Senator Conrad under attack for his faith (he is a Unitarian Universalist)
Via the DailyKos:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/23/85918/815
Republicans attack Sen. Kent Conrad's private religious faith
by Geekesque [Subscribe] Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 06:59:18 AM PDT
Just when you think the rightwing slime machine can't go lower, they attack Kent Conrad for being a Unitarian Universalist.
You don't believe me? Surely Republican activists wouldn't actively smear someone because of their private faith.
I mean, that would be bigoted and hypocritical--two traits absolutely no one associates with rightwing activists.
The atrocities are documented below the fold.
The site is "Taking back ND" run by far-right wingnuts who have a pathological loathing of Conrad.
Here is the slime, entitled "Sen. Conrad's ties to radicalism."
But wait, it gets worse. The text of the post is as follows:
Senator Conrad considers himself a Unitarian. He rarely, if ever, talks about religion, but he is a Universal Unitarian. He is one of about two hundred thousand in the United States. So what are the views of the Universal Unitarians?
Do they believe in miracles?
We do not believe in miracles in any supernatural way since our ideas of God generally do not include a deity who has the ability to alter the workings of the natural world. Most UUs feel that the gift of life itself is sufficient miracle, and that we should live as fully, joyfully and responsibly as we can.
Do they believe in Jesus Christ?
We do not believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, performed miracles and was resurrected from death. We do admire and respect the way he lived, the power of his love, the force of his example and his system of values.
Most UUs regard Jesus as one of several important moral and ethical teachers who have shown humans how to live a life of love, service and compassion. Though some of us may question whether Jesus was an actual historical figure, we believe his teachings are of significant moral value.
Do they believe in life after death?
Very few UUs believe in a continuing, individualized existence after physical death. Even fewer believe in the physical existence of places called heaven or hell where one goes after dying. We believe immortality manifests itself in the lives of those we affect during our lifetime and in the legacy we leave when we die.
What are their views on abortion?
As an institution, we are strongly pro-choice, as are most individual UUs.
What are their views on gay-marriage?
The Association, through action of its General Assembly and congregational actions, has advocated for nondiscrimination and hate crimes legislation; our ministers have performed ceremonies of union for same-sex couples; and now, the Association directs its attention toward the support for legalized same-sex marriage.
Certainly, I believe that everyone is free to live how they want to and I do not think that Universalist Unitarians are going to burn in hell or anything crazy like that, but I definitely think that this religion is way out of the mainstream of America. Senator Conrad's religious afiliation is out of the mainstream.
The Universalist Unitarians are also in cahoots with the Red River Freethinkers. The Red River Freethinkers were behind the attempt to take down the Ten Commandments at the Fargo City Hall. According to the Fargo Forum, the Freethinkers have "atheist and agnostic views."
How are the Universalist Unitarians in cahoots with the Red River Freethinkers? The Red River Freethinkers have meetings in Universalist Unitarian churches. I doubt Catholics, Lutherans, and most other Christian denominations would allow that. I'll say it again, there is nothing wrong with having Universalist Unitarian views, but they are entirely out of the mainstream.
Here's a quick recap. Senator Conrad's religion supports gay marriage, supports abortion, and is in cahoots with an organization that wants to entirely strip God from public life.
I guess it's no wonder why Sen. Conrad distances his private thoughts with his public actions.
Not content with gay-bashing and sectarian bigotry, our intrepid wingnut proceeds to add cowardice and dishonesty to his resume. In the comments section, he claims that:
"This is an issue that is of great importance to many people. Abortion and gay-marriage are important issues to North Dakotans. And it was hardly an attack."
"There is nothing wrong with being a Universal Unitarian. I have nothing against anyone who might be. I was simply pointing out that their views (pro gay marriage, pro-choice, and other religious positions) are out of the mainstream. They're more than welcome to be out of the mainstream... that's not a big deal. I'm an Oakland Athletics fan... I'm way out of the mainstream. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying that Catholics are better than anyone, Lutherans are better than anyone..... buti'm saying that UU are out of the mainstream.
