[printprofilepic]Like other churches, the Unitarian Church tends to attract a group of people who are fairly homogeneous in their beliefs and ideals. It might be tempting to believe that all of our members and friends share the same thoughts and ideas.
Making this assumption can be a mistake. Three examples:
1) Many years ago I was attending one of our dinners and found myself trying to explain our Church to a visitor. I summed it up by saying “all the members are either atheists or agnostics.” A longer-term member than I, now deceased, was sitting across from me. She looked at me sharply and said, “I beg your pardon!” It was a valuable lesson in diversity for me that I have never forgotten.
2) At General Assembly this year, I sat down for lunch with a group of attendees I didn’t know. When I introduced myself and indicated that I was from Los Alamos, one of the women said something to the effect of “well that must be very interesting being a UU in that town.” Another indicated to me that he had attended several protests here. When I tried to explain to them that many of us who worked in the field of nuclear weapons felt we were doing our part to maintain peace, they tuned me out, got up, and walked away. I suspect that there are many within our community who would also disagree with me on this subject.
3) Finally, at a recent activity, I overheard a member make the statement that our Church had only one Republican. Maybe not; I can think of a few more (including myself) who, while possibly not card-carrying Republicans, tend to lean somewhat more to the right than the majority of our members.
As I said, we are not totally homogenous. Thinking we are, and more importantly, deciding that someone who does not believe as we do is beyond the pale, can lead to some of our members or friends not participating in all aspects of our community or worse, leaving it completely. For a couple of months a few years back, I tried other churches in Los Alamos. I finally decided that I could only be a part of this Church, and that our community was too important for me to leave.
I truly believe that all our members and friends try hard, in their own way, to follow our Seven Principles. But what I come up with inside my own personal belief system probably is different from what you do. And that’s OK. In the long run, true diversity, in all aspects, will strengthen our community.
Board Doings
At our meeting on August 18, the Board approved the Charge to the Architect that many of you have been working on. It is a well thought out and well written document that shows where we want to go, philosophically and practically, with our new building. It is also the next important step for this project. I commend all that worked on the document.
In other business we approved the purchase of new computer and phone equipment to replace some that were recently zapped by lightning, and money
to buy some needed cooking equipment for the kitchen. The latter is funded out of part of the funds earned during the “Dinner and a Movie” nights. Thanks goes to all those who made this series possible.
Dean Carstens
2010-2011 Church President
