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Readings
Interesting articles on religion and world events
The origins of All Saints’ Day
by Rev. Kelly Murphy Mason
The very first day of November is a lesser-known religious holiday called All Saints’ Day. In the blink of an eye, you might miss its appearance on the calendar. That day, Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians – among others – commonly pay homage the entire assemblage of canonized saints such as Valentine, Jude and Patrick. Originally, their celebrations were observed in Hallowmas, a mass for the hallowed saints, which helps explain the nomenclature of Halloween, once dubbed All Hallows’ Eve and only later elided into its present name. Some Unitarian Universalists celebrate Halloween with great relish; far fewer of us mark even the passage of All Saints Day. We don’t usually claim our saints in that way, on that day, although we certainly do have some in our tradition.
One of our great Unitarian ministers, the Rev. William Ellery Channing, more than a century ago declared: “I am a living member of that great family of all souls!” Since he’s no longer living now, Channing’s life can actually be commemorated on the second day of November, the festival recognized as All Souls’ Day. An ecumenical observance, it calls into remembrance the souls of the faithful departed. How telling it is that Channing himself did not want to be counted among the saints. Nor did he, for all his infamous and purported heresies, want to be remembered as either an infidel or a sinner. He wanted simply to be tallied with the mass of humanity. In truth, though, Channing thought far more highly of humanity than did most theologians of his day.
Most Unitarians Universalists today share his optimistic outlook on human nature. What we would be wise to share also would be a measure of Channing’s deep humility and fellow feeling. This October, the Unitarian Universalist Association commemorated its first Association Sunday. Indeed, our religious tradition calls on us to think of ourselves as associated with others at an intimate spiritual level, not merely a congregational one. The Universalists of Channing’s century were proclaiming not only the common origin of humanity preached by the Unitarians, but furthermore, its shared destiny in “the final harmony of all souls with God.”
We Unitarian Universalists have a long legacy of allying ourselves neither with the saints nor the sinners, but rather, walking among the mortals, standing in satisfied solidarity with the mass of souls. If nothing else, let’s celebrate that this November 2nd. Remember to mark it on your calendar: All Soul’s Day. It belongs to all of us, the avowedly Unitarian, the avowedly Universalist, or some hybrid variation of the two or possibly more religious lineages. It belongs to all of us in the human family by virtue of our being human. It belongs to all of us as surely as we belong to one another. Celebrate that.
by Rev. Kelly Murphy Mason
While still a seminarian at Union Theological Seminary in New York, I led a Samhain service for the students involved in the Unitarian Universalist campus ministry at Columbia University. My suspicion is that the service was first and last such service seen in St. Paul’s Chapel. Samhain, pronounced so-ween, was the pagan precursor to our contemporary Halloween celebrations, although the resemblance between the two holidays seems to have faded with time.
For the Celts, Samhain represented the close of the warm season and the start of the cold one. As the lunar firefestival held on October 31, Samhain marked the time of autumnal ingathering and was thus recognized as a time of truce, when all weapons would be put away. Herds were gathered into stockades for safekeeping, crops harvested in their abundance. There was no need to fight one another in these times of plenty, no cause to raid another’s stores. People would instead survive the dark days ahead by being shelter to one another.
Interestingly enough, Samhain was considered the beginning of the Celtic new year. This meant that the Celtic year began with a fallow period of hibernation and shadow and then progressed toward the bright and joyous revivals of spring and summer. The year started with people banding together around the bonfire to lend each other warmth.
The bonfire that served to drive away the darkness and cold on Samhain later became the bonfire lit to keep evil spirits at bay on Halloween. But the ancient Celts knew that there was little point in dreading what was inevitable, especially not this slow descent into winter. So they welcomed what could not be changed, implicitly trusting in the wisdom of the cycle of seasons, facing their fears squarely.
Acceptance is the soul of Samhain. What they did not curse, the Celts blessed. The heir of those Celts, I could claim that generous spirit as my rightful inheritance, if only I would. Like so many of my contemporaries, I resist not only the earth’s turning, but also countless other forms of change, necessary as I know them to be.
