President's  Message
Toward a Unitarian Universalist Pagan Tradition
In the history of CUUPS, one of the things of which we have been justifiably proud is that we have succeeded in creating chapters within which there are diverse views of Paganism. We have from time to time, of course, had instances where a person with a rampant case of HP/S disease has attempted to use a chapter for personal aggrandizement, and by and large that person has found that the members of hir chapter refuse to play. Most of our chapters have made themselves oases where those whose personal practice may be Wicca, Witchcraft, Druidry, Heathenry, Asatru, Zen, Eclectic Paganism, and many other brands of Pagan thought, can comfortably interact, study, worship and learn together. Most, if not all, of our chapters either already have, or are working towards, covenantal relationships with their hosting congregations. We have established customs wherein the governance of a chapter models itself on the method used by the hosting congregation, and we on the National Level have recently instituted strict regulations against private and secret rites, Books of Shadows, levels of elevation within a chapter, and have altogether attempted to manifest a wraith wherein the practices of CUUPS are completely congruent with the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalist thought. And, if we have not fully succeeded in every single chapter in achieving these ends, the process of moving towards this model is certainly underway.
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Attention PayPal Membership Applicants
If you submitted a PayPal dues payment in the last quarter of 2008, the Membership Team may not have received a confirmation from PayPal that the transaction was processed. If you have not received an email from the Membership Team requesting additional information to complete processing your membership, please send us an email to membership@cuups.org with the date of the PayPal transaction and confirmation number you received so that we can cross reference it with the Treasurer and complete your processing. We thank you for your continued patience as we work out the technical bugs in our online system.
Niko Tarini & Ollis Hughes
CUUPS, Inc. Membership Team! |
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Earth-centered Congregation Discussion
There is an online group forming to discuss the deliberate formation of Earth-centered UU congregations, with particular emphasis on best practices, program development and funding sources. This includes people both inside and outside of CUUPS, and is not currently considered CUUPS "project."
If you are a lay person currently involved with an Earth-centered UU Congregation, or a UU religious professional and would like to participate in this conversation please contact David Pollard at dopollard@gmail.com |
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CUUPS Bulletin is a publication of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, Inc.
The CUUPS Bulletin is available for free to anyone interested in UU-Paganism. To subscribe visit the CUUPS website and fill in the form at the top of the webpage.
Corporate Officers:
Pres. - Maureen Duffy-Boose,
Vice Pres - David Pollard,
Secretary - Michael Walker,
Treasurer - Dick Merritt
At large Boardmembers: Rev. Ann Marie Alderman, Carol Bodeau, Ollis Hughes, Niko Tarini and Michael Walker.
Readership:
Mar. 2009 - 2,456
Sep. 2008 - 2,352
Jul. 2008 - 2,332
May 2008 - 2,309
Apr. 2008 - 2,263
Mar. 2008 - 2,112
Feb. 2008 - 2,028
Jan. 2008 - 1,720
Dec. 2007 - 1,408 | |
| Greetings!
Once again we've seem to hit a bump in the road, as far as getting a frequent Bulletin out. Part of it goes back to the old adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything." Well, on a number of fronts there hasn't been anything nice to say. However, you eventually get to a point where the news, however bad, has to be told.
That is NOT to say there's nothing happening out there. The UUA Commission Of Appraisal released a proposed rewrite of the UU Principles and Purposes. They took comment on it, including a formal one from the CUUPS board written by Michael Walker. Then, the Commission of Appraisal put out their latest revision, which while it does list "Earth-centered spirituality" as a "vital source," still drops out most of the wording that had been used in the 6th Source "Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature." There appears to be a good deal of confusion about what's next for former IAs as UUA Trustee, Tarama Payne-Alex told the UU World,
"It's not about stopping the [independent affiliate] organizations and what they're doing. That's never been the situation," she said. "But it became clearer to us that the things these groups needed in terms of resources were not actually managed by the UUA board. At the end of the day the staff are the people to manage this. They're there 35 hours a week. The board meets three times a year"
Despite the UUA Board's confusion, the CUUPS Board remains crystal clear on who we serve - you: our members in UU congregations, our network of 80+ chapters scattered across North America and the tens of thousands of Unitarian Universalists who are interested in Earth-centered religious perspectives. If the UUA wishes to resume their historical partnering with us in our work - great! If not, too bad, but we've still have our work to do.
Welcome to the eigth issue of the CUUPS Bulletin where Aisling starts a discussion about what it means to be a UU-Pagan, we look at the growing practice of Earth-centered UU Congregations adopting an Annual Patron or Diety. Aisling also has an article on the limitation of Tolerance and we give our Bylaw Review series a one issue break.
