UUs only: I have a dream (Buddhism, church, experience, scriptures)

[lilithu]

I have a dream... and that is to build a website that is both a one stop resource for UUs and a way to reach out to religious liberals who might be UUs and not yet know it.

Yes, I know that there is the UUA website. And I love the new look and the long overdue revamp. But it can't hurt to have more voices shouting out there in the wilderness.

I have a dream and I need your help. HELP!!

What I envision is information divided into sections based on what I believe to be the major components of Unitarian Universalism. (It would be interesting to know how your vision of UU differs from mine.) They are:
1) UU specific content, such as UU history, theology, our hymnal, etc.
2) resources from the world's other religions, such as scriptures, stories, prayers from Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Paganism, Taoism, etc.
3) information on social justice as seen from a UU perspective
4) discussion forums (I believe that the UUA shut theirs down)
5) possibly a wiki, depending upon whether others think it's a good idea and also on whether I can figure out how to make one work.

If anyone wants to write op-eds from a UU perspective that would be good too.

I can't possibly do it alone. So I am asking you, dear Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist sisters and brothers, whether you have any interest in any of these sections (or have other suggestions) and are willing to help compile information. And also, more importantly it seems, help me figure out how to organize such information.

Thanks.

[Davidium]

Lillithu,

Ok, it is late at night, and Sandy is not looking over my shoulder....

I would be willing to provide a few pieces to such a site, and even to write some on-demand peices and to invite such writings from my fellow UU Seminarians. I could not do any of the administrative functions, but I have long thought such a site would be a wonderful idea.

You know I dont do forums all that much anymore, but just shoot me an email and we will talk about it. Use the email address through www.celestiallands.com

I may already have a few essays that would work for you.

Yours in faith,

David

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Davidium

Lillithu,

Ok, it is late at night, and Sandy is not looking over my shoulder....

I would be willing to provide a few pieces to such a site, and even to write some on-demand peices and to invite such writings from my fellow UU Seminarians. I could not do any of the administrative functions, but I have long thought such a site would be a wonderful idea.

You know I dont do forums all that much anymore, but just shoot me an email and we will talk about it. Use the email address through www.celestiallands.com

I may already have a few essays that would work for you.

Yours in faith,

David

DAVID!! So good to hear from you!!

I will definitely email you and we can talk more. Do you have any other suggestions for what should go on this site? I'm having a hard time determining what to present that would both fit my interests and also best compliment existing UU sites (instead of re-inventing the wheel, as UUs are wont to do).

Will you be at GA this year?

[Davidium]

Unfortunately, I will not be at General Assembly this year...

I will be at the U.S. Army Chaplain's Officers Basic Leadership Course, at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina all summer. I will be doing pushups and running, but also taking coursework in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Military Family Ministry, Military Ethics, and all kinds of such things.

Next year, I will be the Intern Minister at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, IL.

I left a post on some of this in the thread that Wandered Off started (and emailed me about) somewhere else here on RF based on an old short piece I wrote.

As to the site... I will give it some thought. I have been doing alot of work recently with non-UU's who are interested in liberal religious thought through my ministry at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, and the chapel homilies we are writing for that ministry all center around core UU ideas and values. It has been interesting gaining experience in speaking to a congregation that is not UU about Unitarian Universalism. Some of that experience may be what you are looking for.

I will also mention it to a couple of "evangelical leaning" first year seminary students that I know. You might even be able to hook up with a few of them at GA and get thoughts and ideas... and enlist them.

One of the interesting things about seminary is that, though you are very busy, it is one of the last times in your ministerial career that you are completely free in what you say and how you choose your activist work... because it is one of the last times that you will not be responsible either to a church board or an employer of some kind.

And, UU Seminarians are immersed in Unitarian Universalism in ways no one else ever is outside of 25 Beacon Street...

So, in short... We'll talk....



Yours in Faith,

David

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Davidium

I will be at the U.S. Army Chaplain's Officers Basic Leadership Course, at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina all summer. I will be doing pushups and running, but also taking coursework in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Military Family Ministry, Military Ethics, and all kinds of such things.