I tend to dread change; at times, I suppose, I am even tempted to curse it. Those are responses born of fear, instinctive reactions that can pass in moments, if I let them go. The earth – and indeed, life itself – calls on us to be brave and further, to be brave day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. We all need to light the fires that make light of our fears, not only at annual feasts or holiday celebrations, but every day that we have the good fortune to inhabit. Light those fires wherever you are, welcome whatever comes to you, and your gathering will need no greater sanctuary.
An excerpt from "Against Innocence"
The following is taken from an article by Rosemary Bray McNatt, Against Innocence in the Nov/Dec issue of UU World. Copies of the magazine are available in the bookcase in the hall.
I believe that many Unitarian Universalists are serious about creating a world of justice and peace; that is, I think we think we mean it. What I believe we are less serious about is what it will take to create that world, particularly in a society filled with people and circumstances actively opposed to a whole and holy life.
Our troubled world is filled with difficult and dangerous people who will not always respond to kind, thoughtful words and good intentions. A time may be coming when the love we hold dear will require a more practical expression. It may no longer be enough to simply counsel peace in a world where there is no peace; as the life of this world grows more violent and dangerous, perhaps the time is coming when we must give up our culture of witness and pick up the heavier burden that the 20th century Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer called discipleship. It may not be long before we risk becoming aimless hypocrites if we are not willing to put our own bodies and lives on the line to protect those who stand in harm’s way.
"The Common Ground of Interfaith Nonviolence"
The following excerpts are from a recent article titled "The Common Ground of Interfaith Nonviolence" by John Dear, SJ, author of books on both Gandhi and Jesus. This article was included in the magazine Fellowship, A Magazine of Peacemaking published by the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
"...nonviolence is at the core of every religion, regardless of what the world says, or what religious bigotry, fundamentalism and misconceptions have bred. At the heart of each major religion is the vision of peace, the ideal of reconciled humanity, the way of compassion and love and justice, the fundamental truth of nonviolence."
" Gandhi teaches us that we share a common spirituality of nonviolence. That leads me to conclude that nonviolence is a key to understanding not only the religious, social, political, economic and spiritual dimensions of life but also what it means to be human. Contrary to what most people think, I believe we were created to live nonviolently, to be at peace with one another and all creation, and that it is possible for the whole human race to live together nonviolently. Indeed it is our only hope if we are to survive."
"If we can each plumb the depths of nonviolence in our religious traditions, we will unleash the contemplative springs of nonviolence within us and peace will blossom among us. If we dare open our hearts to the wisdom of nonviolence in other religious traditions, as Gandhi did, we will discover not only that religion need not be a cause of war and division, but that it can be a healing path toward unity, reconciliation, and global disarmament."
"As the world hangs on the brink of nuclear and environmental destruction, as we wage war in the name of religion; we need to explore the religious roots of nonviolence, just as Gandhi did. Perhaps then we will hear the call to disarm…"
John Dear, SJ, lives in the desert of New Mexico where he serves as pastor to several remote, poor churches. His latest books include Mohandas Gandhi:Essential Writings; Living Peace and Jesus the Rebel. For information visit www.johndear.org
by Marjorie Viemeister
When I was a little girl I remember being all dressed up for the annual Anniversary Day parade in Brooklyn, NY my introduction to the Protestant Churches in the area. With promise of ice cream and cake afterwards, it was an exciting time.
Since then there have been many churches in my life Ð all denominations, most where I sang in their choir and listened to what their minister had to say. When I was twelve years old we found the Ocean Avenue Congregational Church in Brooklyn, where I became quite active, taught in their Sunday School, became a member of their Youth group and married there. It was a church with a fine, liberal minister, Dr. Miller. Our young people's group, the Pilgrim League, was given free range to engage speakers for their Sunday night sessions. The speakers we had at that time really formed my political opinions and the basis for my later activities. We had Norman Thomas, socialists, communists, union organizers, Quakers and most other religious groups Ð even the leader of the dock workers, Harry Bridges!
With the birth of a son, Willard and I moved to Merrick and I began to look for a suitable church for the family. Hearing good things about the Freeport Unitarian group, I talked with Lon Ray Call in 1952 and I joined their choir. Services were held in the Jewish Temple in Rockville Centre at that time and later in the Masonic Hall in Baldwin. I was impressed with Reverend Call. His sermons were topical, strong and inspiring. I was hooked! This seemed to be the place for us.