Senator Conrad is a UU member. His religious views are out of the mainstream. That's fine with me. But for people who actually vote based on issues of faith, this information could be a great value to them. So... he would never meet the left's qualifications to be a Supreme Court Justice."
"Once again, I ask... where did I smear a religion? Name one phrase I used that smeared the Unitarians? Name one.
Certainly those are all good qualities to have, Bob. Holy crap... how many times do I have to say "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A UNITARIAN!"
HERE IS MY POINT, READ IT CAREFULLY: 1)Unitarians are out of the mainstream. 2)Unitarians are connected to the Freethinkers. 3)Senator Conrad is a Unitarian.
That's all you need to read."
"Some of the biggest issues that Unitarians are currently fighting for are abortion rights and gay-marriage.
Because I am pro-life and anti-gay-marriage, I would never associate myself with their institution. Sen. Conrad does.
Do not look any further into that statement. That doesn't mean I think he's pro-gay-marriage or pro-choice, but it is kind of odd that we associates himself with an institution that supports those positions.
You guys are taking my statements and automatically suggesting that I'm making those conclusions. I am not."
I think this kind of thing needs the glare of the spotlight to expose just what the Republican party is really all about. I don't ask for this very often, but please recommend and spread news of this posting.
----------------------------------------
Why am I posting the opinion of a small time blogger? Well, for one, I am a small time blogger and for another, the post mentions Unitarian Universalism, and I happen to be a member of the Peoria Universalist Unitarian Church. (we permute the names as we were a Universalist Church prior to the merger in 1963).
And, it is nice to see "one of us" in the Senate. Yes, there were Unitarian Presidents (the last one was President Taft) but the denomination was a rather different animal then. In those days, Unitarians were Christians who denied the Trinity, and Universalists were those Christians who believed in universal salvation.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/11/23/85918/815
Republicans attack Sen. Kent Conrad's private religious faith
by Geekesque [Subscribe] Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 06:59:18 AM PDT
Just when you think the rightwing slime machine can't go lower, they attack Kent Conrad for being a Unitarian Universalist.
You don't believe me? Surely Republican activists wouldn't actively smear someone because of their private faith.
I mean, that would be bigoted and hypocritical--two traits absolutely no one associates with rightwing activists.
The atrocities are documented below the fold.
The site is "Taking back ND" run by far-right wingnuts who have a pathological loathing of Conrad.
Here is the slime, entitled "Sen. Conrad's ties to radicalism."
But wait, it gets worse. The text of the post is as follows:
Senator Conrad considers himself a Unitarian. He rarely, if ever, talks about religion, but he is a Universal Unitarian. He is one of about two hundred thousand in the United States. So what are the views of the Universal Unitarians?
Do they believe in miracles?
We do not believe in miracles in any supernatural way since our ideas of God generally do not include a deity who has the ability to alter the workings of the natural world. Most UUs feel that the gift of life itself is sufficient miracle, and that we should live as fully, joyfully and responsibly as we can.
Do they believe in Jesus Christ?
We do not believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, performed miracles and was resurrected from death. We do admire and respect the way he lived, the power of his love, the force of his example and his system of values.
Most UUs regard Jesus as one of several important moral and ethical teachers who have shown humans how to live a life of love, service and compassion. Though some of us may question whether Jesus was an actual historical figure, we believe his teachings are of significant moral value.
Do they believe in life after death?
Very few UUs believe in a continuing, individualized existence after physical death. Even fewer believe in the physical existence of places called heaven or hell where one goes after dying. We believe immortality manifests itself in the lives of those we affect during our lifetime and in the legacy we leave when we die.
What are their views on abortion?
As an institution, we are strongly pro-choice, as are most individual UUs.
What are their views on gay-marriage?
