Respecting Differing Opinions

CZ

There has been a big debate about respecting other people’s ideas on social media lately. The election cycle seems to bring out both the best and worst in people.

I have a few things to say on the issue.

1) We don’t have to respect other people’s beliefs and ideas.

2) We do have to respect people for who they are.

3) Sometimes it is hard to do, but we have to try.

4) When we hold other people’s beliefs and see where they are coming from it can help us respect other and grow together in learning and searching for what is true.

This sermon from October 18, 2015 talks about how to do just those things.
Here is a link to the podcast and a link to the First UU of Austin page which has a transcript and a video of the sermon.
Hope you enjoy and are inspired.

Namaste,
Cricket

[First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin] Dialogue with conservatives => http://podplayer.net/#/?id=8244801 via @PodcastAddict

Dialogue with Conservatives

Following in the footsteps of Hypatia—some personal reflections

LdeG

1) All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.

 2) Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.

 3) Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.

hypatia_portrait 4) Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.

 5) In fact men will fight for a superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth often more so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable.

From a post from British Unitarian minister Andrew Brown

http://andrewjbrown.blogspot.com/2016/02/following-in-footsteps-of-hypatiasome.html

 

Sunday, February 28, 2016: Ten Irrational Ideas, Suffering, and Love

LdeG 1 Comment

Welcome

Prelude: Secure Yourself to Heaven – Indigo Girls

Chalice Lighting World Chalice Lighting for February
—Rev. Dr. Ian Ellis-Jones Australian and New Zealand Unitarian Universalist Association

We light this Chalice, a living symbol of the one Life that animates and sustains all things and all persons, the one Life in which we all live and move and have our being, and the one Life which perpetually gives of itself to itself so as to become the many.

By means of the light of truth and reason, and the warmth of fellowship and compassion, may the many come to know themselves to be not only interconnected with each other but also indivisible emanations of that one great Light which enlightens all Life and which can never be extinguished. Continue reading →

Exciting Program for Middle Schoolers in Fairmont

CZ

We are excited to that Learning Options, Inc. is hosting MIT’s Zero Robotics Middle School Summer Program July 5th through August 15th.  If you know of someone in this age group, please direct them to our website immediately while spaces are still available.   We started with 20 spaces, and they are filling fast.

zr_logo_two_lines.gif

 

Details for ZERO Robotics from MIT

ZERO is designed for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. During the course of the five-week summer program, team members will be introduced to programming, coding, space engineering, and more! Programming of SPHERES
(Synchronized, Position, Hold, Engage, Reorient,Experimental Satellites)

zerorobotics

The program culminates in a tournament where winning teams’ SPHERES compete aboard the International Space Station (ISS). SPHERES will be seen in a live stream from the ISS, in action, based on the codes and programs written by the ZERO team.

The program will include 5 weeks of classes, Monday through Wednesday, 9:00am – 2:00pm, at The Learning Center facility in Fairmont, WV and will include one or more offsite visits to the NASA IV & V facility in Fairmont.

 LOI Robotics team will have two 10-member teams. (Only 20 available slots.)

6th, 7th, and 8th grade students are elligible to join the Learning Options ZERO robotics teams.

PS: Tuition assistance is currently available to residents of Harrison County, WV, through a grant from the Sacred Heart Children’s Charity. Details for applying can be found inside the registration form.

This is a great opportunity to celebrate the 3rd and 4th principle (3rd Principle: We believe that we should accept one another and keep on learning together. 4th Principle: We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.) and be involved in the community.

Namaste,

Cricket

Some comfort for the Angry

CZ 1 Comment

[First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin] Respecting the Fire => http://www.austinuuav.org/audio/2016-02-07_Respecting_the_fire.mp3 via @PodcastAddict

Dear friends,
The past few weeks surround by politics, court trials, and injustice have left me filled with a cold and mushy rage. I have had to do a lot of soul searching. I found this sermon from First UU in Austin, TX at just the right time. I hope it offers you some comfort as well.

Namaste,
Cricket