For the next issue, which will come out much more quickly than this one did, we are looking for questions that our UUA Presidential candidates should answer. We can also send Gini Courter some questions if you'd like - even though she's running unopposed. Any ideas for questions should go to the Bulletin email address listed above. |
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 Earth Centered Congregations Choose Annual Patrons
In 2003, Gaia Community, an Earth-centered UU Congregation near Kansas City experimented with a "Pagan Traditions of the World" format to our rituals, with several cycles of rituals from different traditions: British Traditional Wicca, Hellenic Paganism, Druidry, and Kemetic (Egyptian) Paganism, among others. The Egyptian Chapter introduced us to an ancient/modern concept of a "God Auction", whereby temples of a city would collect donations of food and goods to discern who would be the patron of the city. That temple (and its deity) was then given a place of prominence for the coming year, as well as having additional responsibilities to distribute that wealth and food to the needy.
After the first auction (which was a vigorous success as a fundraiser for the community), we made some additions/changes to the format to better reflect the eclectic tastes of our community: Since 2004, all four contenders will come from different pantheons, owing to the diverse nature of our members' beliefs; Final-four contenders from the previous year may not make an appearance in the current year's auction, to give other candidates a fair chance; Three or four rounds of questions will take place, with an opportunity to make donations after each question (tiebreaker rounds are possible if time permits and the outcome is close); Each contender generally provides a gift of some sort to their highest individual bidder; in addition, there is a basket of donated goods for the highest overall monetary donor;
Since 2006, a "penny auction" has been held in the spring to narrow a field of candidates down to the final four contenders; only coins are accepted for this "pre-selection", but any denomination is acceptable. After much back-and forth wrangling in the penny auction (which often was more of a quarter-and-dollar-coin auction), the four candidates for 2007 were: Apollo, Brigid, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and Freya with Brigid winning. This year the candidates were Artemis, the Green Man, Persephone and Thor. The final four candidates vied long and hard through five rounds of questions and raised more than $2800 for the community (and a minor mountain of food), but in the end, Thor was chosen by general acclaim as the community's next patron, starting later this summer.
Down in Texas, Pleasant Valley UU Church adopted this program in 2007, where it's called their "Patron Auction." The first year with the program featured Artemis, Isis and Kali as the candidates with Kali getting the final nod. This year Athena, Epona and Gaia were the candidates and Athena was chosen as their congregational Patron for the coming year. One of the advantages of approaching this as patron selection, is that it can include non-dieties - thus opening this program concept up to more mainstream UU congregations. For instance, this could involve historical UU figures or even ideas like from our UU Principles. |
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Results from the CUUPS Elections!
This year's election to the CUUPS Board of Trustees featured four candidates running for 3 positions. Carol Bodeau, Ollis Hughes, and the Rev. Anne Marie Alderman were elected to three year terms on the CUUPS Board of Trustees. They took office on October 31st when Rev. Bonnie Dlott, Steve Storm and the Rev. Adam Robersmith's terms ended.
The only changes in officer positions is that Michael Walker has replaced the Rev. Bonnie Dlott as Secretary, and the Rev. Anne Marie Alderman has replaced Rev. Adam Robersmith as Ministerial Liaison.
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The Plague of Tolerance
Well, many of you may have found yourselves having mixed reactions to some of the things that have gone on in certain congregations or communities in response to the news that the UUA is actually "cancelling" the status of Independent Affiliate. Since for the last two years, members of CUUPS and other religiously-based former IA groups have been discussing in various venues the pros and cons of changing mission statements and other documentation for the purpose of possibly re-applying for IA status, we may be forgiven, perhaps, for feeling as if the floor has fallen out from under us as we were sitting around the table conversing. And some of us might be feeling as if once again we have been told in no uncertain terms that we are not, in fact, welcome at the "welcome table". I did have a conversation recently with a colleague about the seemingly changing face of religious diversity within the UUA, and the seeming attitude of the Powers-That-Be towards our differing sets of belief systems and their place within the denomination. That person to whom I was speaking hastened to reassure me that there still was an "attitude and expectation of tolerance" of diverse viewpoints within the body of the UUA. And for some reason, I was not only NOT reassured by that statement, but even further disquieted. Let me explain to you why that is.
