Hey UU Sub,

I think there is an answer out there but have not had to deal with this before. This is not a new issue for me but I continue, increasingly, to feel that I'm going to be moving on from my current UU church in the near future. It has never been a friendly place (even when we first attended 15+ years ago then then-minister used to talk about how ignoring "new" people at coffee hour - sometimes for years - was self-sabotaging for a congregation) and there is a more promising UU church in driving distance, and also a very liberal Episcopal church that I feel much more affinity with (though I'm not religious) - they actually DO things for others instead of arguing and talking about what they might do, later. Life is short, I'm moving on.

I cannot pledge much, every, but I do pledge and make my payments out of responsibility. What do we do when we move churches or denominations? I have never heard this addressed. I know that my present UU church is totally cash strapped (and was before the pandemic for systemic reasons) but if I make a formal change I'd like to support the new place.

Thanks!

SOUL:

The word "soul" or "souls" in Hebrew is "nephesh", which the Bible "The King James Version" also translates into "breath", "life", "lives" "person", "persons", "creature", etc.

The Greek word from which the word "soul" or "souls" is translated is "psuche", which the Bible "The King James Version" also translates into "life", "lives", "heart", etc.

In Genesis 2:7, the creation of man is described, who was given existence when the divine spark of life was injected into a body formed from the dust of the ground. A a new soul comes into existence whenever a living being is born (human or animal), each "soul" being a new unit of life uniquely different, and separate, from other similar units. This quality of individuality in each living being, which constitutes it a unique entity, seems to be the idea emphasized by the Hebrew term "nephesh". When used in this sense nephesh is not a part of the person; it is the person, and in fact, sometimes it is translated as "creature" (Genesis 9:15; Leviticus 11:46; Genesis 1:21 – The King James Version), "person" or "persons" (Numbers 5:6; Numbers 31:19; Genesis 36:6 – The King James Version), or "self" (Isaiah 46:2 – The King James Version). On the other hand, expressions such as "my soul," "your soul," "his soul," etc., are generally idioms for the personal pronouns "I," "me," "you," "he," etc. (Genesis 12:13; Leviticus 11:43; Joshua 23:11; Psalms 3:2; Jeremiah 37:9 – The King James Version). The word "nephesh" is translated into "life" or "lives" (Genesis 9:4; Genesis 9:5; 1 Samuel 19:5; Job 2:4; Psalms 31:13; Joshua 2:13 – The King James Version). Sometimes "nephesh" is translated into "appetite" (Proverbs 23:2; Ecclesiastes 6:7 – The King James Version), and sometimes it refers to the seat of the affections (Genesis 34:3; Song of Solomon 1:7 – The King James Version) . The word "nephesh" is also translated in "dead" (Numbers 5:2 – The King James Version). The dead refers to the corpse.

The word "nephesh" refers to the soul of God, precisely because even God and the angels are souls. One verse we can consider in the Old Testament is Isaiah 42:1, which says:

"Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations" (Isaiah 42:1).

These are some translations (among others) of "nephesh" in the Old Testament.

The use of the Greek word "psuche" in the New Testament is similar to that of the Hebrew word "nephesh" in the Old Testament. It is used of human life as well as animal life (1 Peter 3:20; Revelation 16:3 – The King James Version). In some instances it is used to mean simply "person" or "persons" (Romans 13:1; Acts 7:14 – The King James Version). Mark 14:34 says that the soul of Jesus was sorrowful; in this case it refers to feelings. Also in the New Testament we can find the verse relative to Isaiah 42:1 which uses the word "psuche" to refer to the soul of God:

"17 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: 18 "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles" (Matthew 12:17-18).

These are some translations (among others) of "psuche" in the New Testament.

The idea that a "soul" can have sentient existence apart from the body, or that it possesses an immortal essence, is foreign to the Bible. The soul is not a conscious and immortal entity that survives the body after death. In fact, the New Testament teaches that the soul (psuche) is destroyed along with the body in the symbolic Gehenna (Matthew 10:28).

SPIRIT:

The word "spirit" in Hebrew is "ruwach", which the Bible "The King James Version" also translates into "air", "wind", "winds", "breath", "spirits", etc.

The Greek word from which the word "spirit" is translated is "pneuma", which the Bible "The King James Version" also translates into "wind", "winds", "breath", "spirits", etc.

