In his (somewhat bewildered) response to the GA08 brouhaha, Rev. Daniel O’Connell speculates that for some people General Assembly functions as “church,” and that this could explain why they feel so personally outraged that i.d. will be checked. He, on the other hand, feels that church is his fellow UUs and what they do together, [...]
“Although a defensive war may be considered lawful, yet we believe there is a time coming, when the light and universal love of the gospel, shall put an end to all wars. We recommend, therefore, to all churches in our communion, to cultivate the spirit of peace and brotherly love, which shall lead them [...]
“A belief in God’s universal love to all his creatures, and that he will finally restore all those of them that are miserable to happiness, is a polar truth. It leads to truths upon all subjects, more especially upon the subject of government. It establishes the equality of mankind–it abolishes the punishment of death for [...]
“God’s laws have not been given exclusively to any church. God’s laws are the ways of living found to be good for us. Truths are derived from the experiences of men and women living, not apart from the world, but within it–in all the temptations, problems, and perplexities of the daily round of human relations.”
–Dr. [...]
“To the Universalists, heaven in its essential nature is not a locality, but a moral and spiritual status, and salvation is not securing one place and avoiding another, but salvation is finding eternal life.”
–Phineas T. Barnum, Why I Am a Universalist. Boston: Universalist Publishing House, 1890: 4.
Many UU bloggers are writing recaps of their output for 2007 in hopes of nomination for the annual UU Blog awards. There’s nothing here that merits special recognition, but reviewing previous efforts is a worthy project in and of itself. Thankfully, it’s also a short one for Transient and Permanent, because while this [...]
“The young lady received us with much kindness and condescension, while, as I glanced my eye upon her fine countenance, beaming with intelligence, mingling pity and contempt grew in my bosom. After the first ceremonies, we sat for some time silent; at length I drew up a heavy sigh, and uttered a pathetic sentiment, relative [...]
One of the more interesting search engine hits that led to this page earlier this week was “Confucius Chalice Lightings.” Why it led here is a mystery. But since there apparently is a need for such things, here are a few suggestions for chalice lighting words taken from the Analects, the most important [...]
“Universalists are often asked to tell where they stand. The only true answer to give to this question is that we do not stand at all, we move. Or we are asked to state our position. Again we can only answer that we are not staying to defend any position, we are on the march. [...]
“If we consider the outstanding and most significant teaching of the Universalist denomination in that it differentiated it from all others–the belief that all souls will ultimately be saved–what according to our appraisal today was the merit? The protest against endless punishment was moral, and the response to it was so general and widespread, [...]