Tolerance is a plague. Sounds odd, perhaps, coming from a person who is primarily self-identified as, in my public life, a Witch, a Shaman, a net-worker for interfaith diversity. If there were ever anyone who moves in circles where others are vastly different from myself, where the Christian clergy and the mainstream civil rights leaders with whom I spend my normal work-week must approach me with an attitude of tolerance, or condemn me outright, I am definitely that person. I should, it would seem, be vastly grateful for the expressions of tolerance of my quirky views from those whose views are anathema to my own. But I say it again. Tolerance is a plague. People will 'tolerate' nearly any dreck in the name of being PC, of not making waves, of being "nice"...well, I have news for you all. This is another way we have turned the English language, the Craft, and the world, topsy - turvy.
Here is the full medical definition of the word "tolerance", which, by the way, began its life as a precise medical term and filtered into general usage when its definition became sloppily applied to other than scientific circumstances:
Tolerance (medical)
1. Physiological resistance to a poison.
2. The capacity to absorb a drug continuously or in large doses without adverse effect; diminution in the response to a drug after prolonged use.
3. Acceptance of a tissue graft or transplant without immunological rejection.
4. Unresponsiveness to an antigen that normally produces an immunological reaction.
5. The ability of an organism to resist or survive infection by a parasitic or pathogenic organism.
As we see here, the original context of the word "tolerance" describes the body'sability to resist noxious or toxic influences. Defining tolerance this way, it seems to me, in regard to the systematic watering-down of the Craft, is still valid. Promoting as a virtue the increased capacity to accommodate the presence of poisonous, toxic, unethical and worthless elements into our Craft, instead of making informed and conscientious efforts to rid ourselves of them, is no service either to the Craft or to those who seek it. This kind of "tolerance" is detrimental to the living body of the Craft and ought to be resisted by Traditional Witches and Wiccans at all cost.
Instead, how about touting an actual Craft skill in place of "tolerance" ? How about developing the faculty of discrimination or discernment? If you think it is a virtue to be "nice" to others, then apply the meaning of the word "nice" as it was originally intended. "Nice" means "Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle: a nice distinction; a nice sense of style." or...
"Done with delicacy and skill: a nice bit of craft." (I did not force the preceding example. The word "craft" is there in the original, which is the American Heritage Dictionary online) It used to be said that one might make a "nice distinction" between those things one liked, and similar, but different in essence, things that one did not like. I believe we need to revive the concept of a "nice distinction." "Discrimination" has, in the same topsy-turvy fashion as the words "tolerance" and "nice", been given, by common usage, a negative definition which is the exact opposite of the intended definition of the coiners and first users of the word.
To discriminate means:
1. To make a clear distinction; distinguish: (discriminate) among the options available.
2. To make sensible decisions; judge wisely.
Therefore, "tolerance" is a plague. It makes us dense, imprecise, and willing to acceptanything at all without looking at its character, its merits or efficacy. Being "nice" in its latter definition prevents us from being "nice" in its original definition.
We might want to take one last etymological peek here, at the source of the word "nice." It comes, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, from Middle English, foolish, from Old French, from Latin nescius, ignorant, from nescre, to be ignorant. Nice = "ignorant?" Yes, often.
Is that the real way we are willing to define ourselves? if it is not, then I move for less tolerance, more discernment and discrimination, more reality and less PC. Tolerance is a plague. Niceness is a plague. The ability to discriminate, to make nice distinctions, is the antidote.
Ignorance may be bliss, but it isn't part of my Beloved Community, and it shouldn't be part of yours. "Tolerating" differences isn't encouragement of intentional diversity. It is instead more like the business of standing in an area contaminated with the plague, doing one's best to inoculate oneself so one will not be infected therewith. Those who experience the quasi-acceptance that comes with that kind of "tolerance" know how they are being viewed, and rightly resent it. Simultaneous with the dictum being handed down from many pulpits at this time that one should "tolerate" the Other, and speak "nicely" to the Other, and not "discriminate" against the Other, is the inescapable reiteration that the person or group or belief so addressed is, and will remain, "Other." And so rather than the faculty of discrimination which might enable us to carefully evaluate the ideas and persons which differ from ourselves, and decide what in them is of worth, we are subliminally urged to keep the Other separate from ourselves, whilst simultaneously giving ourselves the warm fuzzy of being "tolerant". I strongly urge you to abandon the dictum of Tolerance and again search out the faculty of discrimination. Well-wielded, this is a knife that will not turn in your hand, as the definitions of "tolerance" and "nice" have somehow re-created themselves to become their own opposites. .
Philologically, linguistically, and ever etymologically yours,
Aisling the Bard
President, CUUPS-Continental
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