Prince Philip, the U.K. royal who died recently, was known for his commitment to environmentalism. Religion News Service reports that in 1990, Prince Philip compared Neo-paganism and the Abrahamic religions:
[Prince Philip said the] “ecological pragmatism of the so-called pagan religions” was “a great deal more realistic, in terms of conservation ethics, than the more intellectual monotheistic philosophies of the revealed religions.”
Though this statement proved controversial at the time, I have to say he was absolutely correct. In fact, I’d say it’s still pretty much true.
An excerpt from a history of early Unitarians in Palo Alto. I haven’t made much progress on this project, due to the long hours I’ve been putting in dealing with the pandemic. With luck, I’ll be able to get back to it.
The Unity Society, 1895-1897
In November, 1892, the very first issue of The Pacific Unitarian, a periodical devoted to promoting liberal religion up and down the West Coast, declared that a Unitarian church should be organized in Palo Alto:
“The University town of Palo Alto is growing fast. Never was there a field that offered more in the way of influence and education than this. A [building] lot for a church ought to be secured at once, and the preliminary steps taken towards the organization of a Unitarian Society.” (1)
Organizing churches in college towns had been a standard missionary strategy for the American Unitarian Association (AUA) since the denomination had funded a Unitarian church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1865. These “college missions” were seen as “one of the most effective ways of extending Unitarianism,” (2) and many of them resulted in strong Unitarian congregations.
But who had the time and the skills to organize a Unitarian church in Palo Alto? The Unitarian church in San Jose was the one nearest to Palo Alto. In early 1893, the two ministers of the San Jose church, Revs. N. A. Haskell and J. H. Garnett, organized two new Unitarian congregations in Los Gatos and Santa Clara, ignoring Palo Alto. (3) Support for a new Palo Alto congregation would have to come from somewhere else.
Coincidentally, around 1890, Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, an experienced Universalist minister who had helped found a number of Universalist and Unitarian churches from Iowa to Dakota Territory, began spending winters in California on account of her health. Soon she was hired as the assistant minister in the Oakland Unitarian church. The Panic of 1893 resulted in an economic depression, and by 1894 Oakland had to reduce her position to part-time. The Pacific Unitarian Conference then hired Wilkes on a part-time basis to organize new congregations in California. (4)
Wilkes attended the Pacific Unitarian Conference in San Jose, May 1-4, 1895, as did Palo Altans Minnie and Luna Hoskins. (5) It was a small conference, and surely the three women encountered one another. Had someone already introduced the Pacific Unitarian Conference to Minnie and Luna Hoskins, or to other Unitarians in Palo Alto? On Sunday, May 5, the day after the conference ended, Wilkes became the first woman to preach at the Memorial Church of Stanford University, so perhaps David Starr Jordan had been at work behind the scenes. Later the same week, on Friday, May 10, Wilkes addressed the Palo Alto Woman’s Club. By the autumn of 1895, the Women’s Unitarian Conference was paying much of Wilkes’s salary, and they specifically authorized her to “preach in Palo Alto, assist in Berkeley and elsewhere.” (6)
In November, 1895, Wilkes began conducting Unitarian services at Parkinson’s Hall in Palo Alto, and continued to do so into the new year. Professors, students, and other residents of Palo Alto began attending these services, and on January 12, 1896, John S. Butler hosted a meeting at his house to formally organize a new congregation.
The thirty people present organized the Unity Society of Palo Alto for “the promotion of moral earnestness, and of freedom, fellowship, and character in religion, and which shall impose no restriction on individual belief.” (7) A “Unity Society” was the Unitarian term in those days for a lay-led congregation; they did not expect Wilkes to continue as their minister. Prof. Leander Hoskins was elected president of the new society; Dr. William Adams, a physician, was elected secretary; and John S. Butler, a wealthy man who had retired to Palo Alto, was elected treasurer. Two others were elected to the “committee on executive and finance”: William F. Pluns, a German immigrant and builder, and Fannie Rosebrook. (8) It’s noteworthy that the first board of the first Unitarian society in Palo Alto included a woman.
A Sunday school was part of the new congregation from the start. The Sunday school committee included Minnie Hoskins, Eleanor Brooks Pearson, a teacher at Castilleja Hall, and Anna Zschokke, a Bavarian immigrant with a deep concern for education who has been called “the mother of the Palo Alto schools.” (9)
Unity Society services were held in the parlors of the Palo Alto Hotel at 2:30 on Sunday afternoons; Sunday school began at 2:45. Music was provided by a quartet, and Sunday speakers included Prof. Melville B. Anderson who gave a talk on poetry and religion and read “extracts from different poets in illustration.” (10)
At the time of the April, 1896, meeting of the Pacific Unitarian Conference, Wilkes was still providing some support to the Palo Alto congregation, but she was only interested in starting new congregations, not keeping them going once they were started. (11) Rev. Carl Wendte, the director of the Pacific Coast Unitarians, expressed his opinion that “the two San Francisco churches should make this Palo Alto movement their peculiar care, aiding it by ministerial service, money contributions, and general supervision and help.” (12)
If the San Francisco churches did provide support, it was not enough to keep the Palo Alto Unity Society going. The tiny congregation continued in existence for another eleven months, until March, 1897, after which no record of it can be found. (13)
Interregnum, 1897-1905
The Unity Society was gone, but there were still Unitarians and Universalists in Palo Alto. When the California Sunday School Association took a census of the town in November, 1898, 21 people who were parents of school-aged children declared themselves to be Unitarians, and five declared themselves to be Universalists. Most of the Unitarian and Universalist children were probably attending Sunday schools in other churches, which may have made their parents long for a liberal church in town. (14)
On Monday, March 26, 1900, one of the Palo Alto newspapers reported that a Unitarian service had been held the previous day, with Rev. B. Fay Mills, minister of the Oakland Unitarian church, preaching on the topic of “the claims of liberal religion upon the modern world.” These Unitarian services were projected to continue indefinitely:
“A series of religious services will be held in Palo Alto every Sunday afternoon at Fraternity Hall, under the auspices of the Unitarian church. Cards pledging support are circulating that the members recognize the need of a religious organization in Palo Alto that shall represent the thought of our age, and leaving unquestioned the theological belief of its members, shall make its bond of Unity the Fellowships of the Spirit, and the Service of Man.” (15)
The following Sunday, April 1, Rev. Nahum A. Haskell, minister of the San Jose Unitarian church, preached on “Self-Sovereignty.”
Haskell had previously helped organize small Unitarian congregations near San Jose, and it seems probable that he, not Mills, intended to be the minister supporting the new congregation. But the San Francisco Call reported that at the April 10 annual meeting of the San Jose Unitarian church, Haskell faced opposition due to that congregation’s declining membership. (16) The conflict in San Jose dragged on for years, (17) no doubt serving to distract Haskell from whatever responsibilities he may have hoped to take on in Palo Alto. (18)
The second attempt at starting a Unitarian congregation in Palo Alto probably ended in April or May of 1900. On May 31, Haskell officiated at a double wedding in Palo Alto for Alice and Florence Emerson, Stanford students and daughters of a wealthy lumber tycoon. But there is no evidence of any further Unitarian activity until 1905, when the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto was organized.
Notes:
1 Pacific Unitarian, Nov., 1892, p. 18. The university in question is Stanford University. 2 George Willis Cooke, Unitarianism in America (Boston: American Unitarian Assoc., 1902), p. 215. 3 Debra N. Dietiker, A History of the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, California, Master’s thesis, San Jose State University, 1966, p. 16. 4 Rebecca Hunt, “Eliza Tupper Wilkes,” Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography, uudb.org/articles/elizatupperwilkes.html accessed Aug. 14, 2020. 5 Pacific Unitarian, June, 1893. 6 Palo Alto Times, May 10, 1895, p. 2; Pacific Unitarian, June, 1895, pp. 246-247; Pacific Unitarian, Nov., 1895, p. 6; Douglas Chapman, “Dakota Territory’s Eliza Tupper Wilkes: Prairie Pastor,” Dakota Conference on History, Literature, Art, and Archaeology, May 25, 2000, Augustana College. 7 “News from the Field,” The Unitarian, ed. Frederick B. Mott (Boston: George Ellis), February, 1896, p. 142. 8 Palo Alto Times, January 30, 1894, p. 2. 9 Margaret R. Feuer, A Walk Through History: Women of Palo Alto (Palo Alto, Calif.: PIP, 1994), p. 85. 10 Palo Alto Times, January 30, 1894, p. 2. 11 Cynthia Grant Tucker, Prophetic Sisterhood: Liberal Women Ministers of the Frontier, 1880-1930, Boston: Beacon Press, 1990, p. 45. 12 “News from the Field,” The Unitarian, ed. Frederick B. Mott (Boston: George Ellis), June, 1896, pp. 284-285. 13 The extant records of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto, now in the possession of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto, contain no records of either the Unity Society or the 1900 attempt to start a congregation. It may be worth searching contemporary newspaper accounts for additional information. 14 Palo Alto Times, Dec. 9, 1898, p. 1. 15 Palo Alto Live Oak, March 26, 1900, p. 1. 16 San Francisco Call, April 12, 1900, p. 3. 17 Debra N. Dietiker, p. 20. 18 Haskell was born on a farm in Harvard, Mass., in 1849, and converted to Unitarianism as a young man. He attended the Divinity School of Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), and served the following Unitarian congregations: Nantucket, Mass.; Hubbardston, Mass.; Vineland, N.J.; Camden, N.J.; Denver, Colo.; Dubuque, Iowa; San Jose, Calif.; and Fresno, Calif. He died in 1906, not long after he began serving the Fresno church. “He was a preacher of more than ordinary power and sometimes very profound.” —Obituary, Christian Register, Feb. 8, 1906, p. 163.
Sharpie, Rolf, Possum, Muds, and Nicky want to hear the rest of the story of Jesus in Jerusalem, the way Dan’s Unitarian mother used to tell it. As usual, full script below the fold. Possum: I can’t believe that Dan made us wait a whole week to hear what happened to Jesus and his followers … Continue reading "Story of Easter"
I’m following the story of how workers in an Amazon warehouse in Alabama are currently voting whether or not to join a union. The management of early twenty-first century Amazon warehouses sound a lot like the management of early twentieth century cotton mills: speed up work until the workers break, fire anyone who raises safety concerns, do anything to keep the unions out.
“The key question in America at the moment is are we going to have fair treatment of workers in the businesses that will dominate our future? … The concept that workers get a seat at the table is a radical concept for people in Silicon Valley.”
In fact, the assumption that workers should not have a seat at the table is a cornerstone of the Silicon Valley business model. Tech firms have been leaders at offshoring, outsourcing, using “contractors,” and requiring their few actual employees to put in 10-12 hour days as a matter of course. So why would they give workers a seat at the table?
The problem for workers: if you don’t have a seat at the table, then you’re on the menu.
Gospel singer Deitrick Haddon has released a new single in which he takes on pandemic deaths and grief. Listen to Haddon’s soaring, swooping gospel voice over a compelling trap backing track: “Sick World” by Dietrick Haddon.
What I especially like about this song is that Haddon gets the way grief is additive. All the grief we’ve experienced since the pandemic began gets added to all the grief we’ve experienced from COVID deaths and COVID-related deaths. Haddon specifically mentions Kobe Bryant’s death, and the official music video references the insurrectionists storming the Capitol building: these and many other events get added to the people we know who’ve died because of COVID. Here are some of the lyrics:
We’ve got kids killing each other in Chicago, Detroit just ain’t the same no more, And it ain’t getting better on the West Coast — Tell me why we treating each other so cold. People would rather put faith in a vaccine Than wearing a mask, keeping their hands clean, And this will all go down in history That thousands have died cause we cannot agree, yeah. Living in a sick world, but I’m praying you are well, We can’t stand to lose nobody else, Can’t stand to lose nobody….
I don’t listen to much gospel or hip hop, but the powerful lyrics and the high level of musicianship make this song worth a listen. And yes, I am praying that you are well.
Possum, Rolf, and Nicky, want to hear the story of Palm Sunday — although Dr. Sharpie and Muds are skeptical of that old story. So Dan gives them the Unitarian Universalist version.
Click on the image above to view the video on Vimeo.
The full script is below the fold.
Possum: Sharpie, Dan didn’t tell the Palm Sunday story last year.
Sharpie: Don’t you have that old story memorized by now?
Rolf: I like hearing people tell stories that I know by heart.
Muds: But that story is two thousand years old, so we don’t even know if it’s true.
Nicky: We want to hear it anyway.
Sharpie [sighing]: Dan, can you tell us the unscientific story of Palm Sunday?
Dan: I’d be glad to.
Rolf: We already know about the rabbi named Jesus of Nazareth who lived in the land of Judea and went from town to town teaching about religion, so you can skip that part.
Possum: And we know Jesus wasn’t an official Jewish religious leader, like the Pharisees, but many people listened to him because he treated everyone with respect, even people who were poor or homeless or sick.
Nicky: And they liked him because he said religion was simple: he said to love their God with all their heart and mind, and treat other people the way you’d like to be treated.
Dan: OK, I can take it from there. Jesus did most of his teaching in the countryside, but at last he and his followers decided to go to Jerusalem for Passover. Jesus and his followers were Jewish, and they wanted to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem, the most holy city for Jews.
They began to walk to Jerusalem. There were no cars or anything in those days, so they had to walk all the way. Jesus had been teaching and traveling for a long time, and he was tired. As they got close to Jerusalem, he asked his followers to find an animal for him to ride. They borrowed a foal, a young horse, for him to be able to ride.
Crowds of people were walking on the road to go to Jerusalem for Passover. Many them had seen Jesus before. Some of these people thought Jesus was the greatest religious teacher around. They began to point at Jesus, and call out to him.
Meanwhile, someone began to sing a hymn that seemed to fit what they were doing, and other joined in. They sang: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise.”
People were in a happy, festive mood. They gathered flowers, and picked leaves from palm trees, and carried them along. They sang: “Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.”
All these people singing and walking into Jerusalem together! Some of the people who thought Jesus was a great religious teacher gave him flowers, and waved palm leaves over him.
At this point, Jesus was probably growing uncomfortable. He didn’t mind that people liked him, and thought he was a good religious teacher. But the singing, and the people giving him flowers and waving palm leaves over him — those were the kinds of things that people did for new kings of Jerusalem, back in the olden times, hundreds of years before Jesus lived.
Rolf: Uh oh, here comes trouble!
Sharpie: Shh!
Dan: But in Jesus’ day, the Romans ruled over Jerusalem. The Romans did not want anyone to question their authority. Treating Jesus like one of the kings of olden times was a way to question their authority. Could some of the people hope that Jesus would lead a rebellion against the Romans? Jesus knew that it was dangerous for them to even think about such things. So Jesus rode into Jerusalem, with the people waving palm leaves over him. And he wondered what the Romans might want to do.
And if you want to know what Jesus did in Jerusalem, and what the Romans did, I’ll tell you the rest of the story next week.
Possum: Arg! We have to wait a whole week to find out what happened!
I’ve hated YouTube for a long time, but they finally went too far. I’m going to start moving the videos I make for kids to another platform.
What was the final straw that’s causing me to ditch YouTube?
I created a children’s video for this Sunday’s online worship service. I was careful to use either my own content, or public domain content (e.g., music), or Creative Commons content (e.g., sound effects) I have a great respect for the rights of authors and creators, and I don’t want to violate copyright.
YouTube has a new process whereby when you upload a video, they scan it for copyrighted material. Fair enough. The scan of my latest video claimed to have found copyrighted material on my video. That’s not fair, but that happens because YouTube relies on machine algorithms instead of humans to review copyrighted material, and they give free access to the algorithms of known copyright trolls. So while it’s not fair, I can deal with it. I’ve dealt with it before — you submit a claim showing why the copyright claim is incorrect, wait seven days, and it goes away.
But as it turned out, this time not only did I get a message telling me that there’s a claim, but for the past two hours there’s been another message freezing the video because, so they say, they were still scanning for copyright violations. The effect of this is that YouTube has given me no way to contest the claim. Which is utter bullshit. And don’t tell me to contact customer support. YouTube is notorious for having no customer support at all — because, hey, we’re not customers, we’re the product they’re selling (or more precisely, our data is the product).
There are plenty of other reasons why I hate YouTube. I know they’re collecting unbelievable quantities of user data and using that data for purposes I don’t approve of. I don’t mind so much for myself — I’m going into this with my eyes open — but I’m making videos for kids, and I simply do not trust YouTube with kids’ data. Plus YouTube video compression sucks, producing inferior audio and video quality. Remember, their business model is to provide the absolute minimum of quality, with the least amount of paid human time, while selling the absolute maximum amount of data to advertisers and others; their sole goal is to make tons of money, with no apparent effort to provide any redeeming social value. By saying this, I don’t want to denigrate their workers, who work incredibly long hours and work software engineering miracles; but YouTube’s corporate management is, at best, amoral.
Do I need to add the fact that, as is true of all Big Tech employers, YouTube has insufficient numbers of women, people of color, and people over the age of 40 working at the company? The Big Tech firms are notorious for their sexism, racism, and ageism; YouTube is no exception.
I’ve known for some time that I need to move the children’s videos I make to a paid hosting service. So I finally bit the bullet and opened a Vimeo account. That’s where I’ll be posting all future kid’s videos that I make. Eventually I’ll move older videos there, though that will take time.
It’s been a relief to take this step. I’ve long been uncomfortable with YouTube’s exploitative business model. I’m glad I can stop feeling morally compromised.
Possum and friends tell another Jataka tale, of the huge hound (you can find my text version of this story here.)
Click on the image above to view the video on Youtube.
As usual, full text of the script is below.
Rolf: Sharpie, can I help act out one of the Jataka tales?
Sharpie: Yes, Rolf. I’d like you to help with the story of Queen Usinara and the Huge Hound.
Sharpie: One day the Buddha’s followers were talking about how he left his life in a palace to go and do good in the world. The Buddha said to them, “In all my previous lives, I also tried to teach goodness.” And he told this story.
Possum: In the land of Queen Usinara, the people had given up doing good, and did evil instead. Sakka, ruler of the gods, saw this and decided to come to earth as a hunter with a huge hound.
Castor: The world is doomed to destruction!
[Rolf howls.]
Queen Sharpie: Oh! What a horrible sound! Can’t you stop your hound from howling?
Castor: Mm. My hound is hungry.
Queen Sharpie: Get food for the dog.
Hedgie: Yes, your majesty!
Possum: So they brought a huge meal for the huge hound, but he ate it all in one gulp and kept howling.
[Howling in background]
Queen Sharpie: This is no ordinary hound. Why does this hound come here with you?
Castor: The hound comes to eat my enemies.
[Dramatic music]
Queen Sharpie: And who are your enemies?
Castor: People who are smart and educated, but who use their skill only to get money.
[Dramatic music]
Castor: People who betray friends or spouses. People who pretend to follow religion, but who actually do whatever they want.
[Dramatic music]
Castor: People who allow others to go hungry while they have enough to eat.
[Dramatic music]
[Rolf growls and howls.]
Queen Sharpie: No, no, don’t let your hound go! We will go back to being good again.
[Triumphant music]
Possum: So Queen Usinara and all the people saw how they must stop doing evil, and return to the ways of doing good. They must stop doing evil, or the huge dog would remain hungry, and keep on howling!
Sharpie: Then the Buddha told his followers that he was Sakka, ruler of the gods, in a previous life.
Rolf: I like the way the huge hound howled whenever he saw wrong-doing.
Castor: Imagine if there really were a huge hound, and every time he saw somebody hungry, he howled.
Possum: I think this story is telling us to speak out when we see injustice.
Finally, thanks to Maribea, a fellow admirer of Fred Rogers’s puppeteering, who gave me the pin that Queen Usinara wears in the video.
