And when I ask “Is there a place for poor Unitarian Universalists?” I don’t mean one, or two, or a small handful of poor people within a congregation of prosperous people, but a vital presence of Unitarian Universalists in a particularly poor community, or coming out of the experience and responding to the poor people… Continue reading Is there a place for poor Unitarian Universalists?
Category: Class
Get cozy at Providence GA
The General Assembly housing site opened today I was curious to see how much rooms would cost in Providence for General Assembly. (Not for myself: I’m staying with friends.) The city is rather thin for hotels, and when (in my day job) I sent people there, I thought the price was high. But every room… Continue reading Get cozy at Providence GA
UUs and class: thought 2
I was getting excited about talking about ministry with poor and working-class people that I worked on this and another thought. But I won’t. The discussion has become too theoretical. The same poor and working-class people seem more like a object of discussion, and the real, perennial subject — richer-people’s anxiety — is percolating. It’s… Continue reading UUs and class: thought 2
UUs and class: thought 1
Better to make this short and get it out and write again if need be. The issue of class and Unitarian Universalism is one that won’t be solved by this or any thread on blogs, but I am responding to some of the blog posts written by Unitarian Universalist minister and blogger Tom Schade. In… Continue reading UUs and class: thought 1
Figuring on unpaid ministers
I was drawn to the online Economist article about the admission of women to the episcopate in the Church of England by a tweet by British Unitarian and Free Christian Chief Officer Derek McAuley. It had a wry caption about Unitarian (do see) but I don’t care much about that, or an established church or… Continue reading Figuring on unpaid ministers
Free your mind from commercial occupation
My “Occupy mind” is moving from plowing (attracting attention through encampment) to planting, even if the seasons belie the metaphor. It’s time to develop concrete actions to match the feelings stirred up in the last two months. A political response is natural, and I expect you to keep pressure on your congregational delegations with respect… Continue reading Free your mind from commercial occupation
John and Eliza Murray were one serious illness from bankruptcy
It’s well known now that a medical crisis is more likely to push you — let’s limit this to the United States — into bankruptcy than any other single cause. This was true, too, for Universalist church founder and inspirer John Murray and his first wife, Eliza around 1768. The text follows, but first to… Continue reading John and Eliza Murray were one serious illness from bankruptcy
Plain thoughts about alternatives to college
Minister and blogger (and friend) Adam Tierney-Eliot looked at his family’s finances and so addressed one of the great taboos of the educated middle class: that there may be an alternative to college for his children, that blithely opting into college surely come with a mountain of debt, and that the alternatives might be demonstrably better. The… Continue reading Plain thoughts about alternatives to college
The non-sense of austerity policy
Andrew Brown, Unitarian minister and blogger (Caute) wrote: Readers of this blog may be interested this short video presentation which is, I think, worth five minutes of anyone’s time. I agree, for several reasons, not the least of which is warning about misleading civil preachments of virtue. Do watch this.
Open for comment: is there a place for racism-theory dissent in the UUA?
The more I follow stories about race in the Unitarian Universalist Association — and particularly the alphabet soup of policy-making at the highest elected levels — the more I (1) wonder what the real, heart-felt motive is and (2) fear that the UUA is locked into a uniform Boomer-driven worldview — not only about race,… Continue reading Open for comment: is there a place for racism-theory dissent in the UUA?