“Sure, I know I sound like a reincarnation of a flower child, but really, do we have to be so crass during the Christmas season?” — Roland Martin

I’ve kept silent up until now regarding the apparent controversy of preferring “Happy Holidays” to wishing “Merry Christmas” to the odd passerby, choosing instead to grab a front-row seat to Bill O’Reilly’s yearly frothing about the “War on Christmas” and other such nonsense. Frankly, I find the phrase useful since I encounter many people from varied religious backgrounds on a daily basis, as we all do. For example, if I know someone is an observant pagan, Jew, Muslim, or Christian, I will tailor my greeting accordingly, but one can hardly feign such intimate knowledge of the random strangers we encounter; “Happy Holidays” both conveys the spirit of “Merry Christmas” while acknowledging the existence (and validity) of a great many other religious holidays occurring around the same time. Thus, I find that those who take issue with this greeting are themselves going out of their way to be offended — not the opposite.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 6:24 am under Religion, Atheism, UU, Social Issues, Pop Culture, Fightin' Words
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The Absolute works with nothing.
The workshop, the materials
are what does not exist.
Be a spot on the ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute.
– Rumi

Since my becoming unchurched, I have had some time to think about what speaks to me spiritually. And I’ve come to no conclusions whatsoever. What I have learned, however, is what I don’t like.

One of them is bad sermons.

Sadly, if you’re a Unitarian Universalist, unless you’re attending a church that has hired an amazing minister that always knows just what to say to draw people in, or keep people around, or whatever that congregation wants to do at the time, you’re pretty well guaranteed to get bad sermons at least half the time. And that’s if you’re lucky.
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Filed by Stephen at 6:53 pm under General, Religion, UU, The Arts, Fightin' Words
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…for there are those who find us wanting.

I Attend a Unitarian Universalist Service by D. J. McAdam

An enlightening article that I stumbled upon during my weekly crisis of faith.

Filed by Stephen at 8:35 am under Religion, UU
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“I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was: ‘My son did this to me.’ I begged her: You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: ‘I forgive my son.’ Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with a real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of the heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand.” — Mother Teresa.

As I sat on the train last Sunday, after a most wonderful and inspiring church service, I found myself with a lot of free time. Not having brought my headphones or even my laptop with me, I was simply sitting there taking in the scenery and decided to meditate.

A half hour later, I brought myself back to normal consciousness, and had the best day ever. I was calm, collected, had not a single sign of stress, and just generally — happy. So, I decided then and there that I was going to write about meditation for my Friday post.
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Filed by Stephen at 8:00 am under General, Religion, UU
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“We ought always to deal justly, not only with those who are just to us, but likewise to those who endeavor to injure us; and this, for fear lest by rendering them evil for evil, we should fall into the same vice.” — Hierocles

As winter sets in, I swear I slip further into darkness than I intend. I’ve been dreading the decreased sunlight and loss of Daylight Savings even as I look forward to the radiant colors of the leaves turning, nature’s last flare-out before it settles in for a long, dark, respite.

This, of course, gives me time to reflect on some of the darker topics, more specifically the problem of evil. Now, not to dwell too hard on what evil is, or what people consider evil, it’s important to note that this is one of the few concepts that is purely human, involves humans, and can only be perpetrated by them. I’m fairly certain that Mother Nature’s meddling in our lives is simply mindless destruction, whereas Uncle Sam’s meddling in our finances is pure, unadulterated, evil.
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Filed by Stephen at 8:42 pm under Religion, UU
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“I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.” — Albert Einstein