The divine energy, or life principle, that animates living beings. Whereas the Hebrew word nephesh (soul) denotes individuality, or personality "ruwach" (spirit) refers to the energizing spark of life essential to individual existence. It is also used to denote vitality (Judges 15:19), courage (Joshua 2:11) and anger (Judges 8:3). Animals also have the spirit (Ecclesiastes 3:19; Ecclesiastes 3:21). "Ruwach" is frequently used for the Spirit of God (Psalms 51:11; Isaiah 63:10).

These are some translations (among others) of "ruwach" in the Old Testament.

Also in the New Testament the Greek "pneuma" is used to indicate meekness (1 Corinthians 4:21), fear (2 Timothy 1:7) and the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 4:30). Note that the Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity, and is therefore God.

In the Bible the term "spirit" is also used to refer to God and angels (good and bad) in the sense that they themselves are spirits (2 Corinthians 3:17; Hebrews 1:13-14; Mark 1:23-26; Luke 8:26-30).

These are some translations (among others) of "pneuma" in the New Testament.

Never in the Bible, with respect to man, do "ruwach" and "pneuma" denote an intelligent entity capable of sentient existence apart from a physical body. Note that the phrase "the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" in Ecclesiastes 12:7 does not mean, as mentioned before, that the spirit is a sentient entity that lives apart from a physical body. This verse denotes the fact that it is in God's power to breathe again the spirit (Genesis 2:7) into the bodies of the resurrected persons in the resurrection of the just and in the resurrection of the unjust.

Okay, lets cut the crap. What if I don't agree with everything I see and hear in the media right now? What is really going on? I have been to a UU church in my area on and off for a few years. And it has increasingly felt...... I don't know. Wrong. At least wrong for me. I just don't connect with most of the people there. In fact I am even scared to try to start a conversation with most of them. Something I say will be wrong, will be a trigger, or be politically incorrect, or a micro aggression or whatever.

And also, many of those people make more money than I do and have a higher education than me. So that is part of why I feel like I don't fit in. And reading what they say and share on social media just makes me feel like I can't truly talk to these people. And if I did would they try to have me fired from my job? Or even harrassed by the police. Okay, maybe I'm getting a little paranoid here.

I believe that all lives matter. However I am starting to understand that this is not always the proper thing to say. I am a straight white male and it seems to me that it is other straight white people that get the most angry and vicious when someone expresses something other than what they have been told by the media to believe.

So are these people insecure? Are they putting up a front? Are they doing it just to make themselves look better? Is it for politcal or economic reasons? I don't know. I went to the UU church because I believe in freedom, justice for all, and respect for each other and the world that we live in.

Should all UU churches have a sign at the front door saying that there is a minimum income requirement, or education level, or political affiliation?

Like I said, I don't feel like I fit in there and now I wonder if I am even safe being there.

I noticed a mention in the discussion of that UUnderstanding subreddit of some UUs who want to be one or the other. This is the larger and more mainstream sub so I'd like to ask - how common is this?

Asking because I've rejoined my local UU church after going either nowhere, or to an Episcopal Church (gorgeous music and language, good values, too bad they really expect you to believe things I don't believe), for a while. There is a lot that I like about our new minister but there are two things I'm wary about - 1) stridency (a "sit down and shut up, this is what we're doing" attitude maybe too often) and 2) repeated comments about how awful the Unitarians were because they were privileged and white and rational and not favoring emotional and "spiritual" services and...eh....I like a lot of the classical Unitarians. I really liked a past minister at that church who was very "Unitarian" (a brilliant thinker and speaker and not terribly emotional/squishy). Do I get off this train (or maybe they'll push me off later)?

I'm not sure how this church and new minster combo is going to fare long term (especially since the entrenched members all appear to be over 75 or 80...). Wondering if I have noticed an unusual thing or a currently common thing.

So I’ve attended UU services before (and loved it), but never got deeply involved or joined because of my involvement in other communities. After a lot of self introspection though, I realised that being apart of the UU community would be best for me, since I’m able to bring my whole self (my Sikh practice and my secular thinking) to the table.

That being said, I am an introvert and can sometimes be shy. What general advice would you have for me in order to connect with those within a congregation? For those who consider themselves introverts, what has been your experience? Thank you in advance for your help.

P.S. I’m also a young person and African American (if that information is useful to know). And yes, I’m already aware of the resources provided for those two groups. But I’m focusing more on UUs at the local, individual level (not the national level)

Imagine a society in which there were no expensive church buildings, or if there were then the few remaining ones were only used occasionally for holidays? What would that society be like? People worshipped via television or the internet, not by going to a building once a week?

