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Spirit World: Unitarian convention supports lots of love
Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 7/03/04 | Peggy Fletcher Stack

Posted on 07/16/2004 2:37:01 PM PDT by swilhelm73

Spirit World: Unitarian convention supports lots of love

Compiled by Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune

Some 4,700 people attended this year's Unitarian Universalist Association's annual convention in Long Beach, Calif. Gay marriage was strongly endorsed by representatives of the 225,000-member, Boston-based religious organization. Delegates also flocked to two workshops on polyamory, the controversial notion it is morally acceptable to have multiple love partners. "Say yes to the transforming power of love," said Doug Walters of Portland, Ore., one of four polyamorists leading the workshops. "Is it safe to be openly supportive of polyamory in your congregation?" -- Religion News Service

Swedish Pentecostal guilty of incitement

A Swedish court has sentenced a pastor belonging to the Pentecostal movement in Sweden, Ake Green, to a month in prison, under a law against incitement, after he was found guilty of having offended homosexuals in a 2003 sermon. Green had described homosexuality as "abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society." Soren Andersson, the president of the Swedish federation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights (RFSL), said on hearing Green's jail sentence that religious freedom could never be used as a reason to offend people. -- Ecumenical News International -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement

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Pope preaches conformity

Pope John Paul II told visiting American bishops that U.S. church institutions -- universities, schools and hospitals -- must be "genuinely Catholic" and conform to official teaching on "respect for human life, marriage and family and the right ordering of public life." John Paul told bishops from Oregon, Washington and Alaska that it was of "utmost importance" that Catholic institutions remain "Catholic in their self-understanding and Catholic in their identity." He said all those working at such institutions, including non-Catholics, "should show a sincere and respectful appreciation of that mission." Colleges "are called to offer an institutional witness of fidelity to Christ and to his word as it comes to us from the church," he said. Health care facilities need firm policies "in complete conformity with the church's moral teaching," he added. -- The Associated Press

African thumb piano catches on

A traditional musical instrument commonly associated with ancestor worship in some African ethnic groups is gaining popularity in Zimbabwe's Christian churches among gospel musicians who use it in praise and worship music. So popular is the mbira -- or the thumb piano as it is known to western musicologists -- that one musical band which experimented by recording a praise song with mbira instrumentals last year earned a place in the pop charts on local radio. -- Ecumenical News International


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: religiousleft; unitarians

1 posted on 07/16/2004 2:37:01 PM PDT by swilhelm73
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To: swilhelm73

A number of years ago I attended the Unitarian Church in New Orleans. The only time that I ever heard the name of The Lord mentioned was once when the janitor slipped going down the basement stairs.


2 posted on 07/16/2004 2:55:43 PM PDT by curmudgeonII
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To: swilhelm73

"Our God is a vengeful god, Oh vengeful God tell me who to smite and they will be smoten."
-Homer Simpson.


3 posted on 07/16/2004 2:57:53 PM PDT by Mike1973
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To: swilhelm73
Q: What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness?

A: Somebody who knocks on your door for no apparent reason.

4 posted on 07/16/2004 2:57:57 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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To: swilhelm73

They have gone to the extreme left. Once upon a time they believed in God. Now they believe in all kinds of gods.


5 posted on 07/16/2004 2:58:06 PM PDT by ChiMark
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To: AnAmericanMother

LOL!


6 posted on 07/16/2004 3:05:40 PM PDT by mombonn (¡Viva Bush/Cheney!)
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To: curmudgeonII
I attended a Unitarian church for a while some years ago. One Sunday the service was devoted to children, and one of the "scriptural" readings was from the first Harry Potter book (the scene where Harry picks his wand). Another Sunday I was treated to a sermon about a beautiful tree that lived in the forest, providing nourishment and shelter to many creatures, but then it fell and it still provided nourishment for fungi and beetles. It became clear that the preacher did not believe in any afterlife. At the time, I wasn't very interested in Christianity, but I wasn't interested in a content-free religion either. So I left. (I'm now a member of a conservative Episcopalian parish.)
7 posted on 07/16/2004 3:07:19 PM PDT by megatherium
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To: AnAmericanMother
Q: What is a Unitarian hate crime?

A: You burn a question mark in someone's yard.

8 posted on 07/16/2004 3:08:46 PM PDT by megatherium
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To: AnAmericanMother

Best laugh I've had all day!


9 posted on 07/16/2004 3:17:30 PM PDT by Gummi Bear
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To: megatherium
I like it!

To be serious for a moment, I know two Unitarian families. In one, the father was a frank atheist, the mother an agnostic. In the other, the father was Jewish, the mother Catholic, and they compromised on UU.

These families don't know each other, but in BOTH cases the daughter became a Pagan priestess.

After all, if your parents are UU, how else are you going to rebel?

10 posted on 07/16/2004 3:41:17 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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To: megatherium
(I'm now a member of a conservative Episcopalian parish.)

I'm glad to hear that there still are a few of you around.

11 posted on 07/16/2004 3:54:10 PM PDT by curmudgeonII
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To: swilhelm73

I remember hearing about Cleveland Amory, but never knew his wife Polly was Unitarian...


12 posted on 07/16/2004 4:46:36 PM PDT by mikrofon ("Those who stand for nothing fall for anything" ~A. Hamilton)
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To: AnAmericanMother
After all, if your parents are UU, how else are you going to rebel?

My parents are UU, and I rebelled by becoming a Conservative.

13 posted on 07/16/2004 4:49:26 PM PDT by BullDog108 (Know Your Enemy! http://bvml.org/webmaster/enemy.html)
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To: BullDog108
Good for you.

Actually, one of these ladies IS a conservative Wiccan. She's strongly pro-2nd Amendment.

The other one lives in Boston and is a total liberal loon.

14 posted on 07/16/2004 4:52:09 PM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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To: swilhelm73

Polyamorist ? One is enough and sometimes too much. Thanks for the laugh.


15 posted on 07/16/2004 5:06:41 PM PDT by fuzzycat
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To: BullDog108

My parents are UU, and I rebelled by becoming a Conservative.



I was raised a "strict" Unitarian (just kidding, it was actually the church we "didn't attend".) It took me a while to become a conservative, and longer (ongoing) to become a Christian.

Does Unitariamism claim to be a Christian religion?


16 posted on 07/16/2004 5:17:29 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your Friendly Freeper Patent Attorney)
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To: AnAmericanMother

AnAmericanMother wrote:

Q: What do you get when you cross a Unitarian with a Jehovah's Witness?

A: Somebody who knocks on your door for no apparent reason.





LOL!

Hey!

Wanna be on my 4-H ping list? Gimme a holler if so!


17 posted on 07/16/2004 5:34:01 PM PDT by tiamat ("Just a Bronze-Age Gal, Trapped in a Techno-World!")
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To: Beelzebubba
Does Unitariamism claim to be a Christian religion?

Good question. I believe it claims to incorporate some Christian beliefs, but it has lots of other stuff (Buddhist, etc) it embraces.

18 posted on 07/16/2004 10:05:21 PM PDT by BullDog108 (Know Your Enemy! http://bvml.org/webmaster/enemy.html)
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