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On this episode of The VUU, we are joined by Dr. Ibrahim Farraje to talk about the connections between Islam and Unitarian Universalism, especially with the foundational understanding that oneness is at the heart of all of creation. At the time of this broadcast, Ibrahim was Starr King School for the Ministry’s Provost and Professor of Islamic and Cultural Studies. He died on February 9, 2016.
Original air date: October 10, 2013
Episode Notes:
Episode hosts: Meg Riley, Tom Schade, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Patrice Curtis, and Hank Peirce.
Note: This audio is from one of our favorite archived episodes that had previously been available by video only. It has been edited for a better podcast listening experience. View the original live recording on YouTube.
Dear Closeted Gay Men,
You think that, by lobbing the grenades of judgment and hate at other people, at vulnerable people daring to own the truth of our bodies, you protect your own vulnerable selves. In truth, you are terrified. I don’t know you, but I know your name. Your name is Shame. Your name is Self-Hatred. You think that your homophobia protects you. But we know. We can see right through you. The bigger the front, the bigger the back!
How do I know that at least one closeted gay man helped to draft this new statement? Honey, I’ve been around the block. I’ve seen homophobic preacher after homophobic politician busted by a prostitute or male escort, or by someone who recognized them at a sleazy dark gay bar. I’ve seen luggage lifters and men with a ‘wide stance’ in the mens’ room bleating out lies which no longer cover their duplicity, which no longer bury the lie that is the epicenter of all they say and do. You’ve cried to me on occasion, too, wearied by the energy of fighting off who you are but too scared to stop the fight. You are not invisible. And the misery that you foist onto the lives of others is very very real.
I don’t care if you like to lie about your sexuality. To each their own. But when you project your shame and self-hatred on the children who are trying to live into their authentic selves, when you spew out your terror and shame and judgment and try to pin it on God, when you throw it all over people who already have enough hate to deal with in the world, I call you on it.
You Shall Not Bear False Witness Against Your Neighbor.
That’s in the Top Ten from God, unlike the obscure passages you love to cite. And it is precisely this which you are doing.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
That’s the one big one from the man you claim as your Lord. You are violating both parts of this injunction, loving neither your neighbor nor yourself.
And I want you to know you’re not fooling anyone. We know that your homophobia is rooted in your own desires for men, which you hate. Science backs me up. When electrodes are wired to men’s genitals and they watch male-centered erotic materials, the virulently homophobic men have strong arousal. The gay and bisexual men are also aroused. The non-homophobic heterosexual men, not so much. This physical truth must terrify you. Perhaps you have spent a life distancing yourself from your body, sternly telling yourself that if you don’t act on your innate desires, you will stay in God’s favor.
What a waste of time, honey. What a waste of your life. Why don’t you stop hating yourself and see how much less hate you have to spew on other people? Why don’t you enjoy the gift of sexuality that God gave you and celebrate the diversity of genders and sexualities God put into the world?
I am one of the hundreds of thousands of people of all faiths who welcome and celebrate diversity of sexuality and gender, as well as every other kind of diversity given as a gift to us on this earth. I wish you could climb out of your prison of hate and join us.
In the meantime, I’ll keep reminding you that I see you. You will be judged by the actions you take, and the effects that they have on the lives of others. You’re not fooling me. And you’re certainly not fooling God.
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We are joined by Doug Muder who writes about politics and current events on the The Weekly Sift. Doug is also a contributing editor and columnist for UU World. On this episode of The VUU, we talk about one of Doug’s most popular articles where he calls out the tea party as a successor to the confederacy. We also explore how our knowledge of history can move us forward and be useful in examining current events, like the actions in Charlottesville in 2017.
Original air date: October 2, 2014
Episode Notes:
Episode hosts: Meg Riley, Tom Schade, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Patrice Curtis, and Hank Peirce.
Note: This audio is from one of our favorite archived episodes that had previously been available by video only. It has been edited for a better podcast listening experience. View the original live recording on YouTube.
OK, here, based on some genuine efforts at observation, is my understanding of the difference between liberals and conservatives. It is probably not actually news to you, but I, for one, haven’t thought about it quite this way before. Read more →
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On this episode of The VUU, we are joined by Chris Crass, author, educator and father dedicated to building powerful movements for collective liberation. We talk about the tenacity of white supremacy and the positive and powerful ways to bring white people into movement that overcomes shame and the need for perfection.
Original air date: June 4, 2015
Notes:
Episode hosts: Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Patrice Curtis, Aisha Hauser, and Hank Peirce.
Note: This audio is from one of our favorite archived episodes that had previously been available by video only. It has been edited for a better podcast listening experience. View the original live recording on YouTube.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 38:17 — 35.1MB)
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On this episode of The VUU, we are joined by the Rev. Nate Walker, executive director for the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute in Washington, D.C. We talk about federal and state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts and issues of religion in public life.
Original air date: January 22, 2015
Notes:
Episode hosts: Meg Riley, Tom Schade, Patrice Curtis, Aisha Hauser, and Hank Peirce.
Note: This audio is from one of our favorite archived episodes that had previously been available by video only. It has been edited for a better podcast listening experience. View the original live recording on YouTube.
The natural response to seeing video or photos of an angry mob carrying torches and shouting racist, anti-Semitic and anti-gay slogans is a sense of revulsion, and perhaps even panic. These are people who are the philosophical descendants of the folks who killed six million “unacceptable” people. And most of us know that we and/or people we love are amongst the unacceptable. We feel threatened, because we are threatened.
And when we feel threatened, our natural response is fight or flight. Our guts tell us to run away or to engage in combat. That’s our native, instinctual response. But you know who else is operating out of an instinctual response? These white men who feel a loss of power and privilege in our increasingly diverse society and fight back with a testosterone-filled fury against the perceived threats to their “right” to power and privilege. They are, of course, horrifically wrong, but they are going with their guts.
We need to respond, but we need to respond with the full weight of our minds and hearts and spirits as well as our guts. Read more →
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On this episode of The VUU, we are joined by the Rev. Rebekah Montgomery, a US Army Chaplain and staff officer. We discuss the gifts Unitarian Universalists bring to the interfaith work of military chaplaincy. Both Rebekah and one of the hosts, Bob LaVallee, share stories from their deployments to the middle east.
Original air date: November 6, 2014
Show notes:
Episode hosts: Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Patrice Curtis, Tom Schade, and Bob LaVallee.
Note: This audio is from one of our favorite archived episodes that had previously been available by video only. The content has been edited for a better podcast experience; unfortunately there are some audio issues we were not able to fix. View the original live recording on YouTube.
We are gearing up for the new church year at the Church of the Larger Fellowship. And with that, we are looking at ways to enhance your experience of weekly worship. Starting on August 27, 2017, we will be moving away from Livestream for the weekly worship service and using YouTube Live instead. Watch Rev. Meg share her perspective on this shift here. Read more →
This morning the nation must look squarely at images of people marching through Virginia with hateful slogans, confederate flags, and Nazi swastikas, who proudly proclaim that White Lives Matter and scream hateful epithets about Jews and gays and immigrants, who believe that slavery reflected a natural order. Some will say, in coffee hours in Unitarian Universalist congregations, that THOSE people are the white supremacists and people like Unitarian Universalists should not call ourselves that because it is confusing, people might think we are like them. I dearly hope those words will not be spoken from our pulpits. Read more →
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Quest for Meaning is a program of the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF).
As a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, the CLF creates global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act.