The Association, through action of its General Assembly and congregational actions, has advocated for nondiscrimination and hate crimes legislation; our ministers have performed ceremonies of union for same-sex couples; and now, the Association directs its attention toward the support for legalized same-sex marriage.
Certainly, I believe that everyone is free to live how they want to and I do not think that Universalist Unitarians are going to burn in hell or anything crazy like that, but I definitely think that this religion is way out of the mainstream of America. Senator Conrad's religious afiliation is out of the mainstream.
The Universalist Unitarians are also in cahoots with the Red River Freethinkers. The Red River Freethinkers were behind the attempt to take down the Ten Commandments at the Fargo City Hall. According to the Fargo Forum, the Freethinkers have "atheist and agnostic views."
How are the Universalist Unitarians in cahoots with the Red River Freethinkers? The Red River Freethinkers have meetings in Universalist Unitarian churches. I doubt Catholics, Lutherans, and most other Christian denominations would allow that. I'll say it again, there is nothing wrong with having Universalist Unitarian views, but they are entirely out of the mainstream.
Here's a quick recap. Senator Conrad's religion supports gay marriage, supports abortion, and is in cahoots with an organization that wants to entirely strip God from public life.
I guess it's no wonder why Sen. Conrad distances his private thoughts with his public actions.
Not content with gay-bashing and sectarian bigotry, our intrepid wingnut proceeds to add cowardice and dishonesty to his resume. In the comments section, he claims that:
"This is an issue that is of great importance to many people. Abortion and gay-marriage are important issues to North Dakotans. And it was hardly an attack."
"There is nothing wrong with being a Universal Unitarian. I have nothing against anyone who might be. I was simply pointing out that their views (pro gay marriage, pro-choice, and other religious positions) are out of the mainstream. They're more than welcome to be out of the mainstream... that's not a big deal. I'm an Oakland Athletics fan... I'm way out of the mainstream. Nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying that Catholics are better than anyone, Lutherans are better than anyone..... buti'm saying that UU are out of the mainstream.
Senator Conrad is a UU member. His religious views are out of the mainstream. That's fine with me. But for people who actually vote based on issues of faith, this information could be a great value to them. So... he would never meet the left's qualifications to be a Supreme Court Justice."
"Once again, I ask... where did I smear a religion? Name one phrase I used that smeared the Unitarians? Name one.
Certainly those are all good qualities to have, Bob. Holy crap... how many times do I have to say "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING A UNITARIAN!"
HERE IS MY POINT, READ IT CAREFULLY: 1)Unitarians are out of the mainstream. 2)Unitarians are connected to the Freethinkers. 3)Senator Conrad is a Unitarian.
That's all you need to read."
"Some of the biggest issues that Unitarians are currently fighting for are abortion rights and gay-marriage.
Because I am pro-life and anti-gay-marriage, I would never associate myself with their institution. Sen. Conrad does.
Do not look any further into that statement. That doesn't mean I think he's pro-gay-marriage or pro-choice, but it is kind of odd that we associates himself with an institution that supports those positions.
You guys are taking my statements and automatically suggesting that I'm making those conclusions. I am not."
I think this kind of thing needs the glare of the spotlight to expose just what the Republican party is really all about. I don't ask for this very often, but please recommend and spread news of this posting.
----------------------------------------
Why am I posting the opinion of a small time blogger? Well, for one, I am a small time blogger and for another, the post mentions Unitarian Universalism, and I happen to be a member of the Peoria Universalist Unitarian Church. (we permute the names as we were a Universalist Church prior to the merger in 1963).
And, it is nice to see "one of us" in the Senate. Yes, there were Unitarian Presidents (the last one was President Taft) but the denomination was a rather different animal then. In those days, Unitarians were Christians who denied the Trinity, and Universalists were those Christians who believed in universal salvation.
posted by Harriet at
11/23/2005 09:26:00 AM
3 Comments:
Re the smearing - they don't need a 'reason' as anything can be twisted beyond recognition. I think sometimes it's best to fight back, hard, and other times just ignoring utter nonsense can reduce the attention it does not deserve. For instance, Kerry should have fought back in the last campaign, much harder. And as an example of ignoring, there's entirely too much attention given to O'Reilly, IMO.