It was a great group of people. The members were mostly our age many with the Unitarian vision of a better world. Our values were the same. We had two church sessions at the time, mainly to accommodate the children, who were shipped to homes all over Freeport! In 1954 the Parish House on Ocean Ave in Freeport was purchased and plans were made for the present building Ð which began in 1956 and completed and dedicated in 1959. RE classes were held in the Parish House and the Masonic Hall in Freeport. If you are interested I suggest you get a copy of ÒOur HistoryÓ prepared for our 50th Anniversary. Incidentally our choir grew to almost 25! I became a member in 1956 and was active on the Music Committee, the Social Concerns, the Thrift Shop (started in 1963!) Membership, etc. My children were in the RE program and my husband did a lot of maintenance work with Lucile Berg's husband. In the beginning Lucy Call maintained the church office and edited and produced 'The Reporter', the bi-weekly newsletter. Soon I was hired to be the first church secretary. Some years later I was greatly honored to be elected the first woman president of the SNUC Board of Trustees. Women in other churches on the Island had usually been relegated to the kitchen! Our church was different! Men and women worked together in complete equality! And some of our best cooks were men!
I joined SNUC because I felt we could be a force for good in the world Ð not really for spiritual reasons, although I guess that is a part of it. The Unitarian principals were my beliefs and values and inspired my efforts to achieve them. The church was a home away from home, and its members my extended family. I gained so much strength and support from my friends at SNUC in the difficult years when my husband suffered form Alheimer's disease. I am very grateful. I am very happy to see so many young people working hard to help us grow in strength and membership. Let's continue to be heard as a force for peace in the world and to let others know what we stand for. If we all try hard perhaps we can make life a little better for those who do not have our advantages.
Noah and 9/11
by Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times editorial - September 11, 2002Over the past year several friends have remarked to me how much they still feel a pit in their stomachs from 9/11. One even said she felt as if this was the beginning of the end of the world. And no wonder. Those suicide hijackings were such an evil act that they shattered your faith in human beings and in the wall of civilization that was supposed to constrain the worst in human behavior. There is now a big jagged hole in that wall.
What to do? For guidance, I turned to one of my mentors, Rabbi Tzvi Marx, who teaches in the Netherlands. He offered me a biblical analogy. "To some extent," said Tzvi, "we feel after 9/11 like we have experienced the flood of Noah — as if a flood has inundated our civilization and we are the survivors. What do we do the morning after?"
The story of Noah has a lot to offer. "What was the first thing Noah did when the flood waters receded and he got off the ark?" asked Tzvi. "He planted a vine, made wine and got drunk." Noah's first response to the flood's devastation of humanity, and the challenge he now faced, was to numb himself to the world.
"But what was God's reaction to the flood?" asked Tzvi. "Just the opposite. God's reaction was to offer Noah a more detailed set of rules for mankind to live by — rules which we now call the Noahite laws. His first rule was that life is precious, so man should not murder man." (These Noahite laws were later expanded to include prohibitions against idolatry, adultery, blasphemy and theft.)
It's interesting — you would have thought that after wiping out humanity with a devastating flood, God's first post-flood act wouldn't have been to teach that all life is precious. But it was. Said Tzvi: "It is as though God said, `Now I understand what I'm up against with these humans. I need to set for them some very clear boundaries of behavior, with some very clear values and norms, that they can internalize.' "And that is where the analogy with today begins. After the deluge of 9/11 we have two choices: We can numb ourselves to the world, and plug our ears, or we can try to repair that jagged hole in the wall of civilization by insisting, more firmly and loudly than ever, on rules and norms — both for ourselves and for others.
"God, after the flood, refused to let Noah and his offspring indulge themselves in escapism," said Tzvi, "but he also refused to give them license to live without moral boundaries, just because humankind up to that point had failed."
The same applies to us. Yes, we must kill the murderers of 9/11, but without becoming murderers and without simply indulging ourselves. We must defend ourselves — without throwing out civil liberties at home, without barring every Muslim student from this country, without forgetting what a huge shadow a powerful America casts over the world and how it can leave people feeling powerless, and without telling the world we're going to do whatever we want because there has been a flood and now all bets are off.