So we’re still stuck in lockdown, and maybe you’re getting bored with your daily walks. The British Pilgrimage Trust has a suggestion: turn your walks into mini-pilgrimages. Their Web site has a list of “holy places” in the U.K. that you can walk to. Next you set a spiritual “intention,” then treat your walk as … Continue reading "Neighborhood pilgrimages"
Photos from our trip to Point Reyes National Seashore:
American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) feeding in Estero de Limantour, watched by a Great Egret (Ardea alba)
Moonglow Anemone (Anthopleura artemisia) in a tidal pool formed from a ship’s engine block on Limantour Spit
One of about 145 Giant Bell Jellies that we saw stranded on Limantour Beach. Not a true jellyfish, this organism is actually a colony of smaller hydrozoans. The purple spots are ocelli, or primitive eyes.
Sharpie and friends act out the Jataka tale about the timid rabbit. This Jataka tale has been retold many, many times, but Sharpie, Possumm, et al., include a few things that are left out of most modern retellings of the story. As usual, the full script is below. Possum: Let’s tell the Jataka tale of … Continue reading "The Timid Rabbit"
Here’s an interesting citizen science project…. “The Newt Patrol is a group of citizen scientists in the South Bay. We have been surveying newt roadkills near Lexington Reservoir since 2017. We have documented over 10,000 dead newts so far, representing one of the highest rates of amphibian roadkill mortality known worldwide. This project aims to … Continue reading "“Newt Patrol”"
I completely forgot that February 22 was the sixteenth birthday of this blog. So here, a week and a half late, is this blog’s sixteenth birthday post. Blogging is completely different now than it was on February 22, 2005, when this blog started. Back then, blogs were social media; there was no other social media … Continue reading "Sweet sixteen"
The question of the day in today’s middle school class was “What’s your favorite joke?” This unleashed a spate of jokes. We all laughed (and groaned) a lot, and I realized that during the pandemic I don’t hear jokes much any more. Below are some of the jokes I can remember from today’s class; add more (clean ones preferred) in the comments.
Why is pi the loneliest number? No one talks to him because he goes on forever.
A goat, a drum, and a snake fall off a cliff. Baa, dump, tss.
What do you call a cow with no legs? Ground beef.
Why did the whale cross the road? The chicken was on a break.
I don’t like guided meditations. Perhaps the only guided meditation I’ve actually enjoyed is this one sent to me by a friend. Most definitely Not Safe For Work. One of the things I hate most about guided meditations is when idiot tries to tell me how to breathe, and how breathing will bring me into … Continue reading "Not safe for work"
An article published in the journal Technology, Mind, and Behavior, Jeremy N. Bailenson reviews existing research to try to understand why Zoom meetings can be so fatiguing. The article’s title, “Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue,” summarizes what Bailenson perceives to be the primary cause of Zoom fatigue: it’s the nonverbal elements of Zoom that are so tiring. In the article’s abstract, Bailenson also states the limits of his paper:
“The arguments are based on academic theory and research, but also have yet to be directly tested in the context of Zoom, and require future experimentation to confirm.”
Bailenson outlines four “possible explanations of Zoom fatigue”:
“Excessive amounts of close-up eye gaze, cognitive load, increased self-evaluation from staring at video of oneself, and constraints on physical mobility. All are based on academic research, but readers should consider these claims to be arguments, not yet scientific findings.”
Bailenson then suggests small changes to the user interface of Zoom. Smaller default size of heads in the Zoom window reduce the load of “close-up eye gaze.” Cognitive load may be reduced by making audio-only calls the default. Using the “Hide Self” feature in Zoom does away with the problem of staring at one’s own video feed. Finally constraints of physical mobility can be handled by hardware solutions: “Use an external webcam and external keyboard that allows more flexibility and control over various seating arrangements.”
Note that Bailenson firmly states that all his suggestions need to be confirmed by further research. I already disagree with Bailenson on at least one point. I don’t use the “Hide Self” feature on Zoom because it’s too easy to go off camera; instead I prefer the user interface of Google Meet which shows a tiny thumbnail view of oneself, too small to see details, but just large enough so you can see if you’re going off camera. Bailenson also points out some interesting possibilities for further research. For example:
“Very few psychology studies on mediated interaction examine groups larger than two or three people, and future work should examine the psychological costs and benefits of video compared to audio in larger groups.”
As I think about Bailenson’s article, here are some changes in the way I use Zoom that I’ll implement for myself:
I’ll sit further away from my webcam, to reduce excessive close-up eye gaze
I’ll continue to use my remote keyboard, and my under-desk cycling machine, to reduce my fatigue by allowing more physical mobility for myself
When teaching small groups, I’ll use more screen sharing, which reduces apparent head size and provides another center of interest so participants don’t have to stare at me or each other
One big problem with any video platform, from my point of view as a religious educator, is that a lot of what I do is social-emotional learning. And a big chunk of social-emotional learning is about using nonverbal communication in a way that simply isn’t possible on video calls. So I’m also going to remain aware that videoconferencing has definite limitations, and I’m not going to expect it to do things it cannot do.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on improving our uses of videoconferencing.
Possum, Sharpie, and friends act out one of their favorite Jataka tales — the one about the Turtle who decided to migrate with two of his goose friends. Let’s just say the migration flight does not go well. Thanks to guest puppeteer Carol Steinfeld. As usual, the full script for the video is below. Possum: … Continue reading "The Turtle and the Geese"
The pandemic has forced many readjustments. Children’s programming is, I feel, a big challenge. Given that there’s still no vaccine in testing for children 12 and under, we may be looking at COVID restrictions in children’s programming for another academic year. Offering only online programming for another academic year does not feel like a good … Continue reading "COVID-safe outdoor program space"
I’ve been trying to think of good things that have come out of this pandemic. Most of the pandemic is bad: personally there’s the loss of social contact, cabin fever, the fact that every task at work seems to take much longer so I either have to work long hours or things don’t get done, … Continue reading "What’s good about the pandemic?"
A peer-reviewed paper published back in 2019 states that significant percentages of regular meditators may have negative meditation experiences: “Surveying over one thousand regular meditators, this is the largest cross-sectional study to assess particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences to date. Approximately one quarter of participants reported that they had encountered particularly unpleasant meditation-related experiences (e.g., anxiety, … Continue reading "Unpleasant meditation-related experiences"
Here’s another environmental threat to keep you up at night: “Nitrogen deposition and pollution is [a] more acute threat than climate change. … [But] few people are paying attention.” — Dr. Stuart Weiss, Chief Scientist of Creekside Science. Weiss’s key paper on Bay Area nitrogen deposition, written while he was at Stanford, has a great … Continue reading "The biggest environmental threat in California?"
Aside from the weekly videos, I haven’t had much time for blogging recently. Looks like we’ll be starting a few in-person classes again in our congregation. Making that happen safely is a time-consuming process. Which means not much time for anything else. Dealing with the pandemic is a time-consuming process….
Dr. Sharpie takes Possum back in time to 2011, to Oakland, California….
Click on the image above to view the video on Youtube.
As usual, full script is below the fold.
Castor the Beaver: Going back in Sharpie’s time machine again?
Possum: Yeah, she promised to show me more protests from the past.
Castor: Just watch out your fur doesn’t get stuck on the duct tape.
Possum: Sharpie, can you show me a protest that’s not so far in the past?
Sharpie: In 2011, Occupy Oakland protesters set up tents in front of Oakland City Hall to protest against unfair conditions for 99 per cent of all Americans. The top one percent of Americans kept getting richer, while everyone else was losing money.
Possum: Did they sleep in those tents?
Sharpie: Yes. They set up a real community. They welcomed homeless people to join them. They started gardens, and they had a library where people could borrow books. People of all races and genders joined the movement.
Possum: Mm, it looks like kind of a nice place to live.
Sharpie: They ran everything by democratic process. On November 2, they organized a general strike in Oakland. They shut down the Port of Oakland to support the workers in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Those people weren’t getting paid enough. But the owners of big businesses kept get richer.
Possum: That’s not fair.
Sharpie: I know. Then on December 12, Occupy Oakland joined together with other protesters up and down the West Coast. They shut down the Port of Oakland again, demanding better pay for the people working there.
Possum: It seems like you shouldn’t have to protest to get paid enough.
Sharpie: A century ago, it was worse than that. Big businesses made people work 12 hours a day. Children had to work in factories. And there were no paid vacations. It was only by protesting that people got 8 hour days, paid vacations, and no child labor.
Possum: What happened to Occupy Oakland?
Sharpie: The city of Oakland got tired of them. So they sent in police to chase everyone away. They tore up the gardens and threw out the library books.
Possum: Are things getting better for working people now?
Sharpie: Unfortunately, no. During the pandemic, even though rich people are getting richer, they don’t want to pay fair wages to ordinary people.
Possum: So the protests didn’t work?
Sharpie: They helped. But you have to do more than protest. You have to organize.
Possum: I learned that protesters stopped child labor, and got people paid vacations.
Castor: Mm. That’s good. I like vacations.
Possum: I also learned that protesting isn’t enough. You have to organize.
Castor: Uh, oh. Dude, you hate organizing.
Possum: I’ll just have to learn, I guess. Sharpie’s going to show me one more protest next week.
Dr. Sharpie uses her time machine to show Possum another historical protest…. Full script below. Castor: Mm, wasn’t Sharpie going to show you some more protests on her time machine? Possum: Yeah, protesting is complicated, and I wanted to learn more. Castor: Just watch out for the rubber bands on her time machine. Possum: Sharpie, … Continue reading "Possum learns about protest, pt. 2"
When Castor the Beaver asks Possum why he’s protesting, Possum decides to ask Dr. Sharpie why people protest. Sharpie fires up her time machine, and together they look at some protests from the Civil Rights Movement. It wasn’t quite what Possum was expecting….
Click on the image above to view the video on Youtube.
Full script below; this week the script has not been corrected, and may diverge from the video.
Possum [carrying sign]: I’m protesting!
Castor: Why are you protesting?
Possum: I want to make the world a better place.
Castor: But how will your protest change anything?
Possum: Let’s go ask Sharpie. She’ll know, she knows everything.
Possum [still carrying sign]: Sharpie, how will my protests change anything?
Sharpie: This is a good time to ask, because we’re celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday.
Possum: He’s the person who led all those protests to stop racism, right?
Sharpie: Right. Let’s use my time machine to look at some of the protests from the Civil Rights movement.
Possum: Your time machine is held together with rubber bands.
Sharpie: All good scientists use rubber bands.
Possum: Are we going back in time?
Sharpie: That takes too much energy. We’ll just look at the past. Ah, here we are. 1956. Rosa Parks protested racism.
Possum: I remember! She refused to go to the back of the bus, just because she was black.
Sharpie: So she was arrested. Watch….
[time machine shows image of Rosa Parks being fingerprinted] Her arrest was part of a careful strategy to test the law about busses in court.
Possum: So their protests were carefully planned?
Sharpie. Yes.
Possum: And you can get arrested for protesting?
Sharpie: Yes. Protests can even get violent. Like this….
[show image of Freedom Riders] The Freedom Riders protested laws about busses, and sometimes they were beaten up by white people.
Possum: That’s horrible!
Sharpie: Yes. And sometimes white people who liked racism held their own protests. Like this….
[time machine shows image of angry white people protesting] In 1963, these white people protested school desegregation in Arkansas.
Possum: I guess anyone can use protests, even people who are wrong.
Sharpie: Just like when armed protesters invaded the Capitol building on January 6. Protesting can be used for good or evil.
Possum: You were going to show us Martin Luther King.
Sharpie: Right.
[time machine shows image of Martin Luther King, Jr., in a protest march] Here he is in 1963, during the March on Washington. But remember, he did much more than just protest. He and thousands of others worked for years behind the scenes to change racist laws. The protests were only a small part of what they did. And their work still isn’t finished.
Possum: Wow. Protesting is more complicated than I thought.
Castor: Are you going to give up protesting, then?
Possum: No, but I need to learn more. Sharpie says she’ll show more about protests using her time machine next week.
Unitarian Universalist congregations are receiving guidance from the denominational headquarters and regional staff to stay away from their buildings tomorrow, Sunday, January 17. The guidance says that right wing extremists are expected to be targeting state capitols with violent protests, and there’s a very small but non-zero chance that violence might spill over on to … Continue reading "Public service announcement"
Last night, our congregation hosted an online class by John Buehrens on the women of Transcendentalism. John’s stimulating talk prompted me to go read some poetry by Transcendentalist women. I remembered some of the Transcendentalists I knew in Concord, Massachusetts, in the 1990s talked in glowing terms of the Sturgis sisters — Ellen Sturgis Hooper … Continue reading "Ellen Sturgis Hooper"
Another Jataka tale, as interpreted by Possum and friends: As usual, the full script is below. Possum: It’s time for another Jataka tale. Sharpie: You mean these old stories from old India, about one of Buddha’s previous lives? Possum: Yeah, choose us a story to act out! Possum: Once upon a time, a Monkey lived … Continue reading "Jataka tale: The monkey and the crocodile"
Strange times we live in. Armed right wing terrorists storm the Capitol building, then many of them (and their supporters) profess surprise when they are called out on their violence. You can almost hear them saying, “We didn’t mean to kill a police officer, and besides it was really the Democrats who did this.” An … Continue reading "Priorities"
There’s no doubt that today’s armed insurrection was driven by white supremacy. The well-publicized photo of a white man smiling as he carried a Confederate battle flag through the Capitol building makes that clear, if we hadn’t already figured it out.
There’s also no doubt that today’s treasonous actions were driven by the idolatrous heresy known as Christian nationalism. This New Religious Movement — maybe we should use the pejorative term, and call it a cult — followers of this cult of Christian nationalism believe that their god is somehow specially aligned with the United States.
The white supremacy, and the heretical idolatry, helped drive these white terrorists. But I think economic desperation is also driving the broader movement that thinks the election was stolen from their populist hero Donald Trump. There’s too much economic desperation, and that desperation is increasing as the pandemic drags on. There’s a growing number of people who can’t work from home, whose businesses have gone under, whose jobs have disappeared. The divide between the haves and the have-nots has been getting bigger for decades; the pandemic has accelerated this trend.
If we’re going to turn our country away from the treasonous armed terrorists, we absolutely have to address white supremacy. We absolutely have to address the idolatry of the cult known as Christian nationalism. And we also must deal with the economic desperation in the U.S.
Let’s hope today will be the end of Trump’s influence. But even if Trump goes away, the underlying problems will still be there. We have learned that white supremacy, idolatry, and economic desperation are a toxic mix, and we must address all three.
My crystal ball is cloudy, so once again I’m unable to predict the future with any accuracy, but I have some guesses about what the new year has in store for Unitarian Universalist congregations. (1) The pandemic will continue to affect Unitarian Universalist congregations through summer, 2021. Dr. Fauci says we’ll see widespread roll-out of … Continue reading "What’s in store for UUs in 2021?"
“Black critics have pointed out some evangelicals use abortion as a way to recuse themselves from the movement for Black lives and the injustices that disproportionately harm Black people. The claim of banning abortion often masks a commitment to white power. I’m wondering how that’s going to work in the future.” — Andre Henry, program … Continue reading "Notable year-end quote"
It was a strange Christmas Eve. We did the usual Christmas Eve candlelight service in the Main Hall of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto (UUCPA) — but the only people there were Amy, the senior minister; Paul, the camera operator; and me. The music all had to be pre-recorded, and I set up my laptop next to my lectern (Amy and I each had our own lectern, about twenty feet apart from each other) so that I could join the Zoom call and be able to hear the music. The strangest part was not being able to see anyone: the whole point of Christmas Eve for me is seeing being able to see people, including the young adults who come back to Silicon Valley for the holidays.
Yes, it was a strange Christmas Eve.
But something that happened in the afternoon made the rest of the day bearable. I was taking a break from checking email, and walked out to the edge of UUCPA’s campus to look down into Adobe Creek, which is routed into a large concrete channel for the last mile or two before it reaches the Bay. By fall, there’s always sediment that has accumulated during the summer, when not much water flows through the channel. This year, there was a luxuriant growth of what was probably water cress, and the last rain had been enough to cut some winding channels through the greenery, without washing everything down stream. The usual Mallards were paddling around, and then I noticed a Snowy Egret crouched behind a thicket of greenery; it lashed out with its bill, and appeared to spear something from the water.
I know Snowy Egrets are good at finding food anywhere, but I was a little bit surprised to see one in that particular urban channelized stream. There must have been enough prey to make it worth the bird’s time and effort; it’s a fairly sterile environment, so perhaps it was finding organisms washed down from upstream. Whatever drew it there, it certainly gave me a lift to see it.
The gang go back in time to find out about Judah Maccabee.
Click on the image above to view the video on Youtube.
As usual, the full script is below.
[Scene: the present]
John: I’ve just been reading about the history of Hanukkah.
Sarah D.: And what did you find out?
John: It all started when the Selucid Empire invaded the independent country of Judea. They went into Jerusalem, and took over the great temple of the Jewish people.
Sarah K.: John, we have an idea.
Emma: Let’s go back in time and see what happened.
Greg: Great idea! Let me turn on my time machine….
[Scene: 2200 years ago]
Soldier 1 [evil laughter]: It’s great being a solider in the Selucid army.
Soldier 2: We get to invade other people’s temples, and set up statues of Zeus.
Soldier 3: And the food is good, too. Ham for dinner tonight!
Soldier 1: Yum, ham! And you know what?
Soldier 3: Pigs are considered unclean here in the land of Judea.
Soldier 2: So eating ham in their temple is especially evil!
Soldier 1, Soldier 2, and Soldier 3 [evil laughter]: Mwah-hah-hah-hah!
Captain Greg: Captain Greg and Captain Dan reporting, Judah Maccabee, sir.
Captain Dan: The soldiers of the Selucid Empire are in the middle of eating dinner.
Judah Maccabee: This is our chance. Get ready to attack!
Captain Dan: Come on, troops, we’re going in!
Judah Maccabee: For Judea!
Captain Dan: For freedom!
Captain Greg: No more ham in the temple!
Soldier 2 [in the middle of eating]: Did you just hear something?
Soldier 1 [in the middle of eating]: It’s just your imagination.
Soldier 3 [in the middle of eating]: No, it’s Judah Maccabbee and her soldiers!
Soldier 1, Soldier 2, and Soldier 3 [terrified]: Ahhh! Run away, run away!
Judah Maccabee: Hey, we won!
Captain Dan: Look at these disgusting pig guts they left behind.
Captain Greg: Oh no! The flame on the eternal light has gone out!
Judah Maccabee: You two clean up. I’ll go find some holy oil for the eternal light.
Captain Dan: You clean up the pig guts. I’m going to get rid of this statue of Zeus.
Judah Maccabee: Uh oh, there’s only enough holy oil for the eternal light for one day.
Captain Greg: And it will take eight days to make new holy oil.
Captain Dan: Let’s light the eternal flame and see what happens.
[Scene: the present]
Emma: So what happened after that?
Greg: It was a miracle, the holy oil burned for eight days.
Dan: And that’s why Hanukkah lasts for eight days.
Sarah D.: So Hanukkah is really a celebration of religious freedom.
John: And it’s a reminder that sometimes we have to fight for our religious freedom.