Re the UU thing, I scanned the relevant articles in Wiki(pedia) and see that, as I suspected from your piece, it has some commonalities with the Bahá'í Faith to which I belonged for many years. For instance, the idea of the trinity being a later addition by church fathers, the notion of many holy persons throughout history which the BF calls progressive revelation, and the ideal of unity which the BF expresses as the equality and commonality of all humankind: http://www.us.bahai.org/
I saw the phrase "out of the mainstream" stated as if it is, or could be thought of by some as, a bad thing, lol. I don't believe in anarchism but do appreciate actual free-thinking individuals. They (we) are precious indeed.
Robin Edgar under attack for his faith (he was a Unitarian Universalist)
The following two-page letter was distributed to a number of Montreal Unitarians and others entering the Unitarian Church of Montreal today. It is a modified version of the letter that I distributed to UUs during the UUA GA in Quebec City in 2002.
Here is the "annotated version" -
http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com/2005/12/letter-of-discontent.html
From Robin Edgar
Sunday December 4, 2005
To whom it may concern,
Today marks the 5th anniversary of my false arrest in December 2000 on trumped up criminal charges brought against me by Montreal Unitarians. After a few of criminal court dates I was acquitted of these unwarranted criminal charges that were intended to completely censor and suppress my legitimate public protest. I am protesting against the failure and refusal of the Unitarian Universalist religious community to responsibly redress my own and other UUs' legitimate grievances about abusive clergy misconduct. I am also protesting against the antireligious prejudice and intolerance that deplorably pervades and degrades UUism. The abusive clergy misconduct that I was subjected to arose directly from the antireligious intolerance, indeed the outright bigotry and hostility, of a self-professed "Humanist" Unitarian Universalist minister. I have seen too much evidence of similar antireligious prejudice and hostility towards God believing people within contemporary UUism. Such antireligious prejudice and intolerance, even hostility and bigotry, betrays UUism's monotheistic heritage and makes some UU congregations far from "Welcoming" (and at times even less than "Safe") for God believing people in general and Christians in particular. These UU injustices and abuses make a complete mockery of the claimed principles and purposes of UUism, and other UU ideals and must be responsibly redressed by all UUs, including current UUA and CUC leadership.
My clergy misconduct complaints did not involve sexual misconduct however I am also concerned about the UUA's and MFC's past failure to responsibly redress complaints arising from sexual misconduct by UU ministers. The UUA's "official apology" to victims of clergy sexual misconduct admits that the UUA has "largely failed" the victims of clergy sexual misconduct. In May 2000 I protested the failure of both the UUA and its Ministerial Fellowship Committee to responsibly address clergy misconduct, sexual or otherwise, in front of the UUA's offices at 25 Beacon Street. I also protested at UUA and CUC AGMs. I am protesting on behalf of all the victims of abusive clergy misconduct committed by UU ministers and all other people who have suffered either insult or injury (or both) as a result of antireligious intolerance as well as other injustices and abuses committed by hypocritical UUs who willfully disregard and violate claimed UU principles and purposes. I have been protesting in front of the Unitarian Church of Montreal on most Sundays since May 1998 because these remarkably hypocritical UUs have rejected or willfully ignored all of my letters of grievance and my subsequent public protests. Montreal UUs have repeatedly unjustly punished me for refusing to “accept" their unjust, inequitable and uncompassionate rejection of my grievances arising from their well documented injustices and abuses. I have been repeatedly verbally attacked by Montreal UUs and I have been threatened and physically assaulted on occasion as well. Montreal Unitarians attempted to criminalize my public protest and have repeatedly called the police even though my protest is legal. In doing so Montreal UUs have made a total mockery of their purported principles and purposes, and other claimed ideals.
