Adult Religious Exploration
Our main offering for Adult Religious Exploration is the Sunday Forum.
Forum takes place during the church year (September-May) in Robinson Hall, following the first service. The forum starts at 10:10 a.m. and finishes at 10:50 a.m. with a 25-minute presentation and a 15-minute discussion period. Questions by audience members are limited to two minutes per person. Forum concentrates on church activities, community issues, denominational topics, books of note, and topics of interest to the Los Alamos Unitarian Church community.
Upcoming Forums:
February 26th: "Book Review: The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker" by Bill Priedhorsky
Steven Pinker argues that violence has declined steadily over human history, and continues to do so. Presented with a choice between Rousseau's descent from the "noble savage" and Hobbes's ascent from a life "nasty, brutish, and short," Pinker makes his case for Hobbes and Hope.
March 4th: "Coming of Age" by Mark Petersen
March 11th: "Community Mental Health" by Cheryl Pongratz
March 18th: "Steve Jobs" by Dean Carstens
March 25th: "Lies My Teacher Told Me" by Andrea Determan and Felicia Orth
Examples of Adult Religious Exploration Classes
Building Your Own Theology: offered by Rev. John Cullinan
Why?: You’ve probably heard Rev. Cullinan say more than once that “everyone is a theologian.” It’s an easy thing to say, but much more difficult to put into practice. Unitarian Universalism calls on us not to believe what we want but believe what we must. “Building Your Own Theology” is designed to present participants with the tools and skills they need to more readily flex their theological muscles.
Participants will be invited to develop their personal credos: the fundamental religious beliefs, values, and convictions that inform and direct the living of their lives. Over the course of ten sessions, participants will be presented with five developmental tasks in order to come to their own understanding about human nature, ultimate reality, history, ethics, and religious meaning (see the class schedule on the other side). Participants will also have the option of presenting their final credo statements as part of a Sunday service later in the church year. Listen to participants in the 2010 class present their credo statements.
“Building Your Own Theology” is one of the UUA’s most popular adult courses, and has been in use for almost thirty years. This class is a larger commitment than some others that have offered in the past. Each session builds on the last, there is some reading and homework involved.
Atheism as a Spiritual Path: offered by Mike Adams
What possible advantages might theism provide that are largely unavailable in contemporary atheist or secular humanist world views? Have we non-believers abandoned hopeless and/or desperate individuals to theism? Are there people who might be characterized as atheistic fundamentalists? Is it really possible to live based on reason or are people driven by something largely unreasonable? Don’t expect answers…these topics seem to defy answers but will likely come up in this year’s adult RE offering.