Because I’m currently taking the California Certified Naturalist class, I’m spending more time than usual looking at and photographing various organisms. I’m astonished at the diversity of organisms that I saw this week within a 45 minute drive of our house. I managed to see organisms from four kingdoms — plants, animals, fungi, and Chromista … Continue reading "Diversity"
For an adult class this evening, I made two video talks giving an overview of the Jataka tales. Links to the videos are below the fold. Also below the fold: text versions of both video talks. Link to the first talk on Youtube Link to the second talk on Youtube References cited in the talks: … Continue reading "About the Jataka Tales"
I’m currently taking the California Certified Naturalist class, with a curriculum developed by the University of California, and offered through a local environmental nonprofit, Grassroots Ecology. One of the ongoing assignments is to keep a field journal of observations of the natural world. Keeping a field journal feels like a kind of spiritual practice to … Continue reading "Field journal"
Let’s go back in time to find out about the birth of Buddha — is it like the Christmas story in any way? As usual, the full script is below. John: I’ve been looking into the history of how Jesus was born. Sarah D.: And what did you found out? John: They borrowed bits of … Continue reading "Birth of Buddha"
Tonight was the first class in the California Naturalist course I’m taking, a course offered by a local nonprofit, Grassroots Ecology, and University of California Agriculture and Renewable Resources. Tonight I learned that we’ll be participating in “Nature’s Notebook,” a citizen science project of the USA National Phenology Network, in cooperation with the US Geological … Continue reading "Phenology"
In the final installment of this series, Possum feels better — as does Mr. Bear.
Click on the link above to view the video on Youtube.
As usual, full script is below.
Sharpie: Possum, last week I told you about a new way to do prayer.
Possum: Yeah, you showed me a kind of prayer where you think about the people you love. I tried it every night this week, just before I went to sleep, and it was really good. I like thinking about the people I love.
Sharpie: That’s great!
Possum: Yeah. I feel good about it.
Sharpie: I’ve noticed that you also started coming to dinner on time for our family chalice lighting. And that you now stick around for most of our congregation’s online worship service.
Possum: Yeah. It seems like now that I have a spiritual practice that works for me, I don’t get so bored with the family chalice lighting, and going to worship services. But I’m a little worried. Because what happens if I get stuck again?
Mr. Bear: That’s my problem. I’ve been doing silent meditation since last summer, and I like it a lot. But it hasn’t been going very well recently.
Sharpie: Maybe that’s because you’re worried about Ms. Bear?
Mr. Bear: Mm. partly. Ms. Bear has to travel a lot for her job, and because of the pandemic I’m worried about that.
Sharpie: When you’re worried about someone you love, it makes everything harder, doesn’t it?
Mr. Bear: Yes, it does. But that’s also the time when you need your spiritual practice more than ever.
Sharpie: That’s partly why I attend our congregation’s worship services. I find it helps to be part of a community who care, and who share my values.
Possum: I get it! I thought I didn’t like worship services because they’re boring. But our worship service is really about being with other people.
Mr. Bear: That’s true. Plus, after I attend our worship services, I get a boost for my sitting meditation.
Possum: And listening to Caring and Sharing is going to help me do prayers for the people I love!
Sharpie: That’s what religion is really all about — helping people connect with each other.
Mr. Bear: And connecting with something bigger than us.
I just received email asking for my help in a social justice cause that I care about. And I deleted it. I can’t add any more to my life right now. Because — COVID. Because I’m trying to keep programs running to support kids and families who are stressed because of COVID. Because I know … Continue reading "Fatigue"
I needed a break from being hunched over the computer, so I strolled out into the garden in front of our congregation’s buildings. A eucalyptus tree was covered in bright pink blossoms, with three or four hummingbirds buzzing around the tree. One of them decided to rest for a moment in a shrub about a … Continue reading "Hummingbird"
Sharpie gives Possum some new ideas about a spiritual practice, so Possum won’t feel bored. Full script below the fold…. Possum: Sharpie, remember you’re going to show me more about spiritual practices. Sharpie: We were going to talk about one of the spiritual practices that you tried and liked, and I was going to show … Continue reading "Possum still feel stressed, part two"
I finally had an entire day that I could spend outdoors. I went birding along Charleston Slough, in Baylands Nature Preserve on the Palo Alto / Mountain View border. Towards the end of my walk, I saw a man standing at the edge of Shoreline Pond and looking intently into a birding scope, and asked what he was looking at. “Barrow’s,” he said, meaning Barrow’s Goldeneye, a relatively uncommon bird. And there it was, swimming along with a small group of closely related Common Goldeneyes.
Barrow’s Goldeneye on the left, Common Goldeneye on the right.
“Thanks for that,” I said. “That makes sixty species today, which is a big day for me.” (Real birders aim for over a hundred species in a day.)
We chatted for a bit, but the sun was setting, and he packed up and headed home. I slowly made my way back to my car, and on the way saw another five species of birds.
I spent all day outdoors. I saw a lot of birds. I mostly forgot about the pandemic. All in all, it was a good day.
The Bay Area Sacred Harp (BASH) singing community has been using Jamulus to sing together online, in four part harmony, in real time. The big problem with trying to sing online together is that the Internet has built-in “latency,” or lag time. Jamulus is free open source software that minimizes latency to allow people to … Continue reading "Using Jamulus to sing online in real time"
A few months ago, Dr. Sharpie showed Possum some spiritual practices that might make him feel less stressed. Possum says those spiritual practices don’t work any more for him, but Sharpie has an idea…. The full text of the video is below the fold. Possum: Sharpie, I’m still feeling stressed. What with the elections, and … Continue reading "Possum still feels stressed, part one"
A significant part of our congregation’s outreach to kids during the pandemic has been to send monthly packets, via U.S. mail, with word search puzzles, other puzzles, coloring pages, and mazes. Sometimes there’s a little learning in these packets, but mostly they’re a form of support and ministry to parents and kids: kids get mail addressed to them, which they love; kids get an activity that doesn’t require more screen time; and parents get a few extra minutes of free time while the kids are working on the puzzles and mazes. And it shows that our congregation remembers the kids, and cares about them, even though we can’t see them.
It’s also fun for me, since I love making puzzles. Problem is, when I get into puzzle-making mode, sometimes I make puzzles that aren’t suitable for kids. Like the one below, which is derived from the old Boggle game — and rather than waste this puzzle, I’m inflicting it on you by posting it on this blog:
Find six words that begin with the letter “c” and end with “ate.” To make words, you can join letters going up, down, sideways, or diagonally; but each letter in the puzzle grid can only be used once in a given word.
Update: Carol posted this to Facebook, and both Clarissa and Deb found another word. So now you have to find eight….
We Californians always worry about The Big One, the next big earthquake.
Apparently what we should really worry about is ARkstorms. These storms come along every couple of centuries. During the last ARkstorm, in the winter of 1861-1862, it rained for 43 days straight, and the subsequent flooding turned California’s Central Valley into an inland sea 300 miles long. If such a storm happened today, some scientists estimate that it would cause three times the amount of death and destruction of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake.
Just wanted to give you something else to worry about….
Two short video talks on world religions: What are world religions, and how might we explore them? First video on Youtube Second video on Youtube I’ll put the full text of both talks below the fold. Intro. to world religions I’m going to start this conversation about world religions by saying — first of all … Continue reading "World religions"
Warren Throckmorton has been watching prominent evangelical Christian pastors and leaders during this election cycle, documenting how these “court evangelicals” support Donald Trump. Two days ago, Throckmorton wrote a blog post asking, “Trump’s Denial of Election Reality: Will Court Evangelicals Play Along?”
The answer, of course, is “yes.” Many prominent white evangelical pastors continue to support Trump, and are now issuing statements accusing Joe Biden of stealing the election.
While these pastors doubtless think they are doing the Lord’s work, sadly what they are really doing is undermining organized religion. The many American citizens who are not white evangelicals are going to watch this kind of behavior — tweets that undermine democratic process, statements that deny reality — and begin to wonder about Christian churches. And by extension, wonder about the purpose of all organized religion — read the comments, and you’ll find someone calling for an end to tax-exempt status for religious organizations.
I’m a bit resentful because even though I’m about as far from these white evangelical pastors as you can possibly be (OK, I am white, too, but there aren’t many other similarities), as a minister I’m going to experience an erosion of trust because of the way they come across as hypocritical (Christians implicitly inciting violence), violating the separation of church and state, and out of touch with reality.
Sadly, these “court evangelicals” will not drive away the white evangelicals who fill their churches — but they will reduce the overall number of people who are willing to have anything to do with organized religion. So I predict an upwards tick in the “nones,” those with no religious affiliation, following this election.
Equally sadly, I’m increasingly convinced that what these “court evangelicals” do is really politics, not religion. So they’re destroying organized religion, but not actually doing religion themselves.
In one of the “lightning talks” in today’s session of the Religious Education Association annual meeting, Dr. Eileen Daily of Boston University’s School of Theology posed some questions about how the pandemic is going to change religious education. One of the questions she asked is whether this is an opportunity to reach out to the “nones,” those who are not affiliated with organized religion (remembering that many of the “nones” are “spiritual but not religious”).
A few hours later, I was in a small group conversation with some scholars and practitioners, and we wound up talking about online learning — not surprising given that the pandemic has driven both the academics and those of us working in congregations to doing all our teaching using distance education techniques. I posed the idea that a nonprofit structured like Khan Academy, but devoted to religious education, could be a worthwhile project. Then the conversation moved on….
But I’ve been thinking about that idea since then. What if there were a Khan Academy for online religious education? I could envision three main curricular areas such an entity could address: (1) religious literacy, including resources to introduce young people to the wide variety of religious expression in their community and in the wider world; (2) skills associated with the practice of organized religion including leadership in nonprofit membership organizations (voluntary associations), social justice organizing, group singing, etc.; and (3) building community including building both interpersonal skills (social skills) and intrapersonal skills (self awareness).
I’m leaving out a fourth major curricular area: the kind of “faith formation” that is instruction on how to participate within a specific religious or denominational tradition. Should a nonprofit producing interreligious learning material produce this kind of faith formation? Well, no — if we’re trying to serve the “nones” as well as though affiliated with organized religion, denominational faith formation will not be a central concern. But what if we think big? If this nonprofit is designed from the beginning to scale up (think: Khan Academy), and if this nonprofit builds expertise in delivering online religious education, then when it grows in size and expertise the nonprofit will eventually becomes able to enter into partnerships with various religious groups to produce this kind of faith formation material.
So what are the funding sources for this nonprofit going to be? I think at the beginning, this nonprofit is either going to be the brainchild of someone like Sal Khan, and inspired charismatic leader with the skills to create content and then bring other people into the project — in this first case, the project is self-funded until it gets big enough to scale up — either that, or it could be hosted by a university that has both experts in religious education and some level of IT support (but if such an organization starts in the academy, I would hope that the plan is to quickly spin it off as a separate nonprofit). Then as the nonprofit grows, because it’s not tied to a specific religious organization, I would expect that a substantial part of the funding would be grants from philanthropic organizations. And why not target Big Tech for grants? — using research that shows that religious literacy can reduce religious bullying and religious violence, you could make a pretty compelling case that this kind of education is important and worth funding.
I’m sure others have already come up with the same idea. And who knows, maybe there’s already such an organization out there….
We’re all dealing with election stress in our own ways. I took an hour away from work to go birding.
Brown Pelicans flying over Charleston Slough, with the hills on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay in the background.
This is a messy election. As we all know, the pandemic means far more people mailed their ballots in than ever before, so the counting is going to continue for days. This gives both presidential candidates lots of time to badmouth each other.
Enough of that. That’s what I went birding to get away from. Sometimes denial is a fruitful way to deal with a stressful situation, especially a situation where you really can’t do anything to alter it. And look at birds; birds don’t care who wins the election. Sort of puts things in perspective.
When I was walking around the cemetery this evening, I saw some spectacular shelf fungus growing on the side of a eucalyptus stump. David Arora, in his comprehensive 1986 book Mushrooms Demystified, identifies this as Laetiporus sulphures, but the more recent book Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast (2016) by Noah Seigel and Christian Schwarz identify … Continue reading "Mushroom"
We’re all going to have our ways of dealing with Election Day stress. For what it’s worth, I don’t recommend obsessively checking 538.com — they’ve already made their final prediction.
What I’m doing right now is listening to an hour of Black church music, courtesy of “Election Day Concert for Peace,” sponsored by the Center for Congregational Song. Pretty fabulous. Youtube Live link. I’m less interested in some of the other hour-long slots in this online concert, and they don’t have any shape-note singing — but I’ll probably check in to listen to “Sacred Social Justice Songs” at 6 EST / 3 EST.
But — oh my goodness — this Black church music online concert is incredible.
Possum, Packrat, and Dr. Sharpie — er, Queen Sharpie — present photos from UUCPA kids showing their stuffies in Halloween costumes. Whose costume is best? Queen Sharpie has an answer…. (Updated version of the video, with three more stuffie costumes.)
Click on the image above to view the video on Youtube.
Complete text of the video is below the fold….
Possum: Wait, how come we’re doing the story for all ages this week? What happened to Akhenaten and ancient Egypt?
Sharpie: Now that I’m queen, I decided to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to show everyone the Halloween costumes that UUCPA kids made for their stuffed animals.
Possum: Um, Sharpie, that — you’re just wearing a queen costume, you’re not really the queen.
Sharpie: Yes, I am. And I decree that we shall now show all the slides the kids sent in of their stuffies in costume
Possum: That sounds like a good idea. Let’s go!
Possum [voiceover]: It’s Stasha with a princess costume. Elise made a mummy costume with toilet paper. Look out, Sassy Surfer. Rad! Jonathan with two superheroes. Here comes Ginger’s Wonder Woman. And Delia’s Fuzzy.
Possum: Which costume so far is your favorite?
Packie: Well….
Possum: Now think carefully!
Packie: Oh. Um. Sharpie’s costume is the best so far.
Sharpie: That is the correct response.
Possum [voiceover]: Look out, it’s a COVID-masked llama. Here comes Captain Bounce to the rescue. Alex with a cowboy. William’s knight in shining armor. Here’s Eloise’s Bam-bam Birdkeeper. Reva with a cat. Sofiya with a bat. And Niki with a Queen, Whaler, and Wizard.
Possum: Sharpie’s really getting into that queen costume, isn’t she?
Packie: Let’s just hope she takes it off when she goes to bed.
Possum: Anyway, we want to thank all the kids who sent in photos of their stuffies in costume.
Packie: Thanks, kids!
Possum: The middle school “Neighboring Religions” class has awards for all the kids who sent in photos. Kids, you’ll be getting your award certificate in the mail soon.
Packie: And we had so much fun looking at the photos, too.
Possum: Yeah, it was fun seeing other UUCPA stuffies dressed up in costume.
Packie: I can’t wait until next year!
Possum [voiceover]: And tune in next week to find out what happened to the gods of ancient Egypt and Akhenaten.
This year, the Religious Education Association (REA) invited anyone who’s going to participate in their online annual meeting to post a video response on Flipgrid, answering the question, “Why REA?” Of course I had to try it. I’m always a sucker for trying out new forms of social media, especially when they’re designed for educators. … Continue reading "Flipgrid"
The report by the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Commission on Institutional Change puts it starkly: if Unitarian Universalists don’t figure out how to become less white, we will die out (because: demographics). Fair enough. But w’er seeing rise of the “nones,” people who have no religious affiliation, and so maybe it’s time for organized religion to … Continue reading "Downside to decline"
Three video lecturettes on the shared myths of Abrahamic religions. I’ll include links to all three videos below the fold, followed by texts of the talks.
Some of the books referenced in this video series: “Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers,” Kwame Anthony Apiah (W. W. Norton, 2006) “J.B.: A Play in Verse,” Archibald MacLeish (Houghton Mifflin, 1958) The children’s story books are: “Bible Stories of Jewish Children: Joshua to Queen Esther,” Ruth Samuels (Ktav Publishing, 1973) “The Pilgrim Book of Bible Stories,” Mark Water (Pilgrim Press, 2003) “Goodnight Stories from the Quran,” Saniyasnain Khan (Goodword Books, 2005)
Click on the image above to see the first video on Youtube.Click on the image above to see the second video on Youtube.Click on the image above to see the third video on Youtube.
Below are the reading texts for the three videos. I diverged from the scripts more than once, but this gives you the same basic argument.
FIRST VIDEO
Before getting in to the shared myths of the Abrahamic tradition, I need to cover a little background material.
First of all, let me answer the question: what are the Abrahamic religions? This is a fairly straightforward question to answer. These are the religions that trace their roots back to the figure of Abraham, whose story is told in the Torah and in other sacred texts. Generally speaking, these Abrahamic religions are monotheistic; that is, there is only one god whom the adherents of these religions are supposed to worship. Abrahamic religions include Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Baha’i.
Secondly, what do I mean by “myth”? This is question that does not have a straightforward answer. In our current popular culture, the term “myth” tends to have negative connotations: a myth is something that is not true, it’s a fairy tale, or even an outright lie told to keep the schlemiels happy. When political progressives, for example, talk about the “myth of American freedom,” we know that by this they mean to imply that American freedom isn’t really available to everyone living in America.
Saying the myth is a form of lying is a simple way of distinguishing between two ways of knowing, what the ancient Greeks called “mythos” and “logos.” In today’s pop culture, we’ve reduced that distinction to the difference between truth and lies. Mythos — myths — consists of lies that humans make up to help explain the world. Logos — logical thought or reason — is a more advance form of thinking and knowing that allows us to strip away the falsehoods of myth to find the real truth. In one common formulation, mythos is religion, which is outmoded, and logos is science, which has replaced all other kinds of knowing the world.
But today’s pop culture definitions of myth are confused and often incoherent. So let’s see if we can come up with a less confused understanding of myth.
We might begin by turning to the insights of psychoanalysis. For example, psychoanalyst Carl Jung hypothesized something called the “collective unconscious” wherein symbols, archetypes, are shared across multiple individuals of a given culture. These symbols and archetypes are obviously related to myths and myth-making; they do not represent some kind of pre-scientific thinking that we’re now ready to dispense with; rather, they’re somehow integral to communal ways of knowing that help us make sense out of the world. While you may not accept Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious as being valid, nevertheless I would argue that there is validity in the notion that there are symbols and stories shared across a culture that deeply affect the way we make sense out of the world.
Another way of thinking about mythos and logos is that mythos relates more to music, painting and sculpture, dance, poetry, and so on — while logos relates more science, technology, engineering, math, and so on. Science can tell us a great deal about the evolutionary biology and ecology of Eschscholzia californica — I probably mispronounced that — but poetry takes over when our hearts fill with joy when we see a hillside covered in the vivid orange blossoms of the California poppy. Understand that this is not a completely binary distinction: doing science and math can certainly fill one’s heart with joy — but there’s a reason why Henry Thoreau wrote the book Walden, rather than a scientific treatise on the biology and ecology of a glacial kettle hole.
So as you can see, mythos and logos are different ways of making sense of the world; we might even say, they are different ways of knowing about the world.
By now, it should be clear that myth is not the same thing as theology. In fact, theology has more in common with science than it does with myth. The word “theology” derives from the ancient Greek word “theos” meaning a god or the divine, and the ancient Greek word “logos” meaning (in this context) logical or rational discourse. Thus “theology” is an intellectual discipline that involves rational discourse about deities or the divine.
If I may digress for a moment, as someone trained in the Western tradition of philosophy, I can tell you that in the West what we now call science was previously termed “natural philosophy,” and during the medieval period theology and philosophy were closely related; so from a philosopher’s point of view, science and theology are merely subordinate disciplines to philosophy.
Returning to our main subject, it may help you to understand myth when you realize that fundamentalists are not comfortable with myths. A fundamentalist feels certain their knowledge of their religion is clear, unchanging, comprehensive, and not subject to correction. In this respect, fundamentalists resemble some militant atheists — Jerry Falwell and Richard Dawkins appear to have similar habits of thought. When you live in the world of myths, however, you find that while myths may seem clear at the moment, they change and evolve; that rather than being comprehensive, there is always room for one more retelling of any given myth; that myths do not exist on a binary axis of correct versus incorrect.
