Re: virus: A Peek Behind Enemy Lines

Zloduska (kjseelna@students.wisc.edu)
Sat, 06 Feb 1999 08:07:23 -0600

Tim, I present to you what I believe to be the antithesis of The Beast and our competitors: Unitarian Universialsim. I just encountered it, and I'm a bit suprised.

See, at work they daily have literature tables right across from me, and often it is some religious or political activist group sitting there. All last week I was intrigued by a banner on one of them that said "Unitarian Universalism: A Liberal Campus Ministry". This may be old hat to the rest of you, but it was an unfamilar term to me, and I considered approaching them. One day, an irate British man was standing there shouting at a man and a young woman with sea-green hair behind the table, and I assumed that he was an aggressive atheist. After talking to the woman the next day, it turns out that they are not even a Christian group, and that man was a
"Fundie" berating them for being unconventional.

I ended up being impressed with what the woman had to tell me, and this is the first time I've ever actually *agreed* with the philosophy of a
"western" religion and supported their cause. Kind of a big step, because
I'm usually very cautious and skeptical when talking to any "ministers" about their religion.

So anyway, I was wondering if anyone else would agree that if a person believes in God, this small group would be an ideal and nearly perfect choice? They seemed to be just the opposite of the kind of hardcore relgious zealots that I've encountered before.

One note before I type out a bit of the literature they had to offer explaining themselves: The woman made a comment saying that if she chose the name, they would be called the "Patchwork-ists", because their form of theology blends together many different relgious and spiritual texts, including feminist and Eastern (buddism, taoism), into something unique.

"What do Unitarian Universalists believe?"

  1. We believe in the freedom of religious expression. All individuals should be encouraged to develop their own personal theology, and to present openly their religious opinions without fear of censure or reprisal.
  2. We believe in the toleration of religious ideas. All relgions, in every age and culture, possess not only an intrinsic merit, but also a potential value for those who have learned the art of listening.
  3. We believe in teh authority of reason and concience. The ultimate arbiter in religion is not a church, or a document, or an official, but the personal choice and decision of the individual.
  4. We believe in the never-ending search for Truth. If the mind and heart are truly free and open, the revelations which appear to the human spirit are infinitely numerous, eternally fruitful, and wondrously exciting.