"Different People. Different Beliefs. One Faith." --Unitarian Universalists, the Uncommon Denomination.Now I pose a question, to myself, to the general public and to the unitarians that may come across my blog someday... I find that there's a problem with that quote. Though, I know it envokes the warm and fuzzies for those looking for unconditional love and acceptance and I hate to burst the bubble of optimistic ideals, but I'm not quite certain how different beliefs equal one faith. One Buddhist, one Confusionist and one Christian equals three people with equally different beliefs. I mean, it's a basic mathematical dilemma, isn't it? 1+1+1 = 3, not 1.
I may be biased due to the fact that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ, but I'm also not completely ignorant, I know that there's more to this quote than its literal meaning. Unitarian Universalists seek to unite all the peoples of the earth regardless of what they choose to believe and I do think that they have created a very successful and strategic way of doing just that. This time period that we live in is a time where much of the population of this earth do not know much about the Bible and it's trendy and hip to be tolerant of anything and everyone (except for Christians because they are seemingly the most intolerable group of people to encounter). I think those things are a direct effect of the fact there is a general distrust of objective Truth. Since believing in an objective Truth would eventually point to one God, who is supposedly good and just, it's much easier, or safer to say that he doesn't exist, than to try to live in a reality where a good God allows or plans for bad things to happen. I think that the Universalists are actually aware of what I've come to call as the "unbearable contradiction" and this is why they allow/encourage people to believe whatever they want about God, whatever helps them cope with all that life throws at them. In this way, the universalists offer hope in the form of unconditional love and acceptance.
Unfortunately, I think this kind of hope backfires on them. I mean, it may meet the needs of their congregation for the time being, but can hope really be firmly planted in a whirlwind of uncertainties? I imagine a stubborn little child, or an immature pre-teen, shutting their eyes and covering their ears, screaming la-la-la, when the obvious rears its ugly head, then saying "If I can't see you, then you're not really there!" Offering love and acceptance now cannot possibly answer the question of what happens after we die, nor does it make the "unbearable contradiction" really, truly go away.
Anyway, that's all I have to say about that. I was doing some homework,
but was side tracked because I love thinking about this. I played with the idea of minoring in Philosophy at Biola because I had enough credits that transferred in from my previous college, but to what end? I think this is more of a hobby for me and couldn't do it as a career. It would drive me crazy, I think...I mean, look at what happened to Nietzsche.(Wow...now, I'm even making Philosophy jokes. Geeez. Nerd.)
Ok, back to cultural competence and implications on childbearing education.
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