Now we can circle around to the question of truth and lies. Are myths lies? Well, yes; myths are lies in exactly the same sense that Shakespeare’s play MacBeth is a lie. MacBeth is one big lie. There were no witches, the actors playing the parts of Lady MacBeth and MacBeth aren’t really them, the whole play is filled with lies from start to finish. On the other hand, if you would like to know some of the deepest truths about human nature, you could do no better than to attend a performance of MacBeth. Or, better yet, several performances, because different directors and different actors will bring out different aspects of this multivalent work of art.
So I would suggest that you think of logos as encompassing theology, science, fundamentalism, technology, and other types of logical discourse. Logos, logical discourse, aims at certainty through logical argument. In logical discourse, if the logic of a given argument fails (as I would argue happens in religious fundamentalism), then the whole argument fails. Mythos, by contrast, encompasses the plastic arts, the lively arts, literature, stories, folk tales, and maybe even dreams. While we might say that the arts do have an internal logic, that logic needn’t be a formal logic; it can be the coherent logic of dreams.
So when I speak of the shared myths of the Abrahamic religions, I’m not talking about theology. I’m not talking about fundamentalism. I’m not talking about science and technology. Instead, I’m talking about the shared stories — or maybe shared dreams, or maybe even some kind of collective unconscious — that appear in different forms in several different religions.
SECOND VIDEO
In the previous video, I defined what I meant by the phrase, “The shared myths of Abrahamic religions.” With that common understanding held firmly in mind, let’s look at what some of the shared myths might be — and what some of the differences are.
And to begin that process, I’d like to start with children’s books. I happen to have on hand several children’s books.
First, there’s “Bible Stories for Jewish Children” by Ruth Samuels, consisting of two volumes, “From Creation to Joshua” (1954) and “Joshua to Queen Esther” (1973). This story book contains retellings of familiar stories about characters from the Tanakh, including Abraham, Noah, and Jonah.
Second is “The Pilgrim Book of Bible Stories,” a liberal Christian story book with retellings of familiar stories about characters from the Old Testament, including Abraham, Noah, and Jonah, and characters from the New Testament, including Jesus.
Third, I have “Goodnight Stories from the Quran” (2007), published by an Islamic publishing house called Goodword Books. This story book contains retellings of familiar stories about characters from the Quran and the hadith, including Ibrahim, Nuh, and Yunus — also known as Abraham, Noah, and Jonah.
Let’s start by looking at one of the stories about Ibrahim in the Islamic story book, which begins like this: “One night, the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) dreamt that, to please his Lord, he was sacrificing his son, Ismail (peace be upon him). Ismail was still a child, but he was a brave boy and when his father told him about the dream he was quite ready to obey Allah’s command. Without hesitating, he said, ‘Do what you are commanded, father: God willing, you will find me one of the steadfast.'”
The liberal Christian version of this story begins quite differently: “Abraham was an old man, when he and his wife, Sarah, had a child. Now God told Abraham to take his son, Isaac, and sacrifice him! Abraham cut the wood to burn the sacrifice. He gave the wood to Isaac to carry. Abraham had the fire and a very sharp knife. Isaac asked his father the burning question: ‘I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?'”
This feels a little like the old movie Rashomon, where the same story is told from several different perspectives. Which is the true story, the real story? But that’ the wrong question to ask; that’s the question that is asked by scientists and by religious fundamentalists. An artist would ask a different question: What of the depths of human nature can be revealed by these different version of the same myth? The artist might ask: Do these retellings of this old myth do justice to the myth, and how might I retell this story?
(The artist might also ask, If I retell this story, will I put myself at risk of retribution by crazed fundamentalists who don’t want to let anyone else retell what they claim as their story? The artist might equally well ask, Will militant atheists misunderstand why I chose to retell this story and vilify me for spreading religion? In our society, it is safer to be a scientist than it is to be an artist.)
Let’s look at another pair of children’s stories. The book of stories for Jewish children begins one story like this: In the village of Galilee, there lived a man called Jonah. One night, Jonah heard the voice of God say: ‘Arise, and go to the city of Nineveh! Tell the people I will destroy their city unless they stop their evil ways.’ But Jonah was afraid to go to Nineveh, so he ran away….” Jonah gets on a boat, a storm comes up, he tells the sailors to throw him overboard, they do and he gets swallowed by a whale, who takes him to Nineveh, where he tells the people to repent. They do repent, so God forgives them. But Jonah sits outside the city waiting for God to destroy it, until he dreams he is inside a giant gourd, which protects him from the weather until a worm eats it up. Then God lectures Jonah on forgiveness.
The Islamic story begins this way: A very old and powerful community used to live around 800 B.C., in Nineveh, some 230 miles north of Baghdad. Allah sent the Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him) to this community to guide the on to the right path. Yunus (peace be upon him) preached to them for a long time, warning them to turn away from their wickedness, but they paid no heed to his words. Angry and despairing, he left these people, and headed towards a seaport….” And then Yunus gets on a ship, there’s a big storm, the sailors force him to jump overboard, he gets swallowed by a whale, he realizes that he had left Nineveh too soon, without completing his task. So he calls out to God, the whale spits him out at Nineveh, he finishes his task.
Now you begin to see how the same basic story is retold within different religions with minor differences in plot. Not only that, but the way the story of Yunus is retold in the “Goodnight Stories from the Quran” story book is different than the way it appears in the sacred texts of Islam. And you can find other retellings of that same story. Clergypersons retell these stories all the time, recasting them for their own congregations. There are comic book versions of these stories, and more than that, characters like Noah have become familiar figures in gags of comic strips. People who have no religious affiliation can retell these stories effectively: Archibald Macleish, who appears to have been non-religious, retold the Biblical story of Job in his play “J.B.”
This is what we do with myths: we make art out of them. We make low art, like the 2014 Tundra comic strip where the animals are lined up to get on Noah’s ark, and Noah has them going through a metal detector. We make high art out of them, as Archibald Macleish did with the play “J.B.” We retell these stories to our children, making our own personal interpretations out of them.
This is what cultures are supposed to do: we take the myths that many or most people in our culture know well, and we retell them. It’s easier to retell an old story than it is to make up a new plot, as Shakespeare knew full well — he stole most of his plots from somewhere else. It’s easier to do, and it can make for more effective art, because you can play off meanings and implications known to your audience. It’s like being a jazz musician, where you take an old standard and reinterpret it: when John Coltrane plays “My Favorite Things,” you can hear Julie Andrews singing it in the movie, which makes what he does with it even richer.
And it’s also wonderful to see how myths play out across different traditions. Knowing the Islamic version of the Jonah story gives you a new perspective on the more familiar Jewish and Christian versions. And this is one of the things that can keep you from sinking into the quicksand of fundamentalism. Fundamentalism requires rigid thinking, where myths have to be slotted into logical, rational, rigid little boxes.
I think we should be headed in the opposite direction. We used to talk about “world brotherhood,” a sexist term with colonialist implications; but there was a kernel of wholesome truth in that old, outmoded phrase. Instead, we can turn to Kwame Anthony Appiah, who talks about cosmopolitanism — which might be defined as the willingness to have “conversations across boundaries.”
This, I think, is why it’s so important to pay attention to the shared myths of the Abrahamic religions. We live in a country whose leaders often proclaim their Christianity and they portray Muslims as utterly alien; yet Christians and Muslims share these key myths. Similarly, we’ve seen a rise of Christian anti-Semitism in our country in the last few years, yet again Christians and Muslims share these key myths. While we are not going to be able to talk the bigots out of the bigotry, we can try on our own to have conversations across boundaries. And those of us who don’t identify as Christian, Jewish, or Muslim — or perhaps as post-Christian or post-Jewish — yet who are participants in Western culture; we are well-placed to initiate conversations across the boundaries of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; and these shared myths, common cultural inheritances of all of us, might provide enough common ground to open those conversations.
THRID VIDEO
I’m adding this third video to what was supposed to be a two-part series on the shared myths of Abrahamic religions, so I can look at some of the shared myths.
Well, so what are some of the the shared myths of some of the Abrahamic religions? One way to answer that is to look at figures who appear in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions. (Unfortunately, I know less about Baha’i, and I don’t feel qualified to talk about their tradition at all.)
The obvious figure that appears in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam is Abraham. Christians and Jew both draw from the book of Genesis for their Abraham myths, while for Muslims, Abraham appears in the Quran. While the figure of Abraham remains the same across these three Abrahamic traditions, the myths vary. For Jews, the people of Israel are descendants of Abraham, and he is the exemplar of following the commandments of the Torah and of God. Christians tell slightly different myths about Abraham; he is a spiritual ancestor of every Christian, and he is the exemplar of having faith in his god. In the Quran, Muslims tell how Abraham found a spring at Mecca and thus the ritual of the hajj can be traced to him, and he is the exemplar of submission to God.
Remember that myths change and evolve over time, and different people within a single tradition may tell different myths about the same figure. So these broad generalizations about the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim myths of Abraham will have many variations across time and across cultures, and even from one individual to another.
Other figures and myths that are shared across these three religions include Adam and Eve in the garden; Noah and the flood; Moses and the exodus; King David and King Solomon; Job and his troubles, and Jonah and the whale. Again, while the figure and general outlines of the story are shared, the specifics of the ways the myths are told and retold will vary.
Another shared myth of these traditions is the myth of hell, that place where evildoers are sent after death. All three traditions talk about hell as a place of fire. For example, in surah 5:37, the Quran says that those who are condemned to hell “will long to leave the Fire, but never will they leave there from; and theirs will be a lasting torment.” But the details of hell get described in many different ways. For example, many Christians in the United States have been influenced by the description of hell in Dante’s Inferno, or by Jonathan Edwards’s sermons describing the torments of being burned up. There are a great many variations of these myths of hell, and there is no one single way that hell is described for any one of these traditions, let alone a single description of hell that applies over all three traditions.
Another shared myth is the way Adam and Eve did something that got them in trouble with God. Many Christians in the United States have been influenced — often without their knowing it — by John Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” so much so that children are told Milton’s version of the myth long before they’re old enough to read “Paradise Lost.” But Jewish children and Muslim children might not hear anything of Milton’s retelling of the myth, unless they happen to take a college English class where they’re forced to read Milton’s poem.
All these differences raise some tough questions: Are the differences between the Abrahamic religions so great that they’re going to get in the way of “conversations across boundaries”? Or, conversely, are the similarities so great that the differences loom even larger, thus preventing productive “conversations across boundaries”? An article by Ulrich Rosenhagen in “Christian Century” magazine back on November 24, 2015, addressed this question. The article, titled “One Abraham or three? The conversation between three faiths,” described some initiatives where adherents of these three Abrahamic religions tried to carry out “conversations across boundaries.” About one such initative, Rosenhagen wrote:
“At the Lubar Institute [for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions at the University of Wisconsin], Jewish, Christian, and Muslim undergraduates have started to overcome religious intolerance through candid conversations about cartoon controversies, gender issues, and prayer practices. Shared trips to mosques, churches, and synagogues have enabled them to form relationships of trust and respect by learning about each other’s sacred spaces, texts, and rituals. Through debate and dialogue the students have been startled and comforted by the fact that they share sacred sources, stories of prophets, and a social obligation to care for the poor (Tzedakah, Zakat, social gospel). With each new revelation of their commonality, their bounds of moral imagination have expanded, and their ‘they’ has given way to a ‘we.’ All this gives good reason to believe that the Abrahamic paradigm is not just a noble idea but a promising new foundation for civic discourse and interfaith understanding.”
And back in 2016, I participated in one such initiative, an annual conference called “Sacred Texts, Human Contexts.” Started by a group that included Muslims, Christians, and Jews, by 2016 there were also a few Buddhists and adherents of other religions. For me, this conference proved to be a very good way to engage in conversations across boundaries, and I was disappointed when they rescheduled it to a time of year when I was unable to attend.
So this idea of shared Abrahamic myths can, in fact, be a good way to begin inter-religious dialogue. And as the Sacred Texts Human Contexts conference shows, the conversation can then be widened to include other religions.
The important point for me is the attempt to find some point of commonality where you can start to have conversations across boundaries.
“I should not have any inclination to call myself a humanist, as I think, on the whole, that the non-human part of the cosmos is much more interesting and satisfactory than the human part.”
As quote in Phillip Hewett, Unitarians in Canada, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Canadian Unitarian Council, 1995), p. 234.
The Pharaoh Akhenaten decides to get rid of all the old gods. Queen Nefertiti doesn’t agree. The Chief Priest has an idea…. As usual, the full script is below the fold…. Akhenaten: Well, Nefertiti, it’s official. Aten, the sun, is now the only god. Nefertiti: Akhenaten, do you think this is a good idea? Akhenaten: … Continue reading "Akhenaten, part two"
The Franklin family of Palo Alto included Edward Curtis Franklin, expert on nitrogen compounds and professor at Stanford Univ.; Effie June Scott Franklin, professor of modern languages at the Univ. of Kansas; and Dr. Anna Comstock Franklin Barnett, physician and professor at Stanford Medical school. They were all affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto (1905 to 1934) at one time or another.
Family tree showing two generations of Franklins
FRANKLIN, ANNA COMSTOCK (BARNETT) — A physician and graduate of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto Sunday school, she was born Sept. 12, 1898, in Lawrence, Kansas, daughter of Effie Scott and Edward Curtis Franklin. Her family moved to Palo Alto in 1903.
In 1905, Anna was “one of the first pupils of the Sunday-school” of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto. She was listed in the 1919 parish directory. It is likely that she participated in the life of the church through the intervening years.
Anna received her A.B. from Stanford University in 1920, and her M.D. from Stanford in 1924. On July 12, 1924, she married Dr. George de Forest Barnett; he was a physician and professor of medicine at Stanford. They had two children together, Margaret A. (b. c. 1927) and Edward Franklin (b. c. 1929); but the Unitarian church had mostly ceased operating by the time the children were old enough to attend Sunday school. After the death of her mother in 1931, Anna’s father, Edward, came to live with her.
Anna eventually joined the faculty of Stanford School of Medicine. Her husband, who had also taught at Stanford School of Medicine, died in 1955. Anna continued to live on campus after her retirement.
On Oct. 1, 1968, the Stanford Daily reported:
“The badly decomposed body of Dr. Anna Barnett, a retired Medical School professor, was discovered in the hills behind Stanford Friday morning. The body was found near Stanford’s antenna farm at 7 a.m. by Eleanore Norris, a resident of Palo Alto, who was strolling in the area near Stanford’s antenna farm. Dr. Barnett, despondent over eye trouble and a scheduled eye operation, disappeared September 13. She left a note indicating she was contemplating suicide. A morphine overdose was determined as the cause of death.”
The date of death given on the death certificate was Sept. 27, 1968.
Notes: 1900, 1930 U.S. Census; Christian Register, Dec. 17, 1925, p. 1236; Alumni Directory, Stanford University, 1921, 1931; Stanford Daily, April 30, 1924, p. 1; Stanford Daily, Oct. 1, 1968, p. 4; Carl T. Cox, “Anna Comstock Franklin,” The Orville, Sutherland, Cox Web site: Ancestors, descendants, and Family Information, oscox.org/cgi-bin/igmget.cgi/n=jucox? I17378, accessed May 25, 2017.
FRANKLIN, CHARLES SCOTT — A geologist, he was born c. 1902 in Kansas, son of Effie and Edward Franklin. He acted the part of one of the Wise Men in “King Persifer’s Crown,” a play put on by members of the Sunday school of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto on May 13, 1916. He received his A.B. from Stanford in geology in 1925.
FRANKLIN, EFFIE JUNE SCOTT — A professor of French and German, she was born Aug. 5, 1871, in on a farm in Carlyle Township, Kansas. Her father, Dr. John W. Scott, came to Kansas in 1857, and was active in the free state fight, serving in the first state legislature; Dr. Scott served in the Civil War as surgeon of the Tenth Kansas, and after that war was president of the company that laid out the town of Iola, Kansas.
Effie’s family family moved to the town of Iola, Kansas, in 1874. She graduated from high school in Iola, Kansas, in 1887. She had two much older brothers: Angelo, the eldest, and Charles, ten years older than Effie, who represented Kansas for several years as a Republican in the U.S. Congress.
After graduating from high school, Effie taught in the Kansas City, Kansas, schools, and then taught high school in Leavenworth, Kansas. She then began studies at the University of Kansas, receiving her A.B. in 1891. Subsequently she pursued graduate study at Cornell and at the University of Berlin. For two years, until her marriage in 1897, she was assistant professor of French and German at the University of Kansas; this was during the time that William Carruth (later president of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto) was professor of German there.
She married Edward Curtis Franklin on July 22, 1897, at Central Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado. She and Edward had three children: Anna Comstock (b. Sept., 1898), Charles Scott (b. c. 1902, Kan.), and John Curtis (b. c. 1905, Calif.).
Effie moved to Palo Alto in 1903 when her husband accepted a position as professor at Stanford. Effie’s mother, Maria Protsman Scott, died in 1907 while she was staying with her daughter in Palo Alto.
She joined the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto on Nov. 19, 1905, and was one of the first members of the Women’s Alliance. She made regular financial contributions to the church. In 1915, William Carruth, well-known poet and professor at Stanford, recruited Effie to serve on the Pulpit Committee with him.
She had probably been active in the Unitarian church in Lawrence, Kansas, while she was at the University of Kansas, and she served a delegate from that church to the National Conference of Unitarians in 1911, which was held in Washington, D.C.; the family moved Washington from 1911 to 1913 while Edward worked for the government Hygienic Laboratory.
In 1914, a classmate from the University of Kansas visited the Franklins, as well as former Kansans Jennie and Helen Sutliff and William and Katharine Carruth (all affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto). This classmate wrote:
“At Stanford I spent several days with the Sutliffs and Franklins and had a pleasant visit with Dr. and Mrs. Carruth….Dr. Franklin was soon to leave for New Zealand where he was going at the request of the British government, in company with fourteen other American scientists of note. Dr. and Mrs. Franklin have a very handsome big daughter Anna, a high school girl, and two younger boys, Charles and Jack.”
Effie was an accomplished pianist, and she was elected an honorary member of the Stanford Music Club in 1916. Politically, Effie was a progressive who supported woman suffrage.
She died at her home in Palo Alto on March 31, 1931.
Notes: 1900, 1910 U.S. Census; Graduate Magazine of the University of Kansas, 1931, p. 14; William E. Connolley, History of Kansas Newspapers, Topeka: Kansas State Printing Plant, 1916, p. 47; William E. Connelley, A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, vol. 3, Chicago: Lewis Pub. Co., 1919, p. 1360; Iola Register, May 30, 1902; Jan Onofrio, Kansas Biographical Dictionary, St. Clair Shores, Miss.: Somerset Pub., 2000, p. 142; The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Michigan Chapter of Beta, October, 1893, p. 118; Iola Register, July 30, 1897, p. 8; Christian Register, Dec. 17, 1925, p. 1236; John William Leonard, Woman’s Who’s Who of America, 1914-1915, New York: American Commonwealth Co., 1914, p. 305; Christian Register, Oct. 19, 1911, p. 1095; Graduate Magazine of the University of Kansas, March, 1907, p. 224; Stanford Daily, Jan. 25, 1916, p. 2.
FRANKLIN, EDWARD CURTIS — A renowned chemist who grew up in Kansas while it was still part of the frontier, he was born in Geary City, Kansas, on March 1, 1862. He was raised in Doniphan, Kansas, where his father owned a saw mill and grist mill. At the time he was young, that part of Kansas still had the flavor of the frontier, to which some ascribed his later “noticeable impatience with convention.”
As a boy, he enjoyed the outdoors, including hunting, fishing, swimming in the Missouri River, and collecting fossils. This love of the outdoors was to remain with him his whole life, and as an adult he became an active mountain climber who belonged to the Sierra Club, and summited a number of 14,000 foot peaks.
In 1877, when he was 15, he and his brother William, later a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made their own batteries, set up a two-mile long telegraph line, and made their own telephone in 1877, only a year after A. G. Bell patented his telephone.
