Speaker:- Maria Hayward
Worship Leader:- Rachel Mackintosh
This talk will discuss the language of reverence – what this means and what non-racist, non-sexist and queer-friendly language might look like. Connections are made to the UU values of transformation, plurality, interdependence, generosity and of course, love.
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Maria Hayward © 13 April 2025
Our values and the language of reverence
I’d like to start with the UU value of transformation or change. Language changes or transforms. We invent new words all the time, or we use words differently. A simple example of a word used differently is the word ‘cool’, which mostly doesn’t have anything to do with temperature. ‘Cool’ has stayed in fashion for a long time, but apparently even this word now is dated, and teenagers instead might use: ‘slay’, ‘rizz’ (short for charisma), and there’s the kiwi ‘chur’ which means something like: ok or thank you. Society, too, changes: our understandings may grow – as Unitarians they should, with our continuous search for truth and transformation. As part of this growth process, changes in attitudes occur and language that might once have been acceptable – might become unacceptable.
About 50 years ago, feminism changed language; and so did increasing social diversity in its many forms – but especially with respect to ethnicity and gender identity or orientation. In the 1990’s, this new language was labelled politically correct, or PC, then that was criticised (“PC gone mad” became the catchphrase of people not wanting to be PC). Later, we became ‘woke’, then suddenly it was “too woke to give sushi to kids for school lunches” (as the Hon David Seymour said). And now, Winston Peters – like Donald Trump, is fighting a “war on woke”. Actually, being PC or being woke – and let’s be absolutely clear about this – both were just about being respectful. Woke comes from the African American: “be awake to social injustice, racism and bigotry”. And being politically correct or being woke is being respectful in our thinking and speaking about and to minority or marginalised groups in particular, although obviously not exclusively so. Language can include or exclude people; it can be affirming or hurtful. We choose our words.
Continue reading The Language of Reverence, Part 1 →