Because imposing norms and rules on ourselves gives us the credibility to demand them from others. It gives us the credibility to demand the rule of law, religious tolerance, consensual government, self-criticism, pluralism, women's rights and respect for the notion that my grievance, however deep, does not entitle me to do anything to anyone anywhere.It gives us the credibility to say to the Muslim world: Where have you been since 9/11? Where are your voices of reason? You humbly open all your prayers in the name of a God of mercy and compassion. But when members of your faith, acting in the name of Islam, murdered Americans or committed suicide against "infidels," your press extolled them as martyrs and your spiritual leaders were largely silent. Other than a few ritual condemnations, they offered no outcry in their mosques; they drew no new moral red lines in their schools. That's a problem, because if there isn't a struggle within Islam — over norms and values — there is going to be a struggle between Islam and us.
In short, numbing ourselves to the post-9/11 realities will not work. Military operations, while necessary, are not sufficient. Building higher walls may feel comforting, but in today's interconnected world they're an illusion. Our only hope is that people will be restrained by internal walls — norms and values. Visibly imposing them on ourselves, and loudly demanding them from others, is the only viable survival strategy for our shrinking planet.
Otherwise, start building an ark.
The Dispossessed
by 100 Nobel Laureates
(This appeared in the UU World March/April 2002)The following statement was released on Dec. 7, 2001 by 100 Nobel prize winners to coincide with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first Nobel prizes.
The most profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from irrational acts of states or individuals, but from the legitimate demands of the world’s dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates Global warming, not of their making, but originating with the wealthy few, will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust…
It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence of the rich. If then we permit the devastating power of modern weaponry to spread through this combustible human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and poor. The only hope for the future lies in cooperative international action, legitimized by democracy..
These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace.
Some of the needed legal instruments are already at hand, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. As concerned citizens, we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of war by law.
To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all.
The Real War:
Religious Totalitarianism
by Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times editorial - November 27, 2001If 9/11 was indeed the onset of World War III, we have to understand what this war is about. We're not fighting to eradicate "terrorism." Terrorism is just a tool. We're fighting to defeat an ideology: religious totalitarianism.
World War II and the cold war were fought to defeat secular totalitarianism - Nazism and Communism - and World War III is a battle against religious totalitarianism, a view of the world that my faith must reign supreme and can be affirmed and held passionately only if all others are negated. That's bin Ladenism. But unlike Nazism, religious totalitarianism can't be fought by armies alone. It has to be fought in schools, mosques, churches and synagogues, and can be defeated only with the help of imams, rabbis and priests.
The generals we need to fight this war are people like Rabbi David Hartman, from the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. What first attracted me to Rabbi Hartman when I reported from Jerusalem was his contention that unless Jews reinterpreted their faith in a way that embraced modernity, without weakening religious passion, and in a way that affirmed that God speaks multiple languages and is not exhausted by just one faith, they would have no future in the land of Israel. And what also impressed me was that he knew where the battlefield was. He set up his own schools in Israel to compete with fundamentalist Jews, Muslims and Christians, who used their schools to preach exclusivist religious visions.
After recently visiting the Islamic madrasa in Pakistan where many Taliban leaders were educated, and seeing the fundamentalist religious education the young boys there were being given, I telephoned Rabbi Hartman and asked:
How do we battle religious totalitarianism?
He answered: "All faiths that come out of the biblical tradition - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - have the tendency to believe that they have the exclusive truth. When the Taliban wiped out the Buddhist statues, that's what they were saying. But others have said it too. The opposite of religious totalitarianism is an ideology of pluralism - an ideology that embraces religious diversity and the idea that my faith can be nurtured without claiming exclusive truth. America is the Mecca of that ideology, and that is what bin Laden hates and that is why America had to be destroyed."
The future of the world may well be decided by how we fight this war. Can Islam, Christianity and Judaism know that God speaks Arabic on Fridays, Hebrew on Saturdays and Latin on Sundays, and that he welcomes different human beings approaching him through their own history, out of their language and cultural heritage? "Is single-minded fanaticism a necessity for passion and religious survival, or can we have a multilingual view of God - a notion that God is not exhausted by just one religious path?" asked Rabbi Hartman.
Many Jews and Christians have already argued that the answer to that question is yes, and some have gone back to their sacred texts to reinterpret their traditions to embrace modernity and pluralism, and to create space for secularism and alternative faiths. Others - Christian and Jewish fundamentalists - have rejected this notion, and that is what the battle is about within their faiths.
