By Tim Howard
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https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/podcast/20151011TimHoward_BeingAllies.mp3″]
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Tim Howard © 11 October 2015
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A Home for My Spirit When it Was Homeless
By John Maindonald
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John Maindonald © 20 September 2015
The religious atmosphere of the family in which I was nurtured, and of the churches that I attended, now seems to me resonant, in many ways, of English Christianity in the early 1800s, 200 years ago. Religious belief was taken very seriously, doubt was a sin, and those lively minds who did finally reject the old belief systems found the process traumatic. To the trauma of abandoning a way of thinking that had become deeply part of them was often added the trauma of parting ways with a community to which they had been strongly committed. I, from my own experience, feel a strong sense of kinship with those 19th C figures who found the dogmatic Christian belief system in which they had been nurtured too much of a prison of the mind.
Unitarian churches were, in many or most places just as orthodox as the rest, albeit they did reject a few orthodox doctrines. The old is rejected, but the new hardens all too easily into a new orthodoxy. Even without a creed, the freedom of belief that we in Unitarian and UU churches enjoy today was not always a feature of the Unitarian movement. There were, in the 19th C and later, some hard-fought controversies that led up to this point. Ultimately, it came to be accepted that once that process of challenge has started, it is impossible, in advance, to set limits to that process, to say where it might stop.
Continue reading A Home for My Spirit When it Was HomelessThe Infinite Game: How to Live Well Together – Part 2
Guest speaker Niki Harre, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, taught us the Infinite Game. The object is to understand current social structures that limit progress towards human and ecological flourishing and the vital role that organisations, individuals and communities can play in creating a better world.
As this was a live participatory event, no audio or text available this week.
Islam and the Problem of Religious Extremism
By Dr Douglas Pratt, Professor of Religious Studies, The University of Waikato
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or download the PDF of the slideshow that accompanies this talk.
The Power of Listening
Can listening make a difference?
By Lisa Gellert.
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or download the PDF of this page.
Lisa Gellert © 28 June 2015
I am here to tell you a story. When I asked Clay how I should give this talk he said: tell a story. They like stories. So here you go. I tell you a story. But to make it more interesting it is not just one, but actually I share different stories. And by the end, it is up to you to decide if and how listening makes a difference.
Setting the stage: 2014 in Germany
The Infinite Game: How to Live Well Together
Guest speaker Niki Harre, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Auckland, taught us the Infinite Game. The object is to understand current social structures that limit progress towards human and ecological flourishing and the vital role that organisations, individuals and communities can play in creating a better world.
As this was a live participatory event, no audio or text available this week.
Solidarity: A case for Unions in a Neoliberal World
The End of the Oil Age Needs a Resilient Community
The Gay Experience in Faith Communities – 2
Great Extrications.
By Geno Sisneros.
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Its Pride time! That means a festival and a parade and lots of parties and all sorts of festivities where LGBT people and supporters can take part and show their gay pride.
I have to admit, I’m not much of a parade person or, dare I say it, a ‘pride person’. I don’t get it. And I don’t feel guilty for not getting it. But since I’ve been invited to speak here this morning as part of those festivities, I thought I better find out how (or even if) I and my story might somehow fit into the grand pride narrative. Continue reading The Gay Experience in Faith Communities – 2
The Gay Experience in Faith Communities – 1
The Knowledge of Good and Evil (the simplicity of Love).
By Jim Marjoram.
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https://aucklandunitarian.org.nz/podcast/20150215JimMarjoram_TheGayExperienceinFaithCommunities1.mp3″]
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or download the PDF of this page.
A little of my personal story to start with.
I was brought up in a very average middle class family in Sydney. The usual struggles and fun. Not perfect but I knew I was loved and safe. I was also gay. I knew I was different from quite young but couldn’t understand exactly how until puberty hit and I found that guys were who I was naturally attracted to and I simply had no desire what so ever towards girls. Continue reading The Gay Experience in Faith Communities – 1