Memetics

Check out this blog from Susan Blackmore when you get a chance. It is very interesting.

http://www.newstatesman.com/200703150004

Common Gound

In last night's religious exploration class we viewed the third and final episode in the series of the Jonathan Miller documentary, "Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief". Lively discussion followed the film and something interesting came out of that discussion. As we were talking about the many atrocities that had been committed by various religious movements over the centuries (the Inquisition comes to mind for example) we also noted, as was brought out in the film, the first Atheist State (The USSR) had also committed horrible crimes against humanity as well. Bill suggested that the atrocities committed by religions were carried out by extremist individuals or groups and did not represent the Religion as a whole. Steve was pointing out that the USSR under Stalin also committed atrocities but that these were not done in the name of Atheism, per se, but rather because Stalin wanted to maintain his power. I think that there is some common gound here between believers and non believers, in that in each case, it was due to the excesses of individuals or smaller groups within the larger population that these horrible acts were committed. The end result was that also in each case, Religion and Atheism, the blame or the negative image was planted in the minds of many people who observed this from 'outside'. Perhaps this is one area in which believers and non believers can come together and agree. Common Gound.

Exploration!

Well it's official. The Church has changed the name of our Religious Education program to "Religious Exploration". Several members felt that the term 'Education' would be better expressed as 'Exploration' and many agreed. The issue came up at our last board meeting and was voted on and unanimously approved to change it to 'Religious Exploration'. So, Explorers, go boldly where no UU has gone before and seek out your truth!

UU Videos on YouTube

I just found two wonderful videos on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p03xPbSSSBU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wezp1W2HKlU

OK, that's all the space I'm going to take up, today!


Bettina

Religious Exploration

Last night was the continuation of our RE (Religious Education) Class - this one being focused on "What is Atheism?" We had great attendance - 11 people showed up in the bitter cold. We viewed the first segment of Jonathan Miller's film, 'Atheism: A Rough History of Disbelief ', and followed that up with some very lively and stimulating discussion. Nearly everyone there had vital and interesting points to make and the evening was a wonderful success. Somewhere in the discussion it was suggested that with the idea in mind of dogma and doctrine being a hindrance rather than a help to spiritual growth, instead of 'religious education' we should refer to these sessions as 'religious exploration', and all seemed to agree that this was the way to go. Please come and join in next Thursday Evening as we view the 2nd Segment entitled: "Noughts and Crosses"! . . . and try not to eat too many cookies!