After Edward graduated from high school, he worked for a pharmacy in Severance, Kansas, from 1880-1884; then at age 22 entered the University of Kansas. He received his S.B. from the University of Kansas in 1888, studied at the University of Berlin 1890-1891, and received his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1894. He was a professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas from 1891 to 1903. He also worked for a gold mining company in Costa Rica for a short time in 1897.
Vernon Kellogg (who was affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto) helped convince Edward to move to Stanford. Edward went to Stanford to teach chemistry in 1903. Everett remained at Stanford until his retirement in 1929. As a chemist, he was best known for his work on ammonia and other nitrogen compounds. He was considered an excellent teacher who delivered exceptionally clear lectures.
He married Effie Scott on July 22, 1897, in Denver, Colo., and they had three children: Anna Comstock (b. Sept., 1898), Charles Scott (b. c. 1902), and John Curtis (b. c. 1905).
He was affiliated with the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto, though it was his wife who was most active. He once hosted a social gathering of the Unitarian Church, entertaining “the company with some experiments with liquid air.” Theologically, Unitarianism would have been a good fit for Franklin, since from his youth he had been inclined to be a free thinker and agnostic.
After his wife died in 1931, he lived with his daughter, Anna Comstock Franklin Barnett, in Palo Alto. In the last three years of his life, he took long automobile tours of the U.S. and Canada, and died just two months after returning from the last such trip, on Feb. 13, 1937.
Notes: Alexander Findlay, Journal of the Chemical Society, 1938, p. 583; Howard Elsey, Biographical Memoirs, Nat. Academy of Sciences, 1991, pp. 67-75; Stanford Daily, Feb. 15, 1937, p. 1; Jan Onofrio, Kansas Biographical Dictionary, St. Clair Shores, Miss.: Somerset Pub., 2000, pp. 139 ff.; obituary, Stanford Daily, Feb. 15, 1937; John William Leonard, ed., Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary, New York: L. R. Hamersly & Co., 1908; Pacific Unitarian, April, 1909, p. 186.
FRANKLIN, JOHN (JACK) CURTIS — He was born c. 1905 in California, son of Effie and Edward Franklin. He acted the part of one of the Wise Men in “King Persifer’s Crown,” a play put on by members of the Sunday school of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto on May 13, 1916. In 1930, he was living in a boarding house in Los Angeles and working as a radio engineer for an air transport company.
There used to be a Unitarian curriculum on the Pharaoh Akhenaten, purportedly the first monotheist, maybe the first unitarian. This is my take on the Akhenaten story….
Click on the image above to see the video on Youtube.
As usual, the full text of the script is below.
Emma: It was fun seeing some of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses.
Greg: As long as you weren’t Prometheus.
Sarah K.: But what about the ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses?
John: Yes, they’re even older than the Greek gods and goddesses.
Sarah D.: Let’s go back in time to ancient Egypt!
Narrator: For fifteen hundred years, the same gods and goddesses ruled ancient Egypt.
Khnum: I’m Khnum, the god who made all living creatures from clay on my potter’s wheel.
Sekhmet: I’m Sekhmet, the goddess of war, with magic that can help with healing.
Hathor: I’m Hathor, the sky goddess who is also a cow.
Bes: I’m Bes, the cheeky god who protects humans from evil.
Aten: And me, Aten, god of the sun.
Khnum: Wait, Aten is a god now?
Aten: Yes, now I am a god.
Sekhmet: But you used to be the plain old sun.
Aten: I got upgraded. Now, I am a god.
Hathor: Pharaoh Tuthmosis the fourth decided Aten was a god.
Bes: How come a Pharaoh gets to upgrade Aten into a god?
Khnum: Because Pharaohs are gods themselves.
Sekhmet: Now there’s a new Pharaoh.
Aten: And he really likes me. I think he’s going to upgrade me even more.
Hathor: This is very confusing.
Khnum: Being an Egyptian god is confusing. Sometimes we have heads of animals, sometimes we look like humans.
Aten: I think this new pharaoh is going to get rid of all of you. The only god left will be me, the sun-god.
Khnum: But I’m the one who made all living creatures.
Sekhmet: Yes, everyone knows you need more than one god. They definitely need me, the goddess of war.
Hathor: And where would they be without me, the sky goddess?
Bes: And if there is no god Bes, who will protects humans from evil?
Narrator: But the new pharaoh will use his power to get rid of the old gods and goddesses…. Tune in next week to find out what happens.
If you can’t go out trick-or-treating this year, or go to a Halloween party, how about making costumes for your stuffed animals? You could even hold a costume party for stuffies. Here’s a video with some idea on how to make easy, effective costumes for your stuffed animals:
Click on the image above to take you to the video on Youtube.
In the video, you’ll see Dr. Sharpie Ann get costumed as a queen (Queen of the Universe, of course), Packie the Dusky-footed Woodrat as a pirate, Possum as an angel, and Hedgehog as a cowboy.
Once you dress up your stuffies, take their photos and post them on social media.
This second video in the two part series explores Christian diversity in the U.S. through Christian music, touching on everything from Christian K-pop to Primitive Baptist hymns to Mainline Protestant choral music to an AME Zion hymn choir — and more. The people who write, perform, and listen to this Christian music come from widely … Continue reading "The wild diversity of Christianity, part two"
A short (5 min.) talk for an adult class in which I talk about some stereotypes of Christians, and then suggest listening to the wild diversity of Christian music as a way to get past the stereotypes to begin to understand something of the wild diversity of the Christian religion…. Below is the uncorrected text … Continue reading "The wild diversity of Christianity"
Now Deborah Pope-Lance has gotten permission to host this paper on her Web site, here — you’ll have to scroll down past some other papers and essays on clergy sexual misconduct to find the link.
Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to know more about the history of U.S. Unitarian Universalism in the past 25 years, or for anyone interested in the recent history of feminism in religion. If you think Unitarian Universalism has made lots of progress in becoming a feminist movement, you’ll be depressed by this paper. On the other hand, if you’re one of those who (like me) has been incredibly frustrated at how little attention has been paid to the intertwined issues of sexism, patriarchy, and clergy misconduct with Unitarian Universalism, you’ll be relieved to read this exposé of the abuse of power by male clergy and how influential and powerful people within Unitarian Universalism have covered it up.
I’d even say I was delighted to read this paper, not because I’m delighted by clergy misconduct, but because I’m delighted that this subject is finally getting the attention it deserves from historians and others. Thank you, Loré Stevens. Thank you, UUHHS. Thank you, Deborah Pope-Lance for hosting this paper online.
Another in an occasional series of videos that retell Jataka tales: As usual, full script is below…. Possum: I love those Jataka tales. Sharpie: The stories that are supposed to be about one of Buddha’s previous lives? Possum: Let’s act one of the Jataka tales out! Possum: Once upon a time a Dog used to … Continue reading "The Elephant and the Dog"
Several sociologists have found a characteristic that seems to predict with some accuracy who will flout social distancing restrictions designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19: Christian nationalists.
“Samuel Perry (associate professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma) and his colleagues, such as Andrew Whitehead of Indiana University and Joshua Grubbs of Bowling Green State University, argue in a series of new papers that Christian nationalism is either the single best predictor or a top predictor of whether a person will flout social distancing recommendations, be skeptical of science, find nothing racist about calling COVID-19 the ‘China virus’ or argue that lockdown orders threaten the economy and liberty — all while de-prioritizing the threat to the vulnerable.” — as reported by Religion News Service.
At the same time, the ideology of Christian nationalism apparently has only a weak connection to the Christian religion:
“In fact, religious devotion of any kind often had the opposite effect to Christian nationalism, and was the leading predictor of whether someone would take precautionary measures. ‘We found religious people were more likely to wash their hands, to use hand sanitizer and to avoid touching their face — all the things that were recommended,’ [Perry] said. ‘We find religious people are more likely to say, “If we have the decision between individual liberty and protecting the vulnerable, we’re going to protect the vulnerable”.’…He added: ‘In other words, (religious people) tend to look like pretty good neighbors.'”
Perry explains the trend as an “emerging crisis of authority.” Not surprisingly, Christian nationalists believe in conspiracy theories and distrust both scientists and the media. Christian nationalists feel that their country is being taken away from them; not surprising, then, that they are more likely to trust people like Donald Trump, who they think is going to save their country for them.
I wonder if the rise of Christian nationalism correlates in any way to the rise of the “Nones,” people who have no affiliation to organized religion. I’ve often thought that what really underlies the rise of the “Nones” is a rise of hyper-individualism and a distrust of authority; the Christian nationalists would certainly match that description. And we know from surveys that most of the “Nones” believe in God; might some of the “Nones” in fact be Christian nationalists? But this is entirely speculation on my part.
Remember that neither Trump nor most Christian nationalists actually belong to a church: they are too individualistic to want to submit to the demands that organized religion makes.
Whereas those of us who do participate in organized religion tend to make “pretty good neighbors.”
I am increasingly convinced that the pandemic is accelerating a number of trends that are going to change the way we do religious education in our local congregations fairly quickly. However, I don’t these trends should lead us to proclaim either the “post Sunday school era” or “the death os Sunday school.”
And before you get too excited (“Yay, the death of Sunday school!”) or too sad (“Nooo, I miss Sunday school!”), let’s look at a couple of the trends that affect religious education, trends that are being accelerated by the pandemic…..
First and foremost among current trends, most American congregations face looming financial difficulties. Staff costs continue to outpace inflation, driven in part by health insurance costs. Staff costs in Unitarian Universalist congregations are also under pressure because we expect our professional staff — both ordained ministers and lay religious educators — to have at least a four year college degree, and often three or more years of graduate study; staffers have to pay off their college debts, and that means they need relatively high salaries. Finally, there’s always Baumol’s Cost Disease: American congregations represent an “technologically stagnant sector” which means congregations experience “above average cost and price increases.” The amount each person gives to a congregation has to increase faster than inflation, just so the congregation can provide the same amount of services.
Thus, one of the strongest factors driving the “post Sunday school era” theorists is actually the fact that most American congregations can no longer afford to pay all the costs associated with Sunday school: dedicated classroom space, highly educated staff supervisors, and a technologically unsophisticated approach that experiences “above average cost and price increases.”
Second, organized religion in the U.S. is in decline; this is the famous “rise of the ‘Nones’.” But the reasons for this demographic shift are complicated. The “rise of the ‘Nones'” does not seem to correlate strongly with a rise in atheism — a vast majority of Americans still believe in God (notice that the pollsters touting the “rise of the ‘Nones'” often assume the Christian God is the norm) — instead the “nones” simply don’t attend local congregations. A trend that may be related seems to show that increasingly American congregations are filled with upper middle class people; working class and poor people, so it seems, are less likely to be affiliated with an in-person congregation. As more and more young people fall out of the upper middle class into lower socio-economic strata, their new socio-economic status means they are less likely to belong to a congregation.
The pandemic is accelerating both of these trends.
Even though congregational giving has remained surprisingly robust during the first half year of the pandemic, we could be facing another one to three years of restrictions on public gatherings, depending on how fast a vaccine becomes widely available. Three years of limited in-person gatherings seem very likely to adversely affect congregational incomes. And what we have seen, at least in Unitarian Universalist congregations, is that when staff position have to be cut for financial reasons, most often religious education and musician hours get the deepest cuts. Most congregations have already cut administrative and custodial hours as far as they can; and cuts to parish minister hours are usually saved till last. The financial effects of the pandemic are just going to accelerate this already-ongoing process.
And we are going to see an increasing number of people falling out of the middle class. The unemployment rate remains high. People who can find work are sometimes working seven days a week at crappy jobs, just to make ends meet. I’m guessing that on average younger people are going to take a bigger hit from the economic effects of the pandemic. As we have already seen, if you’re not in the upper middle class you are less likely to belong to a congregation; so younger, less affluent people are going to be less likely to show up in congregations with their children.
So these are some of the trends that are going to lead to the decline of Sunday school — and this is, quite simply, because Sunday schools are traditionally based in congregations, and congregations are in decline.
However, a look at history paints a less bleak view.
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2. Where we came from, 1781 to the present
I’m not convinced this means we’re entering the “post-Sunday school era.” That will only be true if you define “Sunday school” in a very specific way, specific to the forty-year period from about 1965 to about 2005. That was the era of paid religious education professionals in congregationally-funded programs using professionally-produced curriculum purchased from a denominational or commercial publishing house. Before we proclaim that as the “Sunday school era” of which we are now “post,” let’s look at some of the preceding eras.
1965-2005
In the years from about 1900 to 1965, Unitarian and Universalist Sunday schools were typically run by Sunday School Superintendents, volunteers who supervised the religious education program of a congregation. Although the current stereotype has it that ALL the Sunday School Superintendents and the Sunday school teachers of this era were all women who didn’t have jobs and thus could afford to spend forty hours of unpaid time a week on Sunday school, I have found so many exceptions to that rule that I’m only willing to say that many, perhaps most, of the Superintendents and teachers were housewives with no paid job. For example, my mother was the Superintendent of the Junior Department of the Unitarian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, in the 1950s when she was a single career woman working a full-time teaching job in the Wilmington public schools; this was when there were some 600 children enrolled in that congregation, about half of whom were in her department. In another example, the Superintendents of the Sunday school of the old Unitarian Church of Palo Alto (1905-1934) included some housewives, but also a couple of Stanford professors, a certified public accountant, and for a number of years the minister served as the Superintendent.
1900-1965
Beyond the question of staffing, the years from 1900 to 1965 saw a few important trends that gradually changed the way Sunday schools operated. First, over this period Sunday schools gradually became integrated into the finances of their host congregation: at the beginning of the period, many, perhaps even most, Sunday schools kept their finances separate from the host congregation, whereas by the end of this time almost all Sunday school budgets had become part of the congregation’s budget. Second, congregations gradually built more and more elaborate physical plants for their Sunday schools, culminating in the 1950s building boom where many congregations built large buildings that resembled the school buildings built for public schools during this time. Third, Sunday schools increasingly relied on published curriculum books, and over time demanded higher and higher quality curriculum books. Fourth, inspired by the advances in developmental psychology, Sunday school began to be seen as a program that was co-equal with the main corporate worship service; in part, this was bowing to the inevitable, because parents increasingly didn’t want to bring their children to both the main worship service and also to Sunday school.
1781-1900
As we go back in time into the mid to late nineteenth century, the further back we go the more we see that everyone was expected to attend the main worship service, adults and children together; developmental psychology hadn’t been invented yet, and children were expected to sit still and pay attention to the sermon — and as we go back in time, the sermon gets longer and longer; sermons were much longer than today’s typical fifteen minute quickies. To generalize broadly, the Sunday school was a separately-funded organization; it didn’t have its own building; the primary textbook was the Bible.
We have gone a long way into the past. The mid-nineteenth century Sunday school is so different from Sunday school in 2020, it doesn’t seem right to call them by the same name. But as we go back in time into the early nineteenth and late eighteenth century, things get even stranger:
Sunday schools actually started in the late eighteenth century as literacy schools for children who had to work during the week and so couldn’t attend public school. The purpose of the Sunday school wasn’t just teaching religious and moral content, it was teaching children how to read. They weren’t housed in churches, they were housed in people’s homes. In the early nineteenth century, with the rise of denominational competition, Sunday schools shifted their focus to teaching their denomination’s specific theological point of view. But originally, Sunday schools started as a social justice project: we’d now say they brought literacy to underprivileged, underserved children. Today, when we’re in an era when people below the upper middle class are staying away from congregations, we should pay attention to how late eighteenth century congregations reached out beyond their memberships to serve children in their area.
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3. Why the “post Sunday school era” advocates are right
The purpose of this excursion into the past is to show you that Sunday school, as an institution, has changed dramatically over time. When people talk about the “post Sunday school era” or the “death of Sunday school,” what they really mean is that the Sunday school era that lasted from 1965 to about 2005 is over.
Actually, what they often really mean is that they have a specific agenda to push. The “post Sunday school era” advocates often want to push for a new model of religious education. They want to end children attending separate religious education classes, and instead reform the worship service so that it is child-friendly, so that parents will actually want to take their children into worship. This is a sane and rational approach to dealing with some of the financial forces bearing on congregations. In this “post Sunday school” model, you promote efficiency by moving the religious education responsibilities for paid staff to the parish minister, the primary worship leader. Since you’re moving the primary physical locus of religious education into the main worship space, that means all those now-empty classrooms can be converted to other uses, including renting them out to paying customers. You can also focus more strongly on denominational identity in religious education — a big emphasis in “faith formation” is keeping children within your denomination — so that you’re raising up children who assert their denominational identity, which in turn makes their parents feel better about the choice they’ve made to belong to a particular congregation, which maybe makes them give a little more freely.
While this may sound cynical and worldly, when stated so baldly, it’s not. The Milton Friedman brand of capitalism means we are all steeped in consumerism and the survival of the economically fittest, even in (especially in) the nonprofit world. This is our historical moment; we may not like it, but we have to live in its realities. Or we may love it, and embrace its realities ever more fully.
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4. Why the “post Sunday school era” advocates are wrong
But the “post Sunday school era” people, the “faith formation” people, the “death of Sunday school” people all strike me as conservative, even reactionary. They seem to me to be ruling out the progressive heritage of that strand of religious education which I belong.
I agree with the progressives who got kids out of the worship services; children and adults are at very different developmental stages, and a congregation that wants to include nine year olds and ninety year olds on a regular basis needs to accommodate the different needs of those two developmental stages. Sticking kids and elders into the same service every week feels like a regression to me — back to some strange conception of how things were in the good old days of the eighteenth century, when kids and adults went to the local Puritan church together every week to listen to three hour sermons.
The “post Sunday school era” people and the “death of Sunday school” folks are well-intentioned. But there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problems facing religious education within organized religion.
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5. Expanding our religious education possibilities
It’s clear that financial pressures are going to force changes in the way we do religious education. But what are the other possibilities besides the” death of Sunday school”?
My sense is that what parents (and kids) want is more choices, more options. This makes sense in our consumer culture: we’re all used to having a wide variety of options available. So we need to find more programs to offer in addition to, not in replacement of, weekly classes on Sunday mornings. Here are some of the additional educational formats I’ve experimented with myself, or observed at close hand, in my quarter of a century working in Unitarian Universalist congregations:
children’s worship all-ages worship in standard weekly worship services non-traditional worship “junior church” youth groups, support groups, small groups, cell groups retreats (age-specific for ages 8+; or mixed age and family) conferences (1 to 7 day gatherings) performing or watching plays, pageants, liturgical drama choirs and musical ensembles online learning study groups and self-directed study lay leadership in the congregation field trips outdoor ministries, summer camps pastoral counseling “traditional” Sunday school, the 1965-2005 approach non-traditional Sunday school
If you were to ask me to identify one or two of these educational formats that holds the most promise for the future, I’d answer — If you pick just one or two, you’re going to lose children and families.
So, for example, if you put all your religious education eggs in the all-ages worship services basket, you’ll probably lose as many as half the children in your congregation. And if you put all your religious education eggs in the “traditional” Sunday school basket, trying to replicate what we were doing from 1965 to 2005, you’ll also probably lose as many as half the children in your congregation.
In my current congregation, we try to maximize the options for parents with children, not force them into one program. Pre-pandemic, children could enjoy supervised play on the playground, or go to Sunday school classes; they could sign up for comprehensive sexuality education programs for four age groups, the Navigators scouting program, a week-long ecology summer camp, etc. During the pandemic, we’re scrambling to offer a range of options, including online Sunday school, one or two outdoors socially-distanced in-person programs, and various mailings.
The point is to expand your offerings to allow for more choices. But how do you do that economically?