What is different about Islam is that while there have been a few attempts at such a reformation, none have flowered or found the support of a Muslim state. We patronize Islam, and mislead ourselves, by repeating the mantra that Islam is a faith with no serious problems accepting the secular West, modernity and pluralism, and the only problem is a few bin Ladens. Although there is a deep moral impulse in Islam for justice, charity and compassion, Islam has not developed a dominant religious philosophy that allows equal recognition of alternative faith communities. Bin Laden reflects the most extreme version of that exclusivity, and he hit us in the face with it on 9/11.
Christianity and Judaism struggled with this issue for centuries, but a similar internal struggle within Islam to re-examine its texts and articulate a path for how one can accept pluralism and modernity - and still be a passionate, devout Muslim - has not surfaced in any serious way. One hopes that now that the world spotlight has been put on this issue, mainstream Muslims too will realize that their future in this integrated, globalized world depends on their ability to reinterpret their past.
A World Out of Touch With Itself:
Where the Violence Comes From
by Rabbi Michael Lerner
There is never any justification for acts of terror against innocent civilians-terrorism is the quintessential act of dehumanization and not recognizing the sanctity of others, and a visible symbol of a world increasingly irrational and out of control.
When violence becomes so prevalent throughout the planet, it is too easy to simplify talk of "deranged minds." We need to ask ourselves, "What is it in the way that we are living, organizing our societies and treating each other that makes violence seem plausible to so many people?"
We in the spiritual world see this as a growing incapacity to recognize the spirit of God, or goodness, in each other-what we call the sanctity of each human being. The willingness of people to hurt each other to advance their own interests has become a global problem. It is only the dramatic level of the September 11 attacks which distinguishes them from the violence and insensitivity to each other that is part of our every day lives.
We may tell ourselves that this violence has "nothing to do" with the way we have learned to close our ears when told that one out of every three people on the planet does not have enough food, and that one billion are literally starving.
We may reassure ourselves that the hoarding of the world’s resources by the richest society in history, and our attempts to accelerate globalization with its attendant inequalities of wealth, has nothing to do with the resentment that others feel towards us. We may tell ourselves that the suffering of refugees and the oppressed has nothing to do with us. But we live in one world, increasingly interconnected and the forces that lead people to feel outrage, anger and desperation eventually impact on every one of us.
Raise children in circumstances where no one is there to take care of them...or where they must live by begging or selling their bodies in prostitution...put them in refugee camps and tell them that they have no "right of return" to their homes...treat them as though they are less valuable and deserving of respect because they are part of a despised national or ethnic group...surround them with a media that extols the rich and makes everyone who is not economically successful, physically perfect, and conventionally "beautiful" feel bad about themselves...offer them jobs whose sole goal is to enrich the "bottom line" of someone else...and teach them that "looking out for number one" is the only thing anyone really cares about" and we will produce a worldwide population of people feeling depressed, angry, and unable to care about others.
Some Americans are puzzled by reference to this larger picture. We find it baffling to imagine that somehow we are part of a world system which is slowly destroying the life support system of the planet and transferring the wealth of the world into our own pockets. We don’t feel personally responsible when an American corporation runs a sweatshop in the Philippines, or crushes efforts of workers to organize in Singapore. We don’t see ourselves implicated when the US refuses to consider the plight of Palestinian refugees, or uses the excuse of fighting drugs to support repression in Columbia or Central America. We have narrowed our own attention to getting through or doing well in our own personal lives. We say we are leading reasonable lives within the options we have available to us - so why should others be angry at us, why do they strike out against us?
We must ask ourselves what we can do to change the conditions that generated terrorism in the first place. To do otherwise will only ensure more violence against us in the future. This is a world out of touch with itself, filled with people who have forgotten how to recognize and respond to the sacred in each other. We are used to looking at others from the standpoint of what they can do for us, how we can use them toward our own ends. The alternatives are stark: either start caring about the fate of everyone on this planet, or be prepared for a slippery slope toward violence that will eventually dominate our daily lives.
Now is the time for reflection...a time for coming back in touch with our common humanity...a time for asking ourselves how our institutions can best embody our highest values. We need to turn the direction of our society at every level, and to return to the notion that every human life is sacred. We need to create a society in which social justice, love, and compassion are the bottom line, and violence becomes a distant memory.
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