Sears: Unitarianism may be the ticket for growing 'nones'
Rev Dr Stanley Sears
July 07, 2013
http://auburnpub.com/lifestyles/article_4cbec561-8202-5ce0-ab91-7cc308b0bfbe.htmlIn recent weeks we have seen rebellions against Islamist regimes in Turkey and Egypt. In Russia, the women of Pussy Riot exposed the relationship between the established Orthodox Church and Vladimir Putin’s autocratic rule. For this, some of the women have been sentenced to hard labor in Siberia. More recently, Putin’s cronies criminalized much public discussion of homosexuality. Gay demonstrators are routinely attacked by hooligans, as the police refuse to protect them. The discussion of freedom is also under attack in China. We see this in the persecution of artists such as Ai Weiwei, and efforts to stifle human rights activists: a reminder of the massacre that took place in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
All of these are examples of the universal quest for freedom, even amidst violent efforts to quash it. ...
There is something to be said for the courage of the millions of people who have been taking to the streets to demand their freedom from religious and political autocrats who would impose their rule by force. ...growing number of people who are self-identifying as
"nones" or
religiously non-affiliated...
As Unitarian Universalists, our history has often been one of association with so-called religious dissenters, or those who have questioned and challenged those who would use religion as a cudgel to impose their will. In opposition to those who would use religion to wield power over secular society, we have always defended the sanctity of the free mind. ...
If you count yourself among the nones, I invite you to visit our church to see if your heart and mind can find a religious home where you will feel part of something larger and more welcoming than what you have previously experienced: a church where you will be free to question, rather than compelled to believe or assent to creedal statements than you can only recite with your fingers crossed.
...We are also a church that sets no bounds to its love, or to yours. This is why I, and my fellow clergy, have been supported in our efforts to provide holy unions for same-sex couples since 1984, and then weddings since 1996. It is also why we are celebrating the recent Supreme Court decisions on gay marriage, even as we acknowledge that there is still more work to be done. ...
The Rev. Dr. Stan Sears is a minister with the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Society, which was founded in 1833 and is located at 607 N. Seward Ave., Auburn. Services are held at 10:30 a.m. Sundays. All men, women and children of every race, religious creed, political conviction and sexual orientation are welcome.
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