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6. The whole church as curriculum
All this takes me back to a book I first read twenty-five years ago, Fashion Me a People by Maria Harris. Harris taught me that, in her words, the whole church is curriculum. Anything a child (or an adult) does in the congregation’s building and grounds, or does with a group of people from that congregation, is curriculum. So to the list above add: all-church picnics, drinking hot chocolate at social hour, playing on the congregation’s playground, attending a Unitarian Universalist family camp in the summer, and any other activity that a child does with others from their religious community.
Being a Unitarian Universalist, I of course translated Harris’s word “church” to me “the local congregation.” But when she says “church,” she also implies a connection to a larger body; in her case, as a Christian and a Roman Catholic, she means the larger body of believers in the triune god and participants in the common rituals of that larger body. So that connection to that larger body, however you conceive that larger body, is also curriculum. In the Unitarian Universalist church of my childhood, that meant that we were not only exposed to the larger Unitarian Universalist movement, but we were also exposed to connections with other liberal religious bodies around the world, like Rissho Kosei-kai (the minister of my home church visited Japan more than once to connect with Rissho Kosei-kai leaders), the Brahmo Samaj (the hymnal we used in the children’s chapel in my home church had readings from Rabindranath Tagore), and other groups.
Harris’s main point, the point I want to emphasize, is that we need to broaden our understanding of where and how learning takes place. Once you really internalize what Harris is saying, you find that things that you’re already doing are, in fact, religious education. Religious education happens the moment children set foot on your campus, or the moment they enter a room full of co-religionists.
This is why I’m troubled by the limited scope of the “post Sunday school era” and the “death of Sunday school” movements. There often seems to be a notion that we can fix all our religious education problems by bringing children into the main worship service.
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7. New models for funding
But we come back once again to economics, to finances. Broadening educational offerings is going to be difficult for smaller congregations (which means, most Unitarian Universalist congregations), whose resources are already stretched too far — and I fully expect that many smaller congregations will only be able to focus on one or two options, like sticking all their kids into the main worship services, and then they’ll have to settle for losing half their children. Mind you, if that’s what your financial situation allows, then then you get full marks for trying to retain half your children, rather completely giving up on including children (as so many small congregations have done). And if that’s all your congregation can afford, then by all means take credit for doing what you can to salvage half your children in the midst of financial decline. But let’s not pretend that this is some educational advance; it’s not. It’s a response to looming financial ruin.
One ideal solution would be to move religious education away from being the financial responsibility of individual congregations — that’s no longer economically sustainable — and move instead towards some other funding model. (And no, let’s not expect the Unitarian Universalist Association [UUA] to solve this problem for us; their funding is declining faster than that of many congregations, and the past twenty years has seen an ongoing decline in the UUA’s ability to fund religious education staff, curriculum resources, and trainings for leaders.) What might that look like?
One popular suggestion is to move more religious education online. One exemplar here is Khan Academy, that wonderful nonprofit organization that produces those awesome videos that teach kids how to do math and science, and other subjects as well. I love Khan Academy, and one of my fantasies is that they hire me to be part of a team producing religious education videos that teach intercultural competence (and if a recruiter sees this and wants to get in touch with me, I’d love to talk with you but please use my personal email account, not my work email account). However, the Khan Academy videos are designed to supplement, nor to replace, the instruction in regular schools. So while I think we absolutely need to have religious education content delivered through something like Khan Academy, it’s important to remember it’s a supplement to in-person curriculum. Right now, a lot of people are developing videos and other online learning; what I’m hoping is that someone will decide to curate the best of this material, and make it more widely available. But who will fund the curators? I don’t know.
A recent innovation in funding that’s well worth watching is the Soul Matters program development team. I think their funding model, a subscription service for curriculum and worship, is really interesting. (However, I’m less interested by their educational offerings with its theme-based approach, or their editorial model which relies on one or two curriculum writers instead of curating curriculum from more sources.) This subscription funding model injects some efficiency into religious education staffing, by outsourcing some of the higher-level curriculum development work outside of the congregation.
Another funding innovation worth watching is the growth of summer camps. Sheri Prudhomme and Laila Ibrahim get a lot of credit here for their “Chalice Camps.” Though congregations have been doing summer camps for decades — Christian churches call them “Vacation Bible Schools” — Unitarian Universalists began to realize that Sheri’s and Laila’s “Chalice Camp” could perhaps provide a year’s worth of basic religious education in a one-week format. Better still, Sheri and Laila proved that such camps could be self-supporting, including paying salaries for key staffers; and those salaries might even be financially attractive in a gig economy. Best of all, I find Sheri and Laila’s “Chalice Camp” to be educationally interesting.
One final innovation I’d like to see is several local congregations cooperating to offer a variety of educational opportunities together. This would make all kinds of financial sense — my congregation works on the summer camp programs, your congregation works on the weekend retreat programs, a third congregation works on the weekly programs, and so on. This doesn’t mean that you all come to my summer camp, and my congregation sends our kids to your retreats, or your weekly programs; but curriculum development, volunteer training, and administration could be shared responsibilities. Geoff Rimositis started something like this two decades ago when he created shared retreats that other congregations could send their Coming of Age programs to.
Given the deeply ingrained individualism of Unitarian Universalist congregations, this kind of sharing does not come naturally. And the logistics of inter-congregational cooperation are challenging (I say this from experience). Yet we cannot let this discourage us. We can seen how individual programs involving more than one congregation and led by brilliant innovators, like Geoff’s Coming of Age retreats, can succeed. We have seen how innovative ideas, like Sheri and Laila’s “Chalice Camp,” can spread. How can we continue to fund this kind of innovation? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m sure we’ll find a way.
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8. Final thoughts
We need to keep on looking for the many and diverse success stories that are out there. Instead of imposing top-down solutions, like the “faith formation” folks and the “post Sunday school” people, let’s look for programs that are actually working. Instead of being prescriptive — telling others what I think will work for them — let’s be descriptive — describing what is actually working for others, and seeing if it will work for us.
And ultimately, I’m advocating for a return to progressive values. I want to embrace the legacy of the late eighteenth century Sunday school as a social justice project. I want to embrace the legacy of progressives in the religious education movement of the twentieth century who drew on the insights of developmental psychology, and child-centered learning. I want to look for inspiration in today’s programs, like another one of Geoff Rimositis’ innovations, Peace Camp, a week-long day camp that used a non-violence curriculum from MOSAIC Project to reach out to both Unitarian Universalist kids and other kids and teach peace.
Forget the “post Sunday school era.” Forget the “death of Sunday school.” Instead, embrace the new possibilities that keep emerging. Embrace change and innovation, while keeping the focus firmly on children. Given the resources that we have, how are we going to raise the next generation of ethical, morally aware, empathetic, and spiritually sensitive human beings?
The final installment of the Prometheus myth: As usual, full script is below…. Greg: And that’s the end of the story. Prometheus was chained to the cliff for many years, until Hercules came and rescued him. A: That’s a long punishment for stealing fire for the human beings. B: That doesn’t seem fair. Greg: Well, … Continue reading "Prometheus, part 4"
In the bustle of the pandemic, I almost forgot that the 250th anniversary of Universalism is celebrated today. This is the anniversary of the first sermon preached by John Murray.
Alas, too busy to say much about this now, but more on this soon!
Elizabeth Fisher, a stalwart of the UU Women and Religion movement, and author of the influential Rise Up and Call Her Name curriculum, has died. I learned about her death from David Pollard, who saw it announced on the UU Women and Religion Web site. Rise Up and Call Her Name expanded the exploration of … Continue reading "Elizabeth Fisher has died"
The next installment in the series: Full script below. Zeus: I have taken care of that troublemaker Prometheus. Bwah-hah-hah! Kratos: Hey, Bia, bring him over here. Bia: OK Prometheus, there’s where we’re going to chain you to the rock. Prometheus: Ow! I’m coming, Bia, no need to be violent! Bia: Well, actually I AM the … Continue reading "Prometheus, part three"
The next installment of the Prometheus myth: As usual, full script is below. Epimetheus: Prometheus, the human beings are so weak and defenseless. Prometheus: I have a plan. I’m going up to Mount Olympus, where Zeus and all the powerful gods and goddesses live. Epimetheus: You’re going to ask Zeus for some more gifts for … Continue reading "Prometheus, part two"
I’ve been looking for a way to extend our congregation’s asynchronous learning, and one of the online tools I’ve looked at is Padlet.com.
Padlet.com is basically an online interactive bulletin board. Some elementary school teachers use padlets to allow students to interact with a teacher presentation — kids can comment on teacher posts, and teachers can also allow kids to make their own posts. (An individual bulletin board is typically referred to as a “padlet.”) Some teachers also use padlets as parent communication tools.
I wasn’t excited or inspired by the gallery of examples on Padlet.com, but since it’s a free service, I thought I’d give it a try. It’s better than I thought.
While it’s hard to imagine that children or teens in a religious education program will voluntarily interact with a padlet — unlike elementary school teachers, those of us in religious education cannot complete students to use something with the threat of a bad grade — I feel that padlets could be useful parent communication tools, to help parents know know what’s going on in a class. I think padlets could work quite well to organize resources to share with adult education classes. And Padlet.com is fairly easy to use for volunteer teachers — there’s not much of a learning curve. Finally, Padlet.com is obviously better for a volunteer-run program like Sunday school than a learning management system like Google Classroom, which has a steep learning curve and requires domain email addresses for all users (who wants another email address?).
However, I don’t think Padlet.com offers much advantage over using existing tools — such as Google Drive — to organize resource materials and allow student interaction. I’m also annoyed because when I just logged on to a padlet I created for other religious educators, Padlet.com refused to display embedded content — see the screenshot below. This does not make me want to pay for a premium account, and if this is what end users are going to see, I’m definitely better off using a Google Drive folder. It also occurs to me that all my volunteers already know how to use Google Drive, and why should I make them learn how to use Padlet.com?
Maybe I’ll return to Padlet.com in the future, but at this point I’m not overly enthusiastic.
William R. Jones, UU theologian and one-time religious educator, pointed out may years ago that the myth of Prometheus serves as a useful counter to the myth of Adam and Eve. For Adam and Eve, rebellion is sinful; for Prometheus, “a response of rebellion is soteriologically authentic.” Although Jones considers the Prometheus myth to be important for humanists, I think Prometheus is important for anyone who is an existentialist — which means almost every Unitarian Universalist today, whether they are humanist existentialists, Christian existentialists, pagan existentialists, Buddhist existentialists,….
That means the myth of Prometheus should be an integral part of Unitarian Universalist religious education for kids. Here’s one attempt to make that happen, as several ordinary people go back in time to relive the myth o Prometheus:
Clicking on the image above will take you to the video on Youtube.
Full script is below….
A: Who’s your favorite character from Greek myths?
B: I like Zeus, because he’s the most powerful.
C: I like Athena, because she’s the wisest.
D: I like Hephaestus, because he’s a Maker.
E: I like Poseidon because he’s wet.
Greg: I like Prometheus.
F: Wait, who was Prometheus?
Greg: Let’s go back in time, and I’ll show you.
[Eerie music, TARDIS sweeps by Ancient Greek temple.] Voiceover: “The gods and goddesses created all the animals … And they ordered Prometheus and Epimetheus … to equip these creatures….”
Athena: All right, Zeus. That’s the last one. We’re done.
Zeus: Wow, Athena. That’s a lot of work!
Hephaestus: Oh, darn it, we didn’t pass out the gifts that will allow the animals to survive.
Poseidon: Oh no. I’m too tired to do any more.
Zeus: I’ll tell you what, I’ll order two lesser gods to get the job finished. [looking down] Prometheus! Epimetheus!
Epimetheus [looking up]: Sir, yes sir!
Zeus [looking down]: There’s all the animals. There’s the gifts that will allow the animals to survive. Let’s get the job done.
Epimetheus [talking with Prometheus]: Gee, look at all these animals. Mountain lions, mule deer, fifty kinds of rabbits, about a million kinds of beetles….
Prometheus: And look at all these gifts. Warm fur, speed, sneakiness, good hearing, claws, pinchers, stingers… This is going to take forever.
Epimetheus: Tell you what, I’ll pass out the gifts, and you can inspect my work.
Prometheus: Good plan.
Epimetheus: I’ll start by giving claws to mountain lions.
Prometheus [holding list and pen]: Check.
[Dramatic music. Prometheus and Epimetheus at work.]
Epimetheus: Stinging cells to the Portuguese Man of War. That’s the last one. We’re done.
Prometheus: Oops.
Epimetheus: Oops? What do you mean, “oops”?
Prometheus: All the gifts are gone, but there’s one more creature — human beings.
Epimetheus: Look at them. Naked. No claws or hooves. Slow. Not very strong. No stingers. Nothing. If we send them out like that, the other animals will tear them to shreds.
Prometheus: Are you sure you gave out ALL the gifts?
Epimetheus: Yep. Nothing left.
Zeus [looking down]: Hi guys. Just checking in with you. Are all the animals are ready to go?
Hephaestus: We worked hard on them, so I hope you did a good job.
Poseidon: I hope you got all the swimming creatures.
Athena: Yes, we’re really looking forward to seeing every single one of the creations.
Epimetheus [to Prometheus]: Uh oh. NOW what do we do?
At the literal level, here’s what I see: a White presidential candidate kneeling in front of half a dozen Black men, at least one Black woman, and another White man. I see pews and a crucifix, so I assume that this is in a church, probably a Black church. It looks like a standard presidential campaign photo opportunity. I do wish they had practiced adequate social distancing, to set a good example.
As it turns out, according to Religion News Service (RNS), this is a video still from a video taken when Joe Biden visited Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Del., not long after the death of George Floyd. According to RNS, Biden was at the church to talk about “racial injustice and police brutality before praying with those assembled.” So my literal reading of the photo wasn’t far wrong.
Campaign staffers for the Donald Trump presidential campaign would like to have you see this image in a different light. RNS reports that this video clip has been used to conclude a Trump campaign video which equates Joe Biden with civil unrest. I didn’t have the stomach to watch the video myself, so I will trust RNS when they tell me that immediately following the video clip showing Biden in a Black church, “words appear on the screen reading ‘stop Joe Biden and his rioters’ as Mike Pence declares ‘you won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America’.”
Thus it appears that what the Trump campaign staffers who created this ad would have you see is something rather different from what I saw. It appears that what they want you to see is that Joe Biden and Black church leaders are dangerous. However, when the RNS asked this question of Donald Trump’s press secretary, this interpretation was categorically denied:
“Asked whether the ad meant to suggest there was something unsafe about Black churches or meeting with Black leaders in a church, Trump campaign deputy national press secretary Samantha Zager replied, ‘That’s absurd and it’s shameful to even make the allegation.’ When Religion News Service followed up to ask what, exactly, footage of the church visit was meant to imply, Zager did not respond.”
In spite of Zager’s denial, it’s clear to me that the intent of this advertisement is to allow people to complete an equation in their mind: dangerous rioters equals the Black church equals Joe Biden. There is also a clear effort to equate Joe Biden with rioters, and with those athletes who kneel during the national anthem. It also seems likely that this advertisement wants to imply that this White man, Joe Biden, will kneel down before Black men and women.
I had quite a few years of training in the visual arts, and I’m always impressed at the multi-layered messages that visuals in political campaign ads can evoke. And I’m cynical enough that it doesn’t surprise me that the Tump campaign is using racial fears to motivate voters; American politicians have been doing that for centuries now, often with great effect; why would a politician who’s hungry to be re-elected give up a tried-and-true campaign strategy?
But I am troubled that a good portion of the American electorate is still so susceptible to political manipulation through their racial fears that it makes it worth the while of unscrupulous politicians to manipulate the emotions of susceptible voters in this way. Someone thinks this may be a winning strategy for the Trump campaign, and they may well be right. All the elegant theories of White privilege and White fragility and White supremacy — these theories haven’t change the emotional make-up of a great many White Americans. Anyone with training in the visual arts knows that a few well-crafted images can easily bypass the most elegant of theories….
I suspect there’s a role here for artists, illustrators, film makers, video game designers, and other visually skilled people. The visual impact of a movie like “Black Panther” may make more of a difference than your average street protest. There may be a role for amateur artists, too, in flooding the interwebs with imagery that equates Black Americans with patriotism, honor, intelligence, serving the public good, and other politically positive messages.
Here’s the first short lecture I used in last night’s online class on Unitarian Universalist (UU) theologies: For accessibility, the text of the lecture is below. Note that I may have altered the text a little when reading it. Hosea Ballou wrote his Treatise on Atonement in 1805. It is still considered a major statement … Continue reading "UU theologies: Hosea Ballou’s Universalism"
For an adult religious education class on Unitarian Universalist theologies, I recorded four short videos. I’ll get to the videos in a moment, but first, a word about online teaching…. Like so many educators, I’ve been trying to figure out how to adjust to our new reality of distance teaching. We feminists have criticized patriarchal … Continue reading "Online UU theologies class"
The smoke cloud that’s covering most of California is so thick overhead right now that it looks like deep dusk. We have to turn on the lights in our house, as if it’s almost night. Drivers have to turn on the headlights of their cars. The temperature is stuck at 63 degrees, because there’s no … Continue reading "Smoke-pocalypse"
A bunch of U.S. professors and scholars will stop teaching and attending to routine meetings today and tomorrow, in order to have a sort of “teach-in” about racial injustice in America. On the blog of Academe magazine, Anthea Butler and Kevin Gannon write: “Scholar Strike is both an action, and a teach-in. Some of us … Continue reading "Scholar strike for racial injustice"
Possum and his friends act out the Sumsumara-Jataka (no. 208):
Click on the photo above to take you to the video on Youtube.
Full script is below the fold….
Possum: Hey, guys, let’s act out a Jataka tale.
Nanas: What’s a Jataka tale?
Sharpie: Buddhists believe that Jataka tales are stories about one of Buddha’s previous lives.
Elephant: But I don’t believe that people had previous lives.
Sharpie: Well, Jataka Tales are also just good, fun stories that can make you think.
Possum [as narrator]: A monkey lived in in a fig tree by a river, and in the river lived some crocodiles. One day, one of the crocodiles said to her son, “I want the heart of a Monkey to eat.” Now this little crocodile was stupid, but he came up with a plan. He swam to the tree where the Monkey lived.
Crocodile: Oh, Monkey, come with me to the other side of the river where the mangoes are ripe.
Nanas: But I can’t swim.
Crocodile: I’ll take you over on my back.
Possum: The monkey wanted some mangoes, so she jumped onto the Crocodile’s back.
Nanas: This is great!
Crocodile: Check this out!
Possum: And the crocodile dove under the water. The monkey didn’t like that at all.
Nanas: Don’t dive! I can’t breathe underwater.
Possum: Now remember, this crocodile was stupid. He said:
Crocodile: I’m going to drown you so my mother can eat your heart.
Nanas: Oh, that’s too bad. I didn’t bring my heart with me. It’s up there.
Possum: And the monkey pointed to one of the figs hanging way up high in the tree.
Crocodile: You mean you left your heart in your tree?
Nanas: Yes. If you want it, take me back to my tree. But first, take me to the island so I can get some mangoes.
Crocodile: No, monkey. Give me your heart first, then I’ll take you to the island.
Possum: But as soon as the monkey jumped onto land, she ran quickly up the fig tree, and she shouted down to the crocodile:
Monkey: O silly crocodile! Did you really believe there were animals who kept their hearts in a tree?
Possum: The crocodile went back sorrowing to the place he lived.
Elephant: I like the way the Monkey did not have to use violence to get herself out of trouble.
Possum: I like the way this is a religious story, but the Monkey does not call on a god or goddess to get herself out of trouble.
Sharpie: There are many ways to interpret this story. How do YOU interpret it?
In a book published this year, the philosopher Evan Thompson says, “When science steps back from experimentation in order to give meaning to its results in terms of grand stories about where we come from and where we’re going — the narratives of cosmology and evolution — it cannot help but become a mythic form of meaning-making and typically takes the structures of its narratives from religion.” — Why I Am Not a Buddhist, (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 2020), p. 18.