I grew up thinking everyone needed to go to church. Not just for community, not just for spiritual nourishment, but mainly to keep one from going to hell. Believe it or not, this was a viewpoint I held at least in some form until a little over a year ago — maybe even less. At that time, I was driving 110 miles round-trip to attend a Unitarian Universalist church in Orange County, dogged by the irrational fear that we were all headed straight for hell due to our collective non-belief. But I still went, perhaps out of some greater motivation to find just where all of this was leading, but more for the growing hope that I had been seriously misinformed. And soon, the vestiges of my rotted Christian outer layers fell like so many skin cells sloughed off our bodies. I finally began asking questions, getting into heated discussions, connecting the dots into my own original ideas; in short, I stopped accepting religious ideas wholesale. I had a wonderful place to belong, to give of myself — hence why leaving was so difficult for me.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 1:57 am under Religion, Atheism, UU
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I go through these weird cycles where I’ll get up at some ridiculous hour of the morning and, for lack of a better occupation at 2:30 a.m., stare at Homestar Runner and drink green tea for an hour or so before swiffering my floors for the umpteenth time. These are the days I enjoy the most, actually — the ones where I’ll look up from my work and notice it’s only 11:00 when it really feels like 5:00 in the afternoon. As I’m writing this, I still have a kitchen full of dishes left over from my birthday dinner, empty wine glasses on my table, and a disconcerting amount of dirty laundry that’s found its way to my living room; every so often the air fills with the sound of the clanks and thuds of the heaters kicking on all over the building. It may be free, but I doubt I’ll ever get used to the sound of the metal casings surrounding the radiators bowing and flexing as they heat up.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 5:59 am under Religion, Atheism, UU
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As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m moving to Chicago late next month to start up my studio, so I’ve been here in the city since Monday afternoon looking for a place to live. I managed to find a wonderful space not long into my search, so now I’m just waiting for my application and deposit check to go through. I’ve decided to break with tradition and suspend excitement until I sign the lease, but I do have a lovely (note: expensive) bottle of wine chilling in the fridge for when things become set in stone. Which I hope is fast approaching, cause waiting sucks. At any rate, I have the penultimate performance of that super-smash musical HATS to look forward to. Only the finest!

On Tuesday morning I’ll be leaving bright and early for the Tampa area — specifically Clearwater, home to the worldwide headquarters of Scientology, don’t you know — for the UUMN annual conference, something I’ve been looking forward to for some time if only because I’m being right posh and staying at the Hilton all week. I’ve been a UU for only a short time, so this is my first major function in the larger community; I’ll be performing Michael Colquhoun’s Charanga and On a Windswept Plain (one of my own pieces — both off my summer recital program), conducting two pieces on the Choral Reading Session, and presenting one of my choral works at the Composer’s Workshop. And with any luck the Scientologists won’t sneak into my hotel and kill me in my sleep.

Take care, kiddos.

Filed by Trevor at 7:25 pm under General, Shameless Plugs, UU, The Arts
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[NOTE: the purpose of this post was meant as a lead-in to a clip from Julia Sweeney’s (of SNL fame) one-woman show Letting Go of God, but it morphed into something else entirely. Nevertheless, I encourage you to have a listen, regardless of how you define your faith. As these past few months have seen considerable change in my religious worldview, it is a relief and comfort to me to hear echoes of my own struggles in her words; I’m interested to hear your opinions on it.]

It should come to no surprise to even casual readers of this website that I’ve been courting atheism for the past couple months; I’m finally at a point in my life where the last of my unchallenged religious beliefs are finally being held to light, one by one, and examined closely for what they truly are. It’s heartbreaking in a way, really, because I was raised to genuinely love Christ and God the Father, and even now as I write this I can still see past the haze of fundamentalist nut-cases to the heart of Jesus’ message. A message, frankly, that I’ve seen made manifest far more sincerely through my participation in a church that doesn’t claim to worship him at all than all my years in the Nazarene faith.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Trevor at 1:38 am under Religion, Atheism, UU
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God is not irrelevant,
only Hell;
Faith is not irrelevant,
only Fear.

There is only Joy.

Struggle is not irrelevant
(for we must reclaim that which should never need reclaiming)
only Complacency.

There is only Truth.

Pray, hide not your hate
behind holy words.
Expose it to air –
let us all bear witness,
for Morality is never irrelevant,
only Dogma.

There is only Peace –
like a river,
fed by its tributaries.

For we each owe a debt to o(urselves)ne another,
and from this there is no escape.
So spare us your lies,
for Reason is never irrelevant –
only God.

There is only Mercy.

Alleluia.

There is only Mercy;
there is always Grace.

Filed by Trevor at 11:45 pm under Religion, UU, Fightin' Words
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