965), Governor of Illinois, candidate for President, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
* Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755-1828), artist, best known for his portrait of George Washington.
* Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), engineer, founded U.S. Military Academy.
* Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), essayist and naturalist, author of Walden Pond.
* Kurt Vonnegut, writer, author of Slaugherhouse Five.
* Daniel Webster (1782-1852), orator, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, presidential candidate.
* Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959), architect.
* Owen D. Young (1874-1962), Chairman of General Electric Company.
* Whitney Young (1921-1971), head of the Urban League.

The Principles and Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote

1. The inherent dignity and worth of every person;
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part;

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

1. Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
2. Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
3. Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
4. Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
5. Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
6. Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

http://www.bible.ca/cr-Unitarian-universalist.htm

So now Resident Troll and Nymysys get to decide which faiths are "real' and which are not. I guess they're running a virtual Auto de fe for heretics. (Methodists (Hillary Clinton) and Unitarians are first up at the stake.

CKM8:

What world do you live in? What Universe?

Nmysys wrote: CKM8:

What world do you live in? What Universe?

A universe where self-righteous, whiny posters complain about others challenging their faith (or seeming lack of it) and then post crap like this-

Nmysys wrote: Unitarians have no creed or faith. You are supposedly looking for the truth but haven't found it yet, so you are all over the map according to the research I have done. Hillary played the victim so well. Is that where you learned it? You sure didn't learn the guilt part while you were supposedly growing up in the Catholic religion.

and this-

MerryCHRISTmas wrote:
Oh, it's one of those feel good meet ups - where they accept sin and any interpretation of the Bible? Is this the kind of church that has some guru fly in from California to teach about your inner self? I see those buildings on Sunday and wonder...why do they go on Sunday?

You remind me of my 7 year old niece who loves to throw snowballs, but runs crying to mama when you throw one back.

ckm8, did you mean to post the same quote in both quotes?

Here's what I think is a great sermon called "Can Unitarian Universalists Believe Anything They Want?" if anyone is interested in reading it. I'm not trying to push it on you but it is interesting to study the different religions out there.

Ours is a faith for people who want to think for themselves. We are a liberal religion, not a literalist, fundamentalist religion. But what is Liberal Religion? It is when the Buddha said that salvation is to be found in the realization of truth. It is in Islam when it is said that giving alms is good, but giving anonymously is divine. It is the Tao Te Ching when it is said that only difficult things are worth pursuing. Instead of being absorbed by salvation for an “afterlife,” we are more concerned about living responsibly and deeply, here and now.

Rather than allow our lives to be influenced by literal interpretations of scriptures and the prescriptions of dogma and creeds, we live by deeds and interpret religious stories as metaphors for living responsibly.

This doesn’t mean that whatever anyone believes is fine, since some beliefs are good for us and others are not. We do look to ancient sources for spiritual wisdom and contemporary individuals for religious leadership, but the ultimate authority when it comes to the meaning of your life is you.

http://www.uucroton.org/2007/04/29/believe-anything/

No I didn't. Thanks. Fixed now.

Nmysys wrote: CKM8:

What world do you live in? What Universe?

He's not sure...he's Universal.

MerryCHRISTmas wrote:

Nmysys wrote: CKM8:

What world do you live in? What Universe?

He's not sure...he's Universal.

No, actually I'm one of those Godless Methodists.