We UUs already have a internet based church: https://www.questformeaning.org/clfuu/

So what if 100 years from now that was all we had left?

I just wrote an arrangement of “Spirit of Life” and I’m now looking for more suggestions of what to write

https://www.uusc.org/uusc-statement-in-response-to-recent-conflict-with-iran/

By UUSC Staff on January 7, 2020

We are saddened and outraged by the Trump administration’s decision on January 3, 2020 to order the killing by remote weapon of Iranian Major General Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad, Iraq. We acknowledge and condemn Suleimani’s prior role in stoking violence in the region. Nevertheless, wrongful actions by one party to a conflict can never justify violations of human rights and the laws of war by other parties.

By assassinating a high-ranking Iranian military leader, the U.S. government has gravely escalated conflict in the region. The Trump administration has also carried out a targeted killing without authorization from Congress, a judicial proceeding, or a formal declaration of war. We condemn this direct violation of international laws prohibiting extrajudicial killing—laws the United States expects other nations to abide by, but flagrantly ignores when it’s politically expedient.

We are devastated at the prospect of more violence—the prospect of war, the likelihood of increased Islamophobia within our own nation, and the inevitability of more people displaced by powerful interests acting without regard to human dignity and human rights.

The actions of the Trump administration and its threats toward Iran and toward Iranian Americans are a threat to all of us. The horrifying rhetoric we’re hearing from the White House about targeting cultural sites suggests not only a violation of international law, but a blatant attempt to create panic, division, and further violence.

We are deeply concerned as well by reports that in recent days, U.S. border officials have singled out people of Iranian heritage for aggressive scrutiny while traveling. Such actions are discriminatory and in direct violation of the human right to fair and equal treatment.

UUSC, founded 80 years ago as the Holocaust began, has consistently advocated for domestic leadership that prioritizes diplomacy and mutual cooperation for the preservation of communities and the prevention of violence.

At the start of a new decade and in this year of important national elections in the United States, UUSC calls on the country’s leaders to uphold international law, use diplomacy rather than violence, stop fueling fear and hatred of Muslims, and work collaboratively to address international points of contention.

In the shadow of an administration that has consistently shown indifference to the US historic commitments to human rights at home and abroad, UUSC and its members reaffirm our commitment to advance human rights and observe and respect the inherent dignity of all, regardless of nationality, religion, race, or creed.

Today, we call on people of faith and people of conscience to commit to solidarity with communities at risk of increased violence and to flank those who may fall victim to ignorance, bigotry, and inflammatory rhetoric. In particular, we invite communities of faith to use these resources to learn about the detrimental impacts of Islamophobia and how to best douse the fire of hatred with the nurturing balm of love, understanding, and acceptance.

What is the difference between Quakerism and UU? How different are these two churches?

Hello. My name is Jasmine and I’m 21. Like the title says, I’m looking to see if there are any groups in the Austin area specifically for UU Humanists. There are plenty of groups for Humanists in general here, but I was wondering if there are any for those involved in UU?

Also (a little bit off topic), what are the benefits for having a membership with UUHA?

Thanks

Stumbled across this surfing and found it interesting. Given the background in the generation of the piece (short time line, author not having time to do the background research she wanted, decisions by the editors, etc) it’s no wonder it became such a fiasco. Poor author was practically set up to fall on her face. Poor form on the part of the editors and staff at UUWorld it seems

black spark

I have been to churches like UU and the Unity church and also a Religious Science group. Spiritually I liked all these places but I had problems talking to people, at least about certain topics. Maybe I have not the right people yet, or people that I am compatible with. I don't know.

My question is about self defense. Every person I have tried to talk to about self defense gets upset very quickly and tries to stop me and say stuff like "peace, love, think only nice thoughts" and so on. So, are people in liberal religions required to be pacifists? If so no one told me. Are any of us allowed to own a gun? If someone punches me can I punch them back? These may seem like childish questions to some people but I have not been able to have a real conversation with anyone at my local liberal churches about topics like this. I am not trying to cause trouble or upset anyone. But I have issues and concerns like this that I feel are not being met.

Please read the 4 Gospels, Listen to, Believe and do your best to Obey everything JESUS Said to be a Christian = a disciple of Jesus Christ! e.g.

“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. Luke 14:33.

“Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. Luke 12:33.