During a private meeting with him, the purpose of which was to try to explain a profound revelatory experience that I had undergone in early 1992, former UCM minister Rev. Ray Drennan sarcastically mocked and ridiculed my religious beliefs by labeling them as "silliness and fantasy" amongst other derisive and insulting comments. Rev. Ray Drennan contemptuous dismissed my revelatory experience as "your psychotic experience" and angrily insisted that I was in immediate need of "professional help." As if these words were not insulting and damaging enough Rev. Drennan went on to label 'Creation Day' (an inter-religious celebration of Creation that was inspired by my revelatory experience) as "your cult." When I immediately challenged him to qualify what he meant by this damaging slur (which is the 21st century equivalent of labeling someone as a "witch" or "heretic") he replied, "I mean a manipulative and secretive religious group." Ironically, less than a month earlier, Rev. Ray Drennan and the Board of the Unitarian Church of Montreal had banned ‘Creation Day' from being celebrated in the "sanctuary" of the UCM during an "in camera" segment of the October Board meeting that was totally secretive cynical manipulation of the democratic process; even though ‘Creation Day' had been unanimously approved as an adult RE activity by the UCM's Religious Education committee. Rev. Drennan never retracted these demeaning and damaging allegations about me, nor did he ever issue an acceptable apology that clearly and unequivocally acknowledged the wrongfulness of his words and actions. Rev. Ray Drennan was never held accountable by the Unitarian Church of Montreal or the UUA's Ministerial Fellowship Committee. I on the other hand have been repeatedly punished and attacked by UUs for refusing to “accept” these UU injustices and abuses. The Ministerial Fellowship Committee complicitly "whitewashed" Rev. Ray Drennan by asserting that his demeaning and abusive misconduct, as I described it in more detailed letters of grievance, "seemed to us to be within the appropriate guidelines of ministerial leadership." When I wrote a letter protesting this ludicrous decision, Rev. Diane Miller responded by vaunting the "wisdom" of the MFC's decision to "close the file."
My grievances arising from the abusive clergy misconduct of Rev. Ray Drennan, and the subsequent negligent and unjustly punitive responses of the Unitarian Church of Montreal must finally be responded to by Unitarian Universalists in a manner that clearly lives up to both the letter and the spirit of UUism's Seven Principles, other UU ideals, and policies such as the Safe Congregations program. I also expect the UUA, the CUC, and the Unitarian Church of Montreal to hold all those who are most directly responsible for the negligent, incompetent, and complicit response to my serious grievances fully accountable for their reprehensible actions and indeed their clearly negligent inaction. Rev. Diane Miller and other members of the MFC's Executive who unjustly, inequitably, and uncompassionately rejected my serious grievances, who complicitly "whitewashed" Rev. Ray Drennan’s clergy misconduct, and who have "largely failed" the various victims of sexual misconduct and abuse by UU ministers must face accountability for their own deplorable failures. Justice must finally be done for me and for others and I expect it to be seen to be done by the Unitarian Universalist community as a whole.
Sincerely,
Robin Edgar email – robinedgar59@yahoo.ca
Google and Google Groups searches on pertinent names and key words such as - "abusive clergy misconduct" will find pertinent posts in various inter-net forums that provide considerable additional information about these UU injustices. See also the UU Debate section of http://www.beliefnet.com. My new blog that is dedicated to exposing UU injustices, abuses, and hypocrisy is found at - http://emersonavenger.blogspot.com
Poor Mr. Edgar. I wonder what sort of "revelation" he had? I have seen some of his videos and frankly, I'm amazed. He seems offended by pretty much... well, everything! If he was upset or offended by the clergy, he should talk it out or walk it out. There are many UU churches in Montreal. Instead, he has made vengeance his lifes work. What a waste of his life.
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