Thank God.

Originally Posted by Davidium

Next year, I will be the Intern Minister at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, IL.

I'm sure that you will then get to know a good friend of mine, Rose, who was a member of All Souls but recently moved back to Evanston.

Originally Posted by Davidium

And, UU Seminarians are immersed in Unitarian Universalism in ways no one else ever is outside of 25 Beacon Street...

I would love to get input from seminarians. Like you said, you guys are more immersed in UU than anyone else.

I also want to make sure tho that other voices are represented. One thing that I've noticed, as a fully immersed UU who is not a minister, is that ministers are privileged within UU to an extent that I think exceeds even the Protestant Christian denominations. For a religion that claims to be non-hierarchical, we are rather hierarchical. Actually, it's for this reason that I was considering pursuing an M.Div. even tho I have no desire to be a minister. Tho my boss just informed me that I could possibly be ordained without an M.Div, with just a masters in religious studies. I'll be looking into that at GA.

But I digress... I just want to make sure that the site is balanced between clergy and laity.

As you said, we'll talk.

(Great piece btw, the one that Wandered_Off posted.)

[hartlandcat]

Originally Posted by lilithu

I have a dream... and that is to build a website that is both a one stop resource for UUs and a way to reach out to religious liberals who might be UUs and not yet know it.

It sounds absolutely great — I'm really excited and enthusiastic about this already!

I have a dream and I need your help. HELP!!

Well, I'll volunteer to help you in any way I can!

Although it no longer exists, I ran a fairly successful website and forum for five years (about Sylvanian Families and Calico Critters, if that means anything to you), so I have experience in the field of web development. So, I'd of course be willing to help with creating content, with the organisation of the website, and with the forum (I kind of miss being involved with a website and had actually contemplated starting something along these lines myself).

I know I've spoken to you before on here, but I'll mention again that I'm British (currently live in England; moving to Scotland in September) — I don't know whether that would be an advantage, a disadvantage, or completely neutral/irrelevant in any help I could give you. — Especially as I presume that most users of this future website would be from the United States.

Anyway, all I can say is that I'm determined for this website to take off!

[Green Gaia]

David, it's good to see again, friend!

Lilithu, I would love to help you, but I'm not a good writer. But if there is anything I can help with, let me know. I would love to help spread our good news.

[lilithu]

Amy and HartlandCat, I'm so glad to hear from you!

I realize that people are really busy and that not everyone checks these forums everyday, but when several days went by with no response, I was beginning to think that I was on my own in this endeavor.

Amy, you do not have to write well to contribute. My bet is that there is no shortage of UUs who have opinions on things and want to write about them. (Myself included.) One thing that has long impressed me about what you do on the UU forums is that you find relevant articles, resources, etc. and share them with us. I see that as a very necessary contribution.

HartlandCat, yes, I remember that you are in Great Britain. I must admit that I am a typical American in that I tend to be too self-centered on the U.S. (and Canada, I have learned to remember Canada when thinking of UU). But if I am sincere in my desire to grow and strengthen UU, then one of the things I must keep in mind is our sister congregations outside of North America. I think your perspective would be invaluable, if you don't mind having to kick me in the pants every now and then. I will try to be better.

To you both, the immediate task at hand is to define what kind of resources we would like to present and how to organize them. If you don't mind, I would prefer that this conversation be done in the forums of my website, so that we will have an easily accessible record of it. I am not trying to replace the UU forum here. One of the great advantages of the UU forum here is that it is ultimately connected with the other forums and we get a great exchange and a lot more exposure than we would if it were just UU. But I do think that there are conversations that might be better had in a UU specific forum. (Des, if you happen to be reading this, please know that I consider you to be included if you are interested. Not trying to recruit you, just want you to know that you are not excluded.)

the url is:
http://www.wizdum.net/?q=forum

(Amy, you already have an account on this forum. The system sent you an email with your temporary password. Or I can PM you with it.)

Please know that I really want this to be a collaborative effort, so if you have suggestions/desires, throw them at me!