The Coffee House - the UU Fellowship Thread (churches, experience)

[Karl R]

Originally Posted by lilithu

This discussion is taking place within the Unitarian Universalist forum, which is reserved for UUs and friends of UUs.

Well, I attend a local UU church. I've been informed that I'm already a de facto UU ... because I've drunk the coffee.

Thank you for the warm welcome and the advice on etiquette. Fortunately I had stumbled across the rules already. (I say "fortunately", because I stumbled across them right before I was going to commit a potential faux pas in the Islam forum.)

Originally Posted by Ciscokid

the U.S. can't be expected to fight this war all on our own.

We're not. Al Qaeda makes attacks in many countries. I've lost count of the number of mosques they've blown up in Iraq. They've made major attacks in Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia....

I believe it's unlikely that the US's actions will defeat Al Qaeda. I believe it's much more likely that Al Qaeda will be defeated by their own actions. They're making enemies at least as fast as the Bush administration is.

Originally Posted by Ciscokid

why don't other Muslims in the ME try to educate the younger generation? ... I still think the bad Muslims need to hear it from the good ones.

I don't know whether you have any christian background, Cisco. This would be easier to explain if you did.

As a christian, I've repeatedly tried to explain to conservative christians how their actions towards homosexuals (as one example) are a direct violation of Jesus' teachings. I get lots of arguements, I hear lots of rationalizations, I've had Leviticus 18:22 quoted at me more times than I can conveniently recall, I've even been told that I'm going to hell for blasphemy.

It's quite rare to convince someone through rational explanation or debate. It can happen, but it's a rather slow process. Kudos to Jameisi and all the others who occasionally succeed.

[jamaesi]

I'm really reminded of the starfish story.

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide. The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

I would like to say I am one shy, young girl. But I know I can change things- I can't go out and save the entire world- but I can change what is around me for the better.

At the end of the day, I believe in humans and good winning over. It's just going to take some time and some hard work.

I won't speak for Jamaesi but I am not a pacifist. I believe that there are times when war is necessary because the alternative causes greater harm. (Hitler is the obvious example, but there are others that I believe were "just" wars.) And if I knew with absolute certainty that a person was about to do something that would kill tens/hundreds/thousands of innocent people, would I kill him or her to prevent that? Yes, I probably would (tho I shudder at the thought of ever being faced with that decision). So pacifism is not the issue here, at least not for me. But Cisco, if you knew that the person, the "terrorist", was in a building with a dozen other people who may be innocent, would you blow up that building in order to kill the one person? How would you stop that one heart without hurting other innocent hearts? And if you'd be willing to hurt innocents, how many? At what price? And wouldn't you be the "terrorist" to those other people and the people who love them? Wouldn't they then be justified in trying to kill you?

I am a pacifist- but I know that sometimes force is needed when things get out of hand.

I believe that the terrorists need taken out, be it life in a prison somewhere or killed in the process of taking them down.

But I can't look at the deaths of innocents (the deaths of my people, innocent people!- first my people died in 9/11 and now more of my people are dying in the Middle East), and the lying and the corruption and the torture and believe this is the right way to go about this.

When you want to kill a weed, you don't just rip the leaves off and pat yourself on the back for a job well done. The weed will grow back soon enough. You have to rip it out by the roots. The same thing is here, we are only killing terrorists and then leaving the roots in so it grows back.

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by Karl R

Well, I attend a local UU church. I've been informed that I'm already a de facto UU ... because I've drunk the coffee.

Namaste Karl. Yup, I'd say that makes U a UU. So welcome all the more!

[Ciscokid]

Perhaps a new thread should be started. I found an article written by an American Muslim and he basically hits the nail on the head....I think he says what I'm thinking inside.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/...mment-opinions

[lilithu]

Namaste Yall, I need to take a break from RF. Unlike David, I'm too dumb to stay only in the UU forum, and venturing out of here, seeing epsecially the anti-Muslim sentiment makes my heart ache. I know that Muslims don't have the option of opting out, and so what I'm doing is a type of cowardice. But I can't take it. I wish I were stronger/more stable but I'm not.

Maize and David, I believe you have my email address. Otherwise, you can contact me via my website, as can anyone else here who's interested. I'm going to devote my energies to that for a while.

I love the flower Maize. Reminds me of the part of our naming ceremony where the minister says, "May your life unfold in beauty like this rose." May it be so.

[Green Gaia]

I'm sorry to hear that, Lilithu. You will be greatly missed while you're gone. I'll come found you if I need you.

[Green Gaia]

I guess everyone is gearing up for summer - anyone's church have something interesting planned for the summer?

[Davidium]

We will be having a big Memorial Day Sunday BBQ at our church.

In the morning, we will be having Rev. Dr. Matt Tittle preach a memorial day sermon entitled "In Their Honor". He is a former U.S. Navy Commander and college professor, now UU Minister. He has a website at www.revmatt.org. We will then have a BBQ with music, games, and a few other things. Then, I will be preaching a service for the MCC church that rents space from us that afternoon entitled "The Faith of a Soldier".

And all of this will be my last day as the Administrator and Student Minister of the UU Fellowship of Galveston County. So, the BBQ is kinda a going away party for me as well, as I head off to my hospital chaplaincy.

So, that is our big plan to kick off the summer!

Yours in Faith,

David