What Thompson says is akin to what Hannes Alfvén said back in 1984, in his paper “Cosmology: Myth or Science?” Alfvén argued that “there has been — and will perhaps always be — an oscillation between mythological and scientific approaches.” He further documented what he felt was a mythical orientation in the cosmology of 1984: “In a true dialectic sense it is the triumph of science which has released the forces which now once again seem to make myths more powerful than science and causes a ‘scientific creationism’ inside academia itself.”
And these days, I’ve heard apparently well-educated people saying things like, “I don’t believe in religion, I believe in science” — thus ignoring or passing over the fact that scientific models are not matters for belief, they are intended to be checked against empirical evidence through multiple investigations, and they are subject to a constant revision that is not compatible with what is generally meant by “belief.” I don’t think it’s a good idea to turn science into a religion, and it would be better to find one’s mythic meaning-making elsewhere, maybe in poetry or music or paintings or novels or even religion.
The final installment of the “Possum Feel Stressed” series of videos:
Click on the photo above to go the the video on Youtube.
As usual, full script is below….
Possum: Sharpie, you were going to show me one last spiritual practice.
Sharpie: Don’t worry, I didn’t forget. I’m going to show you my personal favorite spiritual practice.
Possum: Is it hard? Yoga was too hard. And I couldn’t memorize prayers, though you said it was OK if I just read them out loud. I don’t want something that’s too hard.
Sharpie: I don’t think it will be too hard for you.
Possum: Is it something I can do with other people? Sitting meditation and mindfulness was too much inside my own head.
Sharpie: It’s something we can do with other people.
Possum: Wait. You said “we.” We’re going to do it? You’re going to do it, too? I noticed you didn’t do any of the other spiritual practices with me. You just told me how to do them.
Sharpie: We’re going to attend a Sunday service with our congregation.
Possum: Wait a minute. That’s a spiritual practice?
Sharpie. Of course it is. And this week, we get to attend the annual Water Communion service.
Possum: Uh. Remind me what a Water Communion is?
Sharpie: Water Communion is where we each share a bit of water symbolizing who we are or where we’re from. It’s a feminist reinterpretation of an old religious ritual, showing that we’re embodied beings, where our intersubjectivity is revealed, not through some disembodied intellectualism, but through our very embodiment…
[bell sound]
Possum: Wait a minute. I just heard the bell. They must be starting the service already. We better hurry.
Sharpie: Ms. and Mr. Bear!
Mr. Bear [off stage]: Coming.
Sharpie: Elephant! Nanas!
[Elephant trumpets offstage]
Sharpie: Hurry up. We don’t want to be late for the Water Communion.
Possum: Yeah, hurry up, you guys.
[Mr. and Ms. Bear, Elephant and Nanas, hurrying to get to the service]
[All six stuffed animals in the UUCPA video studio]
Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern: Hi everybody, I heard you might be coming over. I’m so glad. I see Possum and Nanas, and Sharpie Ann and Elephant, and Mr. and Ms. Bear. It’s really great to have you here at our Water Communion.
Lecture for an online class at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto.
Clicking on the photo above will take you to the Youtube video lecture.
The full text of the lecture is below the fold.
N.B.: The written text diverges slightly from the text in the video.
What is religion?
This is the first in a series of adult classes on religion at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto. Each class can be taken separately, but if you attend all of the classes, you’ll probably see that I’m making some long-term arguments about the role and place of religion in today’s world.
Full disclosure: I am not trained in religious studies. I have an undergraduate degree in philosophy, and a graduate degree in practical theology; I have substantial training in the arts; and I work full time in a religious organization. My biases and blind spots will, no doubt, become quickly obvious, but I hope I also bring an interesting perspective to the topic of religion.
Let’s dive right in and try to define religion. Since my job is in religious education, I spend a fair amount of time talking with children and teens, and American children and teens have a pretty good idea of what religion is. Religion, in their view, requires belief in a supernatural masculine deity named “God.” Religion is most often associated with conservative political commitments including opposing LGBTQ rights and abortion rights, and an unthinking American patriotism. Religious behaviors include praying to a supernatural masculine deity, attending worship services every week, reading the Bible, and behaving sanctimoniously. In short, religion looks a lot like white conservative evangelical Protestant Christianity.
Actually, many of the American adults I know define religion in much the same way. I know devout Jews who say, “I’m really not religious,” meaning they’re not conservative white evangelicals. I know devout Catholics who are apologetic because they go to mass regularly. The few white conservative Christian evangelicals I know are defensive about their religious commitment, which is not surprising, given how many other people don’t want to be identified with white conservative Christianity. Mind you, these are all people who live in the United States; I’m not speaking about everyone in the world here.
On the face of it, it’s obviously absurd to think that religion is the same thing as white conservative evangelical Christianity. Of course there are many other religions besides Christianity, and of course there are non-white Christians, and progressive Christians, and so on. Yet there’s a grain of truth in the common perception that religion is the same thing as white conservative evangelical Christianity.
We can trace that grain of truth back to the origins of the concept of religion. You see, religion is actually a fairly recent concept; it emerged from the European intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment. The concept of religion was originally formulated in part as a way to justify how emerging nation-states were accumulating power. “Religious” was defined as something separate from “secular” to set up two spheres of influence; the nation-state stayed out of the religious sphere, but at the same time the nation-state reserved the ultimate authority over coercive power both within and outside its borders. You can find a good summary of this argument in the book “The Myth of Religious Violence” by William T. Cavanaugh.
Thus when we say we have “freedom of religion,” that’s actually just a way of saying that religions are prohibited from having any military or police power. It’s also increasingly clear that nation-states in fact do have what can only be called religious rituals. In the United States, some of our holidays — remember, “holiday” really means “holy day” — include veneration of quasi-deities such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King; we have huge temples dedicated to such quasi-deities, such as the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, and pilgrimage sites such as the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. I see a strong resemblance between United States civil religion, and how the ancient Romans venerated and deified their emperors and heroes.
But to get back to the Enlightenment. While one purpose of the concept of religion was giving Enlightenment thinkers a way to better define the secular state, there was another less savory purpose. The development of the concept of religion coincides with the development of European colonialism. The secular nation-states of Europe found that the concept of religion was a powerful tool for justifying and extending colonialism. The Europeans equated civilization with Christianity, with Christendom. There were Jews in Europe, too, of course, and so Judaism was understood as a religion, though it defined as an early predecessor to Christianity and therefore not the equal of Christianity.
What about those other religions beyond Christianity? They were defined as primitive, heathen religions, and one of the justifications for colonialism was to extend Christendom, to extend civilization to the heathens. And those other religions could never match up to Christianity, because the concept of religion had been defined using Christianity as the paradigm, so by its very definition no other religion could be as good as Christianity. So you can see, when we say “religion,” we’re naming a concept that started out as a tool for justifying European colonialism, where the only real religion was Christianity, and anything else was there to be subjugated. No wonder we feel some visceral discomfort with the word “religion.”
Then as the Enlightenment continued, an increasing number of thinkers began to question the supernatural elements of Christianity. By the nineteenth century, the category of religion had been expanded to include Buddhism. Why? Because Buddhism looked to some Western thinkers to be like Christianity with the yucky bits taken out. These Westerners claimed that Buddhism was more in tune with science, and they saw Gotama Buddha as Jesus without the miracles; what they were really doing was helping to invent a new movement that scholars now call Buddhist modernism. In any case, at some point Buddhism began to look enough like Christianity that it came to be accepted as another religion, as something more than heathenism. Eventually, Buddhists in Asia and elsewhere picked up on this idea, and now Buddhist modernism is everywhere.
Another nineteenth century development led to European recognition of another religion. In the Indian subcontinent, a number of Indian leaders realized that their English colonial overlords guaranteed religious freedom. They then began defining some of their rituals and their philosophy as a religion that became known as Hinduism. Thus Hinduism as a “world religion” emerged during British colonial rule as a way for colonized peoples to enjoy some legally guaranteed freedoms.
During the twentieth century, scholars added more “world religions” to their field. World religions were typically distinguished from so-called local religions. Thus, the Navajo religion is a local religion because it only exists on the Navajo Indian reservation. But religions that spread to more than one locale had a chance of counting as world religions; here again, Christianity remains a paradigmatic case for how religion is defined, because Christianity is a missionary religion, which means is spreads over wide geographic areas. So too with Buddhism and Islam, the other two major missionary religions.
What’s remarkable during the twentieth century is the extent to which religions of Africa and the African diaspora were utterly ignored. Religions indigenous to Africa were often dismissed by religion scholars as “primitive religions,” or “local religions.” Religions of the African diaspora were at best dismissed as “cults,” or more often ignored altogether. In one example, Orisha devotion, now counted as a major world religion, was only studied by a few scholars prior to the 1990s. In another example, here in the States it’s difficult to find books or unbiased coverage on African Independent Churches or African Indigenous Churches.
As a case study, I’d like you to consider the way the Nation of Islam is covered in the popular imagination in the U.S. Most people will dismiss it as a violent racist cult. Those of us who know something more about the Nation of Islam might say they can’t be real Muslims because they don’t read Arabic, and they don’t follow the Five Pillars of Islam. As if we, non-Muslims that we are, get to define what constitutes Islam! This attitude towards this black religious group reveals the colonial impulse that still lives within the concept of religion.
There’s still this sense that we, as outsiders, get to judge other religions, and if we judge that some other religion is falling short in some way, then we can justify dismissing it, or even using governmental authority to forcibly control it. In other words, the concept of religion is still used to justify colonization. There’s plenty of scholarship to show how African Americans in the U.S. are treated as colonized peoples, and one of the ways white people maintain colonial control over black people is through religion.
Again, no wonder we feel discomfort with the word “religion.” But we should feel even more uncomfortable with the militant atheists. They claim to be not religious, and claim they want to eradicate religion. Yet what they do reminds me of the conservative Christian evangelicals they profess to hate. To my way of thinking, they look exactly like those purifying Protestants who want to get rid of everyone who doesn’t believe what they believe. And too many of the militant atheists seem to believe in a scientific triumphalism that seems as unbelievable to me as conservative Christian theology; instead of a big daddy God who’s going to save us all from our sings, it’s big daddy Science that will save us instead. Worse still, some of the militant atheists want to get rid of religion, which is just too similar to European and American colonial powers wanting to get rid of other religions among their colonized peoples.
So what do we do now? Should we just get rid of the concept of religion? Well, that’s pretty unrealistic. What we can do is to start thinking about a more accurate definition of religion.
First big point: When deciding what gets to be a religion, we should be more inclusive rather than less inclusive. Ideally, we want to divorce the concept of religion from colonialism, so we have to be careful about saying something “isn’t really a religion,” or it’s “primitive” or it’s a “cult,” or just be generally dismissive. As an example, here in the U.S., we have to be especially careful when it comes to black religions, or indeed any religion that does not have predominantly white member. Therefore, we better think hard before claiming the Nation of Islam “isn’t really a religion,” and we better be careful about being dismissive of Pentecostalism.
Second big point: When we define religion, we should not use Western Christianity as the paradigm. Western Christianity is deeply concerned with faith and belief and dogma. Therefore, we should be suspicious of any definition of religion that focuses on belief and personal choice. Instead, we will consider a wider range of defining characteristics for religion, including social organization, material culture, ritual, myths and narratives, and so on.
Western Christianity also understands religion primarily as a matter of personal choice. Therefore we should be wary of claims that religion is always a matter of personal choice. We’ll look for external factors that can affect the religious affiliation of individuals and groups, factors like economic pressures, colonialism, and globalism; as well as kinship ties, citizenship in a nation-state, and other social influences.
By the way, all this will make us skeptical of the term “spiritual but not religious” — this is a valid term only insofar as “spirituality” is located within the experience of an individual — so a definition of religion that extends beyond Western Christian norms can safely ignore the supposed difference between “spiritual” and “religious.”
Western Christianity also claims that there are well-defined boundaries between religions, that is, an individual is either one thing or another, and one person can’t have multiple religious identities. Therefore, we should be cautious of defining religion such that multiple religious affiliations are not allowed. Instead, we’ll consider multiple religious belonging as a normal feature of religion.
This leads us to a third big point: When defining religion, we must remember that religions interact with one another, trading influences back and forth, so much so that it can be difficult to determine where one religion ends and another one begins. For example, does the Chrislam movement in Nigeria belong to Christianity and Islam? — it’s almost impossible to say. So under our definition of religion, any taxonomy of religious groups will be considered quite fluid.
Religions also change over time. This means there is no static thing called “Christianity,” there is instead a dynamic changing movement. And religions also change radically in different cultural contexts, so that even within Christianity in one time period, the Quakers of suburban Philadelphia are wildly different from Ethiopian Orthodox Christians of Addis Ababa. In short, our definition of religion will recognize that religion is characterized by change and dynamism.
A fourth big point, based on the above points: As we define religion, we’re going to be extremely skeptical of any claims that there’s some universal truth that’s in every religion. Why are we going to be skeptical? First, such universalizing claims have been made in the service of colonialism, to help integrate subjugated people into the worldview of the colonizers. Second, such claims usually arise from the Western Christian notion of considering belief or doctrine or dogma to be central, rather than looking at ritual, social organization, or material culture. Third, such claims tend to ignore how religions change over time, and change across cultures.
One final big point: Any definition of religion is liable to change over time and across different societies. If religion is a social construct, then it’s going to be constructed by a social group. As that social group changes over time, the social construct might change as well. And two different societies — for example, the U.S. and China — might come up with different social constructs for religion.
Well, here we are at the end of the time allotted, and I still haven’t defined religion. Yet I feel as though we’ve made some progress. We know that religion is NOT the same thing as Western Christianity. We know that religions change over time and interact with one another. We know that belief and dogma is a small part of religion, and we know our investigations of religion have to look far beyond belief to things like social organization, material culture, ritual, myths and narratives, ethics, personal and group experiences, and so on. So even though we haven’t defined religion, at least we have some notions about how we might study religions.
The fourth installment in this video series: Full text of the script is below…. Possum: Sharpie, remember, you promised me you’d show me another spiritual practice to help me be calm. Sharpie: I’m going to show you one right now. Possum: But Sharpie, we’re just about to eat breakfast. Sharpie: This is a spiritual practice … Continue reading "Possum is working on reducing his stress"
The past couple of weeks have been a wild ride for me.
At work, this is always the busiest time of year because we’re getting ready for a new school year. This year is busier than usual because so many things have to be moved online. Fortunately, we were able to delay the start of Sunday school classes till after Labor Day, but even with that there’s a lot to be done.
The weather has been crazy. We had thunderstorms last week that lit wildfires all around us, and now just about the whole state of California is covered in a big smoke cloud. There are fires burning to our south — they’ve closed Highway 1 south of Half Moon Bay down to Santa Cruz because of the fires — and fires burning to our east, and fires burning to our north. There’s smoke everywhere. At its worst, the AQI peaked at over 400 in our area, then we had a couple of clear days, and now the AQI is up to about 150. Here’s a recent screenshot of fire.airnow.gov. Density of smoke plumes is indicated by the darkness of the gray overlays; the little squares and circles are AQI monitors, with green being healthy, yellow moderate, orange unhealthy, and purple hazardous; then the little flame icons show locations of fires, and the little glowing dots are potential fires from satellite imagery:
And now we have a Red Flag Warning — a warning for high danger of potential fires — because of a forecast of the possibility of more dry lightning over the next four days. Someone recently asked what a Red Flag Warning means. For me, it means: double-check your go-bag, then place it by the front door because you may only get 30 minutes warning to evacuate. Ah yes; the joys of living in a world dominated by global climate change.
Then if that’s not enough, I’ve been sitting too long at the computer — because, of course, when you work at home you have to spend hours and hours sitting in front of your computer — and my foot muscles got all cramped up; so much so that it’s actually painful to walk. I didn’t even know that could happen to my feet.
Pandemic, wildfires, and job. It would be easy to get discouraged, but I look at it this way — at least I get to work indoors.
Before we went to bed Saturday night, we saw a couple of flashes of distant thunder. The National Weather Service had said that moist air from a tropical storm to the south was being driven up the Pacific coast by a big, hot high pressure system parked over the southwest, and they had predicted the possibility of thunder and lightning. Since this is the Bay Area, where we hardly ever get thunder and lightning, and what we do get is inconsequential, we thought that was the end of it.
We were awakened at half pst three by lightning flashes and loud thunder and wild wind and — could it be? — the sound of rain. It never rains in the Bay Area in August, but this sounded like real rain. Then the power went out. We got up, and went around closing windows. I stood out on the back steps for a moment, just so I could feel some raindrops.
The power was still out when we awoke on Sunday morning. That meant the huge cemetery gate that closes every evening wouldn’t open. I had to open it so I could drive to work. The hand crank was missing, meaning I was stuck inside until the cemetery staff showed up. And of course it started raining again while I was out there.
Since then, it’s been muggy — by Bay Area standards, muggy means relative humidity of about 60% — and partly cloudy — we hardly ever get real clouds in August, just high fog. It feels like the New England summer days I’m used to. It’s very pleasant. I just wish we’d get another thunderstorm, but I know that’s too much to ask.
In the third installment of the Possum Feels Stressed video series, Possum learns about prayer as a spiritual practice (even though he doesn’t believe in God):
Clicking the photo above will take you to the video on Youtube.
The first poem mentioned in the video is by Edward Everett Hale, a Unitarian minister:
I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything. But still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
The second poem mentioned in the video is by Universalist poet Edwin Markham:
Outwitted They drew a circle that shut me out — Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took them in.
Full script for the video is below….
Here’s the full script, pretty much as it appears in the video:
Possum: Sharpie, you were going to show me some kind of spiritual practice that uses words.
Sharpie: That’s right. You’re looking for a spiritual practice that will help you feel less stressed out.
Possum: Right.
Sharpie: This time, we’re going to try prayer.
Possum: I don’t think prayer is for me. I don’t believe in God.
Sharpie: You don’t have to believe in God. Some prayers are directed at a god or deity, but there are also centering prayers, prayers for thanks (like saying grace), prayers to express concern for others, prayers to ancestors, and petitionary prayers which form an interesting philosophical puzzle that…
[Cymbal hit]
Possum: Sharpie, stop! You’re getting all intellectual again.
Sharpie: I’ll keep this practical. You like talking, right?
Possum: Right.
Sharpie: Well, some prayers are like short poems which you can memorize, then say out loud when you need them. So it’s a kind of talking, and it can be very calming.
Elephant: What are you two doing?
Possum: Oh, hi Elephant. I’m going to memorize a prayer to help me feel calmer.
Elephant: I love to memorize. And I need to feel calm. Can I try?
Possum: Sure!
Sharpie: Here’s the first Unitarian Universalist poem that I think works as a centering prayer: I am only one. But still I am one. I cannot do everything. But still I can do something. And because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
Elephant [holding written copy of poem/prayer in his trunk]: I’m going to memorize this one!
Sharpie: Here’s the other Unitarian Universalist poem that works as a centering prayer: They drew a circle that shut me out — Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took them in.
Possum [holding written copy of poem/prayer]: That’s the one for me!
[Possum reading poem to himself; time passes]
Sharpie: How did it go?
Elephant: “And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” Saying this has made me feel calmer, because it tells me that I don’t have to fix everything.
Sharpie: How about you, Possum?
Possum: I can’t memorize things. I guess I failed at this spiritual practice, too.
Sharpie: Did it make you feel better to read it out loud?
Possum: Yeah! Sometimes people try to shut me out. But this reminds me that love is more powerful than trying to shut people out.
Sharpie: Did this spiritual practice work for you?
Possum: Yeah, but … could we try another one?
Sharpie: Next week, I’ll have something new for you.