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Mat. 6:24.

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Mark 16:15.

no one has to and should not work for money or the food that perishes, but for God. God provides for everyone who work for Him. This way we can also survive the Mark of the Beast and Great Tribulation times. This is called "Living by Faith".

Please do NOT take the Mark of the Beast ever! please read Revelation 13 and just in case Revelation 22

Document with related information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_foDpYGVJc

All free and very useful resources: truthseeking.co.uk / check at least "freesources" and "articles".

Youtube playlist, about The Teachings of Jesus: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSWJU8S4WD3gulrFr5tELMJUP7n_2H3mS

How to get victory over sexual sin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1c-Km32ZpEQ

Works + Grace + Harmony 3 video playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSWJU8S4WD3jM6iESK-IKSBkNwhtWudKY

Please share this message with everyone possibly interested everywhere, Thanks! Love and Peace.

GOD Truly LOVES us and Wants to SAVE us all! if anyone hears this, please, answer to God's call in The Teachings of Jesus. <3

I have been going to a UU church for a few years and at first I thought it was great. Now I'm not sure I fit in or even belong there. Most people there have a higher education and make more money than I do. I am an introverted person and do not connect easily with people. I have a little bit with a few people there. But here in 2019 with our society so crazy and divided by politics and social issues, I feel like I don't have anywhere to go or anyone to really talk to about what I really believe. Maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough to be in a UU church? Stuff I have shared on social media has mostly been ignored by the people at church, except one time when a few of them were pissed at something I shared. I rarely go nowdays, maybe once a month.

Has anyone here ever had dealings with the UU church in Berlin, Germany? I have considered going, but there is very little info available about it.

Our Discord welcomes all religions, faiths and beliefs.

All our current members are from various backgrounds:

Atheists. Agnostics. Protestants. Catholics. Orthdox Christians. Jews. Hindus. Jehovas Witness. Buddhists. Laveyans. Sikhs. Shinto. Mormons. Taoism.

And many more.

All our members get on extremely well, we are argument free and everyone shares fantastic knowledge and have great debates.

Our purpose is to help you understand more about all faiths and beliefs.

If you have a faith, then this is a great way to further your knowledge and speak to like minded people.

If you don't have a faith and want to learn, then there are a bunch of people on hand to give you information, across various beliefs.

If you just want to share your experience in a faith, good or bad, you are welcome to come discuss this.

Our only rules are to -

Respect peoples beliefs. Don't push your faith onto others, you are welcome to debate differences but, refrain from forcing on others. No arguments about faiths or anything else, debates are welcome though.

What is UU’s take on Jesus Christ and the Bible?

Has the UUA board or president made any official statement about Rev Eklof’s book: The Gadfly Papers? Or the nuclear reaction to it? Or has the UUMA? Thx

https://youtu.be/PHLvBsiIVo4

Given the interesting discussion about the UUA and UUism's turn away from a spiritual group/society into a matching and chowder society, there had come up a question as to whether this could mean the death of UUism.

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Funny enough, there are metrics for that, heck the UUA is reporting those metrics on the regular as a part of their "Healthy and vital UU community" end on their "dashboard"!

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As we all know, membership has been declining for years, with the peak being a little more than 177,000 members in 1968, a nadir of ~135,500 in 1982, and then a second peak in 2009 when there were ~164,500 members. But what about the "Trump Bump", when distraught people sought out like minded people in faith communities to make sense of a world that elected Drumpf to office? Well that totally didn't materialize into growth, in fact between 2016 and 2017 membership DROPPED by ~1,400 members, or a little less than 1%.

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Meanwhile, over the last 5 years (2015 to 2019, inclusive) membership is down 1,916 or 1.2%. And yet, that is not the most troubling statistic. Steadily losing 1% over 5 years isn't going to be the death of a group on its own.

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But, failing to grow or attract new people? Yeah that can be a problem; one that can become a major one. From UUA's own reporting, from 2015 to 2019 Religious Education Enrollment declined from 47,623 to 38,116, that's over 9,500 children who no longer participate in the RE programs, a drop of 20% over 5 years. The 15-year attrition rate is even worse with a reduction of 23,606 or 38%. To put this into perspective, if the RE programs lose the same amount of kids this year that they lost between 2018-19, then they will be at their lowest count since 1981, and really the lowest ever since we started tracking this data in 1960-61.

