By now, we hope that anyone who has followed the blog or even the Facebook page knows about the Five Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion. A set of guidelines put together from previous writings, the 5 Smooth Stones are a set of beliefs intended to allow us to outline our faith in religion as a […]
Unitarian Universalism has a core. The five Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion provide a stable and lasting foundation on which we each build our own spiritual life. Within the wide boundaries of the 7 Principles our congregations have agreed to, there is a lot of room to build your personal theology. It is up to […]
An under-valued part of affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of each person is that we can affirm the worth of people around us as often as we like. We can reach out to anyone and everyone within the sound of our voice, and we can affirm their worth. This week we offer […]
The I Am UU project is in a bind, and we need your help. The short explanation is that we’ve had a computer fail at the worst time. It means that we will be publishing fewer new images and blog posts, though we are working to make sure that the Monday Meditation posts are ready […]
I have prayed this week. I have meditated. Now, I write, because it is a practice I have been avoiding. I am writing here, because I feel that I have something to say, and I am going to use my loudest voice to say it. Bare with me while I figure out what, exactly, that […]
In the oft referenced 5 Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion, theologian James Luther Adams tells us: …all relations between persons ought ideally to rest on mutual, free consent and not on coercion. Our congregations tend to honor this in a way that isn’t often the subject of consideration: the membership book. In most Christian churches, […]
My fellow Americans, your government has allowed a group of citizens, acting as a duly convened jury, to sentence a man to death. The man did things that are terrible, and there is no doubt of his involvement, which makes this an excellent time to address capital punishment from a Unitarian Universalist perspective. It doesn’t […]
Each and every breath we get in life is a blessing. Each time we breathe in, we breathe in air that is millions, possibly billions, of years old. We breathe in atoms older than our Sun, and particles that were formed at the beginning of time and space. This air has been breathed by kings […]
James Luther Adams, in his foundational “5 Smooth Stones of Liberal Religion” said that, as religious liberals, We deny the immaculate conception of virtue and affirm the necessity of social incarnation. This is a statement echoed by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr when he wrote, Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it […]
It has been said that “tolerance” is a Unitarian Universalist value, but let’s not let this be true. Tolerance is being permissive. It is allowing other people to be themselves as long as it doesn’t interfere with your right to be yourself. It is more than some people seem capable of, but it is too […]