This is the only sermon I’ve been able to find that was preached at the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto, which existed from 1905 to 1934. It’s a sermon preached at the dedication of the new building of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto, March 24, 1907. It was doubtless revised for publication, and then was printed in the Christian Register (later called the Unitarian Register) on April 25, 1907, pp. 465-466.
George Stone, who preached this sermon, was the first minister the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto ever had. He was actually the American Unitarian Association’s Field Secretary for the West coast, and part of his duties were planting new Unitarian churches; since Palo Alto was a college town, it was seen as a likely spot for a Unitarian congregation, and that’s doubtless why Stone went ot Palo Alto in 1905. He worked with the new Palo Alto congregation for about a year, until 1906, when they called their first settled minister, Sydney B. Snow. Evidence in the extant documents of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto show that they considered him their minister, even though he wasn’t a called minister. And in 1907, he returned to Palo Alto to preach the dedicatory sermon when their new building was complete.
But this sermon is of more than historical interest. True, we might not agree with some of the theology, and certainly the gender-specific language (e.g., “man” for “humankind,” male pronouns for the deity, etc.) now sounds dated. But Stone argues for the continual progress of organized religion; looking back at old forms of American religion, Stone says that our spiritual forebears “were passing through a stage of evolution which to us seems a sad one.” And he acknowledges that some day, he, too, will seem outdated: “Who knows but our descendants will look back upon the record of our lives with equal pity and tenderness?” Yet Stone has some powerful things to say about the purpose of public worship. A Unitarian congregation, says Stone, “stands for the solidarity of the race rather than for the single individual” — and yet, all these years later, we Unitarian Universalists are still overly individualistic, and reading Stone’s sermon might help us realize how far we have yet to go in our religious development.
“Public Worship” by Rev. George W. Stone
The mission of Unitarianism is to help mankind to a higher and more spiritual faith than it has had before; for Unitarianism is not a theology and a philosophy only, it is a life. It is, least of all, a negation or a denial of some other religion. It is a comprehensive religion, including the good in the older religions. No man is ready to become a Unitarian until he is able to do his own thinking. In order to be a Unitarian he may outgrow the old theologies, but he must not outgrow religion. Until he learns to use his freedom wisely, and not make it simply a license to reject everything he cannot understand, until then, he may not be orthodox, but he is not necessarily a Unitarian, for Unitarianism is a positive faith. It believes that love is the only divine power in the universe, and that at last all mankind will grow into it, that the process of man’s development from the animal, through the human, into the spiritual, is now going on, that it will one day be completed.
Public worship should be an expression of this faith. Shall we call it a simple faith? It may be simple to us; but to the mind long accustomed to the complexities of ecclesiasticism, so long familiar with the ancient theology only, it seems barren rather than simple. This is easily understood; for, just in proportion as the mind apprehends and the intellect becomes convinced of the highest spiritual truth, the soul grows calm and trustful, the element of pursuit is over, and only rest remaineth.
When the soul comes to that point of development where it can absolutely cast its cares on God, trusting him and his love for everything in the spiritual life, here and hereafter, self-interest, the most restless and eager passion of human nature, is satisfied. It is then that calmness, placidity of spirit is attained which is sometimes mistaken for indifference by those who cannot comprehend it. It is at this point that Unitarianism often ceases its work; that is, when self-interest has been victorious, has achieved its ends, the new-born Unitarian sometimes looks upon his work as finished. Having escaped from the dominion of fear, he congratulates himself that the battle is won, forgetting that there is such a thing as human brotherhood. If the soul that gains a victory over fear was the only soul on earth, then the victory would be won, and the victor might enter into his rest. But there is no rest, in that sense, on the earth. Said Jesus, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” So will every man and every woman, who has reached this condition of perfect trust, continue to work for others, if they have learned their spiritual lessons. There is no provision in this world for drones in any walk of life. There is nothing in this life worth having that does not cost persistent effort. Every victory in life but reveals another battle that must be fought. So with this one. When we have attained the real spirit of Christianity, we shall forget self. We shall find that not only our duty, but our inclination also, leads us to engage in the service of others. This will affect the character of our worship, for then worship will take the form of service. We shall care less for forms, and more for the spiritual uplift we receive when we See the blessings of life descend upon others. I think that the social worship — that is, worship in congregations — which distinguishes modern life has grown out of this spirit of sympathy with others. This brings me to the subject which I shall try to place before you in a practical way.
Ours is not a new church; but it is entering upon a new career, and, may we not hope, one which shall prove to be successful? Public worship, which is the subject of this discourse, is one of the subjects that deserve attention.
First, let us ignore the phases of the subject which do not interest Unitarians, and confine ourselves to those upon which we have more or less agreement. I presume no one desires to see a revival of either synagogue or temple worship. Priesthood is not a feature of our system, and, therefore, ritualism is out of the question. We must have forms of some kind and some ceremonies. We need only such forms as are conducive to the establishment of a distinctively social order of public worship. I assume that this is the object we have in view; namely, to adopt the best possible form of social public worship.
One of my ministerial brethren in New England said to me a few years ago: “I have numbers of men and women in my parish who would give up almost any doctrine with less hesitation than the old forms of public worship. That which they call the congregational form is dearer to them than theological opinions.” It is not surprising that men should be attached to familiar forms of all kinds. I think we are alike in this. Still, as Unitarians, we are committed to the principle of hospitality to new thought. Progress is one of our favorite words, and we ought to be able to rise above mere custom or routine when there is sufficient reason for so doing. There can be no principle involved in the form of public worship. There may be sentiment, emotion, taste. Forms that help one to worship may hinder another; but it is unlikely that any form would be adopted by a Unitarian church that would not, in a brief time, commend itself to those who sought earnestly to utilize it.
What is called the “enrichment of the church service” has been the subject of many addresses and of much discussion in the ministerial associations of many denominations during the past few years. Attention has been called to the rapidly increasing tendency of Unitarian young people to visit those churches which emphasize more strongly than we do a liturgical form of worship, not only to visit them, but in many cases to forsake their own, and ally themselves permanently with those churches. This shows that they are willing to endure a theology which they cannot approve, for the sake of the spiritual uplift they get from the ceremonial features of the service. We are too unconscious of the change which is coming over the religious world. We are slow to appreciate how far the basis of religion has shifted, how new the motives, the ideals of the religious life; and this spirit of progress has affected Unitarians even more than it has those in the orthodox churches. But the forms of public worship have remained unchanged. No one has attempted to give the new jewels brighter or more attractive setting. The old Puritan form of worship is used in quite ninety per cent of our liberal churches. Some of our younger people have caught a new spirit. The social consciousness seems to have increased: co-operation, noblesse oblige, these words express their central ideas. These young people seem to be unable to put these ideas into the old forms. They do not mix well with them.
The old forms were made to suit the old ideas. They did express them perfectly. Man, a lesser being, must be redeemed to be saved. Only one way of redemption,— he must accept and believe certain doctrines. Only the Church knew those doctrines. The Church being the official representative of the Most High, this redemption was conferred by the Church. The Church, therefore, indirectly, controlled the future of every soul. In Puritan New England it once furnished the passports to citizenship; that is, in early days, only church members were allowed to vote at the general election. The minister was the official head of the church. He assumed personal power over individual souls. He knew the law and expounded it. The great object of the Church was to save souls. Personal salvation was the incentive for all religious activity, the sole object being to keep out of hell and to get into heaven in the next world. This world was not important. Everything was done for the sake of a future world. The principle of insurance was the dominant one in the church. Church attendance and church subscriptions and support were the premiums the person must pay. Fear was the power behind the throne. The doleful hymns, the abject prayers, the blazing sermon with its warnings and appeals, its doctrinal demands and its fiery exhortations,— all these were merely the appropriate settings for the dreadful dogmas which were believed with pathetic earnestness by as good men and women as the sun ever shone upon. These worthy ancestors of ours were passing through a stage of evolution which to us seems a sad one. Who knows but our descendants will look back upon the record of our lives with equal pity and tenderness?
Now religion, among those who think and those who accept the results of modern research, has shifted to a new basis, a new motive; namely, man is imperfect, partially developed, but, nevertheless, divine by nature. He must be educated. The Church is a spiritual training-school. Its teachers are selected from those having the most profound knowledge of spiritual things. The minister is the leader in the church. The object of the Church is to educate men and women and children in spiritual things, to educate them for this world, to improve present opportunities to live a large and fuller life. The Church, therefore, stands in a different relation to life now from that in the olden time. It stands for the solidarity of the race rather than for the single individual. Man’s highest aim is to save others, for in that effort he finds his own salvation, as well as his greatest pleasure. We are bound together, and together we must go, down or up.
Now the power behind the throne is low. Therefore our service should furnish a setting for this finer gem,— happy hymns, the trusting prayer, the sermon with its aim to afford spiritual strength, comfort, and instruction. The atmosphere of the Church ought to be one of sunshine, hope, faith, love. No minor music, nothing that shall depress, but one continued strain of encouragement. The bright side of things should be presented. Life has enough sorrow, enough pain, poverty, and wretchedness, that we cannot escape. Surely we need not carry it with us to church. Happiness is the chief end of life: not pleasure, but happiness, and happiness will come when we graduate with honor from an institution like the Church, wherein true spiritual instruction is imparted. To know the truth is to know God. To be possessed by the spirit of love is to be pure in, heart, and purity of heart brings the beatific vision of God himself.
In this church, the minister is the chief servant. He leads the. service, but he should only lead it. Under the old system he monopolized the service. He delegated a small part of his power to a choir, but it was his service. The people looked on and saw him worship, and then went away and discussed the manner of his doing it. They entered the church with only the thought, What shall I do to be saved? and left it with the feeling that their attendance had in some way helped their chances for future happiness. This has passed away, and now men and women may come as to a feast, expecting to find spiritual food that will satisfy and nourish them. If they find it, they will come again; if not, they will remain away.
This, then, is the lesson I seek to teach, that we need not be bound to old customs when they cease to serve present needs. We may furnish the newer settings for the newer gems if the old ones do not properly display them. We need a service that includes every person that seeks to join with us in our work. We may believe in social worship without being frightened by names. If what is called a liturgy will bring us nearer together, and all of us nearer the Father, then let us be ready for that. What we need is a simple form that shall help those in the pews to the comfort that comes with sincere worship. There is help in repeating, with a congregation, the simple prayer taught us by Jesus, and used as the channel of spiritual communication by uncounted millions since he left the world.
Sentiment! you say. Yes, sentiment! But remember this: The best, the most beautiful, the most useful element in human life is sentiment. Not sentimentality. that is quite another emotion, but sentiment. From the feeling awakened by the tiny flower we see in early spring, up through children, wife, mother, to God himself,— all is sentiment. God grant we may never lose it; for without it life would be a blank, a desolation.
Let us not be afraid, then, to consider new methods. We must look forward for our ideas, not back. We may go back and look, to make sure we have left nothing useful behind, but our ideals are before us. Great sons of men have shown us h0w to live, how to suffer, how to die; but they could not know what we now know, for revelation is continuous and will be endless. Our responsibility is to the present and the future.
Finally, I have tried to show why I believe in progress in public worship. I would have the service of public worship so arranged that all may join in it: not observe it, but make it. Let the preacher preach as best he can, but he cannot worship for you. We do not believe in the substitutionary, the priestly theory. Let us have congregational worship, congregational music, congregational unity in every word and work, knowing no rich or poor, no learned or unlearned, asking only this question of those who seek to join us: Do you believe that love is the fulfilling of the law? Can you commit yourselves unreservedly to this great obligation? Will you endeavor to be governed in all things by the law of human brotherhood and love, and promise to share your liberty in common with all men?
Once within those doors, let it be understood that every one stands before the Father on a perfect equality. In the great world without, the lines of education, of wealth, of belief, may be sharply drawn. But let us make these precincts sacred by the sovereignty of good alone. So may we have for one hour, in every week, at least, a foretaste of the kingdom of God.
The second video in the Possum Feels Stressed series. Mindfulness meditation didn’t work out as a stress-reliever for Possum, and in this episode he and his friend Nanas the monkey try yoga…
Clicking on the photo above will take you to the video on Youtube.
The script is below, for those who like that sort of thing. Be warned, it got changed a bit in performance and editing.
Possum: Sharpie, don’t forget that you were going to show me about yoga.
Sharpie: That’s right. You said you felt stressed because of global climate change, and because your human friends are worried about COVID, racism, and the elections.
Possum: Right.
Sharpie: And I showed you how to do sitting meditation, but sitting still isn’t something you like to do.
Possum: Right. And now we’re going to do yoga. And after I learn how to do yoga, maybe I won’t feel so stressed out. What is yoga, anyway?
Sharpie: What we call “yoga,” or more properly called “hatha yoga,” is one of a set of Hindu spiritual practices, which also includes bhakti or devtional yoga, jnana or knowledge yoga, and karma yoga. Hatha yoga consists of asanas, or postures, and dates back to the Vedic… [sees Possum staring at him] …What?
Possum: Sharpie, this is too complicated for me. I just want something to help me feel less stress.
Sharpie: Well, honestly, I don’t really know how to do yoga myself. But a friend of mine who’s a yoga teacher recommended an online video on beginner yoga that you could watch.
Possum: Let’s do it!
Sharpie [setting up laptop]: Here, let me find that video….
Nanas: What’s going on, guys?
Possum: I’m going to learn how to do yoga, Nanas.
Nanas: I want to try, too!
Possum: This might be too hard for a little monkey like you.
Nanas: Pleeeease?
Possum: Sure, why not!
Sharpie [at laptop]: OK, the video is all set up.
[Possum and Nanas in front of laptop, watching a video]
Voiceover: Now lift your left hand up and move your right hand down. Keep your spine long
[Shots of Nanas and Possum doing yoga. Possum falls over.]
[Shot of Nanas in lotus position; Possum has given up and is sitting, shoulders hunched]
Sharpie: How was it learning yoga?
Possum: Good, I guess. Nanas had fun. She’s still sitting in lotus position and meditating.
Sharpie: Possum, how did it go for YOU?
Possum: Yoga was too hard for me. I know, I know — you have to keep doing it so you can get better. But it just didn’t feel good for my body. If I want exercise, I can just go outside and raid compost piles.
Sharpie: Well, mindfulness meditation didn’t work for you. Yoga didn’t work for you. I know you like talking, so next week we’ll try something that involves word.
Alice Locke Park, pacifist and early feminist, was a member of the Unitarian Church of Palo Alto from 1907 to 1920. Alice resigned from the church in 1920 in protest of the way some people in the church supported the the First World War; she was probably referring to people like Rev. Bradley Gilman and George Fullerton Evans, both of them saber-rattlers who spouted pro-war “propaganda” (in the words of another pacifist in that congregation). She later joined the Quakers. But she was a Unitarian for 13 years, and some of her writings seem to me to encapsulate a very contemporary Unitarian Universalist worldview—like this statement:
My religion is humanity—humanitarianism—confident that the present time is all that we are sure of, and [that] our duty, our progress and our usefulness are all here and now—If we think earnestly of the present and try to do all we can right here and now—we are at least sure of immediate results. My religion is boundless—Nothing human is alien to me. [quoted in Eunice Eichelberger, “‘Hearts Brimming with Patriotism,’” ed. Robert W. Cherny, California Women and Politics: From the Gold Rush to the Great Depression, Univ. Neb. Press, 2011, pp. 321-332.]
I think this would make a good responsive reading, if you arranged it something like this:
My religion is humanity—humanitarianism—
Confident that the present time is all that we are sure of, and that our duty, our progress, and our usefulness are all here and now—
If we think earnestly of the present and try to do all we can right here and now, we are at least sure of immediate results.
My religion is boundless—Nothing human is alien to me.
Not that this is some final definition of religion, some kind of dogma. By the end of his life, my father had become such a strong environmentalist that he refused to call himself a humanist any more, and I can imagine his criticisms of this reading. Nevertheless, the call to action and the appeal to a wide humanitarianism should be pleasing (if not definitive) to most.
The first installment in the Possum series of videos: Here’s the script, pretty much as it is in the video: OPENING TITLE:Possumfeelsstreesed Possum: Our human friends, they’re all worried about COVID, and about the election, and about racism. Me, I’m worried about global climate change. I guess I’m just worried — and kind of stressed … Continue reading "Possum is stressed, part one"
As the years go by, I find I’m less interested in how famous or “important” Unitarian Universalists live their lives, and increasingly interested in the lives of ordinary Unitarians and Universalists. Maybe this is because I don’t know any important or famous Unitarian Universalists, but I’ve known lots of ordinary Unitarian Universalists. With that in … Continue reading "Ordinary Unitarians: Martha Ziegler"
The fourth and final installment of the Contestants on a Game Show! series:
Here’s the full script as written, though some parts got changed or left out during performance and editing:
Aarav: Last week, you guys invited me to play Celebrity Family Feud with you, so we could raise money for the congregation. But I don’t think we were actually on Celebrity Family Feud.
Emma: It was really more like a game show.
Sarah K.: And they called it “Celebrity Family FOOD.”
John: And it was all questions about famous Unitarian cooks. What was really going on?
Greg [or Dan, if Greg can’t make it]: Well, actually, you WERE on a game show. It was just a game show from a parallel universe. In that parallel universe, there IS a game show called “Celebrity Family FOOD.”
Sarah D.: You see, the two of us are actually Time Lords.
Greg: In our universe, we are called “Eternals.” Our job is to make sure that everything goes smoothly.
Sarah D.: But in your universe, you don’t have any Time Lords.
Greg: Except on television programs.
Sarah D.: Which means that lots of things go wrong in your universe.
Greg: Yes, in YOUR universe, you have pandemics, and racism, and people who don’t think science is real.
John: Wait a minute. You’re saying you’re from another universe?
Sarah D.: Yes. We’re from another universe.
Aarav: So we won all that money in another universe?
Greg: Yes. In OUR universe, your congregation won over a hundred thousand dollars.
Emma: You mean we can’t have any of that money?
Sarah D.: No, you can’t.
Sarah K.: That doesn’t seem fair.
Greg: It ISN’T fair. Unfortunately, there is a lot of unfairness in your universe.
John: Well, isn’t there a lot of unfairness in YOUR universe?
Sarah D.: No, there is NO unfairness in our universe.
Greg: Of course, there’s also no freedom in our universe.
Sarah D.: No freedom at all. You have to do what you’re told.
John: If we go to YOUR universe, we get the money, but we have to do whatever you say, right?
Sarah D.: That’s right.
Aarav: What if you tell us to do something we think is wrong?
Greg: Too bad. You have to do it anyway.
Aarav: That’s not fair.
Greg: Funny, it seems fair to me.
Sara K.: Thank you anyway, but I don’t think we want to go to your universe.
Greg: But that means you still won’t have enough money for your congregation. If you come to OUR universe, you can have all the money you want. Of course, you can’t be Unitarian Universalists, because we would tell you what religion you could be.
Emma: We’ll just have to raise the money ourselves. That way, we get to choose what religion we want to be.
Aarav: Besides, I think your way of doing things in unfair.
Sarah D.: It looks like we’re wasting our time here.
Greg: I agree. Let’s go back to our own universe.
[10 seconds of Greg smiling at the camera]
[10 seconds of Sarah D. smiling at the camera]
Sarah K.: I’ve often seen a person without a grin.
Emma: But a grin without a person! What an odd thing to see.
Aarav: Even though we lost all that money, I’m glad they’re gone.
John: Yes, I agree. Rather than having their money, I prefer the freedom to CHOOSE to do what WE think is right.
Over the past few months, I’ve been writing and producing videos nearly every week for the online worship services at the UU Church of Palo Alto. For my own reference, I just created blog posts for each of the videos I’ve done so far, including a still from the video, a link to the video on Youtube, and a full script. The posts are backdated to the Sunday on which the video appeared in the worship service.
WWUUD stream 