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Well what about our "non-member friends"? These are the people that donate financially, but aren't members; or attend on the regular, but don't become members; or whose children they send to RE, but aren't members; or those who participate in outreach programs put on by the congregation; etc. Those numbers are even worse. From 2015 to 2016 there was is a massive drop from 191,876 to 99,529. A drop that big usually indicates either changing how you quantify a metric or a giant purge/reorientation of data, so that would be the type of thing one might discount.

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But, even if you use the 2016 number and compare to the 2019 number, the drop off in non-member friends has been precipitous with a loss of 26,611 from 2016 to 2019, a decline of 27% of non-member friends in just 4 years. If you want to use that 2015 number as a legitimate starting point, then you're talking a 5-year loss of 118,958 people, a drop of 62%!

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Non-member friends and children participating in RE are the future of UUism... and their numbers are declining rapidly. And that's how a organization or group dies, the future potential members and generations walk away to the point where you become irrelevant.

I’m curious about the process thro which rev Eklof’s book “the gadfly papers” came to be banned. Who was consulted? Who decided? Who decided to confiscate the books? And then how the ban came to be recinded: when did that happen? Who was consulted? Who decided! Who decided to return the books that had been taken from the booth? Thanks.

Here is an article you might be interested in. this is the abstract, and you can click on the link to read the whole thing.

Is the “White Supremacy Culture” Paradigm a Useful Strategy for Anti-Racist / Anti-Oppression Social Justice Work?[1]

By Anne L. Schneider, PhD[2]

June 25, 2019.

Abstract: This essay is a critique of the Jones / Okun (J/O) paradigm of White Supremacy Culture (WSC) and of its use as an anti-racist anti-oppression strategy. The article describes the WSC paradigm as articulated by Jones and Okun and how it has come to be used by the Unitarian Universalist Association as the center piece of its anti-racist / anti-oppression training. The paradigm may be spreading far more widely as indicated recently by its use in the New York City Department of Education implicit bias training. The critique emphasizes the lack of empirical evidence and lack of logical connections between what J/O claim are the 13 elements of the White Supremacy Culture paradigm and the continuing racial inequality exhibited in the United States across almost all quality-of-life-indicators. The essay describes how Unitarian Universalist leadership (and many members) embraced this framework, and the reaction against it by UUs and others. The essay concludes with the dangers of progressive / liberal people and groups adopting illiberal strategies including the use of words like “white supremacy” to describe liberal and progressive organizations that do not hold beliefs or practices that portray the white race as superior to other races.

[1] Link to this article, pdf, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ibp-h6bLYllUSjV7qcNg9hPLA8EDoY96/view?usp=sharing

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[2] Anne L. Schneider is a retired political science professor and former Dean of the College of Public Programs at Arizona State University. She previously held faculty positions at Yale University and Oklahoma State University and is the author of “Policy Design for Democracy,” and “Deserving and Entitled: Social Constructions and Public Policy,” as well as other articles and books. She is a member of the Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation, one of the congregations where the “White Supremacy Culture” essay and its anti-racist strategies were first introduced and largely rejected.

https://www.reddit.com/user/schne71295/draft/ce74fa58-9764-11e9-b885-0e7170e17818

I don’t want this to seem like a super inspirational type of post. I just want to say that I went to a UU church today for the first time. Before the service even began I was in tears. That’s because I saw a lot of children who were playing and happy and clearly expressing themselves and all the adults were very encouraging, kind. I never had this experience growing up. I never had a place where I could express my gender identity and be comfortable with my sexual orientation. I never had parents who would take me to a place so accepting or at least somewhere where I could be happy like these kids were. I guess I never even had a super close community or super close friends and did a lot of stuff alone. My parents were always too busy to take care of me or leaving me with babysitters and so I never experienced this genuine investment where parents would take their kids to a place like this that is so accepting. Sorry I really don’t mean to start up some pity party, I just listed this as reasons why this situation might’ve affected me so much.

I see these kids and they are clearly being supported and in an environment where they can do what they wish or at least ask questions about their sexual orientation or gender identity as they grow older. They are happy and even actively participated in the service. Naturally I felt jealous and even cheated as I never got this opportunity and always felt so alone.

But in the end the tears came because I’m just happy that they get a community or place to grow up and be at where all are celebrated.

The UU church has good values and a good environment. I will be returning in the future. Thank you

Is the proposed 8th principle going to be discussed at the 2019 GA in Seattle? I cant find it on the program schedule.

Thanks. Anne