In case you doubt what I have been pointing towards for some years now–that Unitarian Universalism is not as relevant as it could, should, or imagines itself to be, here is some news that might convince you otherwise.
Somehow, given our movement and our values, it seems to add insult to injury that one of our great forbears, Thomas Starr King, was not only replaced, but was replaced by that paragon of me-first culture, the Gipper.
The question is…what do we need to do now and in the future to make ourselves culturally, spiritually, politically and nationally relevant once again? Is it possible?
I saw this story on Rachel Maddow’s show. She was actually volunteering quite enthusiastically to give the statue a home, which was a more heartening way to hear the news.
Your question about relevance is a good one. I think some of the things that were said this weekend at the Journey 2014 events began to touch on values we hold that could make us very relevant, including placing value on “walking the walk.” The values we hold *are* relevant to the world today; putting them into action in that world is not always easy, but in the end, isn’t holding those values and not putting them into action hard, too?
Ellen,
Merriam Webster tells us “relevant” means “having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand”.
What is the matter at hand that UU-ism could be more relevant to?
I’ve watched this post since it was posted a month ago looking for comments that would clear up the question but not seeing any comments, I still don’t understand the question.
In my opinion, individual UU’s working for causes they believe in do make a difference and are quite relevant although possibly nobody watching knows that they are UU’s.
Regarding UU-ism, being a small movement probably lessens relevancy (do you mean “impact”) but we are still here, plodding along and making a difference in little ways that add up.
Quality vs. Quantity? Or Quality AND Quantity. Do mean that bigger is better? Well, duh! yes when it comes to voices.
Rick
I would love to hear your thoughts on this post:
http://loga-abdullah.blogspot.com/2009/03/dawah-biblical-errors.html
Thanks.