Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists

[lilithu]

Part one in what I intend to be a series:
(It is my intent, as I have the time, to post on UUs (and Unitarians and Universalists) who have made significant contributions to the U.S. and to the world.)


Tim Berners-Lee (1955 - ) : Unitarian Universalist
inventor of the world wide web

I will let the man speak for himself:

from The World Wide Web and the "Web of Life"
1998

People have often asked me whether the Web design was influenced by Unitarian Universalist philosophy. I have to say that it wasn't explicitly, as I developed the Web well before I came across Unitarian Universalism at all. But looking back on it, I suppose that there are some parallels between the philosophies.

Where I'm coming from

Like many people, I had a religious upbringing which I rejected as a teenager: in my case it was a protestant Christian (Church of England) upbringing. I rejected it just after being "confirmed" and told how essential it was to believe in all kinds of unbelievable things. Since then I have discovered that many of the people around me who were "Christians" in fact used a sort of loose interpretation of some of that stuff, but it relieved a great tension just to say no. In fact, confirmation is when you say "yes", and well, we all make mistakes. In fact the need for the basis for Christian philosophy but without the dogma was a vacuum for many years.

If you're used to other religions you might be confused by UUism being called a religion, but it qualifies I think. Like many people, I came back to religion when we had children. Why does everybody do this? Is it just that one feels that values and things are important for kids though one wouldn't have time for it otherwise? I hope not. Or is it that having kids is such a direct, strong, stark experience that it brings thoughts of life and love again bubbling up through the turgid morass which otherwise clogs our thinking? Or is it that it gives us an excuse? But for whatever, happenstance had our family living in the Boston area, where UU churches abound, and we were lucky enough to hit on a great one, with a great minister.

Unitarian Universalists are people who are concerned about all the things which your favorite religion is concerned about, but allow or even require their belief to be compatible with reason. They are hugely tolerant and decidedly liberal. The fundamental value and dignity of every human being is a core philosophy, and they have a healthy respect for those whose beliefs differ. They meet in churches instead of wired hotels, and discuss justice, peace, conflict, and morality rather than protocols and data formats, but in other ways the peer respect is very similar to that of the Internet Engineering Task Force. Both are communities which I really appreciate.


For Berners-Lee's comparison between UU and WWW, see:
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/UU.html

 

[Stairs In My House]

For Berners-Lee's comparison between UU and WWW, see:
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/UU.html

What a cool and very thoughtful discussion. I enjoyed reading that.

 

[lilithu]

Part two in what I intend to be a series:

Clara Harlowe Barton (1821-1912) : Universalist
Founder of the American Red Cross

(For the record, I did not write this. I edited writings from several different websites - listed below - for the sake of continuity.)

Born on December 25, 1821 in Oxford, Mass., the youngest of 5 children in a middle-class family, Clara Barton started teaching at the age of 15. After she was invited to teach in a private school in Bordentown, New Jersey, Barton recognized the community's need for free education, and despite opposition, set up one of the first free public schools in the state.

When officials decided to replace her with a male principal, Barton resigned. In 1854, she moved to Washington, where she became the first woman to work at the Patent Office, and for the same pay as the men.

"I may sometimes be willing to teach for nothing, but if paid at all, I shall never do a man's work for less than a man's pay."
- Clara Barton

Barton was still working at the Patent Office when the Civil War broke out in 1861. When Barton learned that many of the battlefield wounded suffered, not from want of attention but from need of medical supplies, she advertised for donations and began an independent organization to distribute goods. Never before had women been allowed in hospitals, camps or on battlefields; initially, military and civil officials declined her help. For nearly a year, she lobbied the army bureaucracy in vain. Finally, with the help of sympathetic U.S. Senator Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, Miss Barton was permitted to bring her supplies to the battlefield of Antietam.

Seeing the success of that operation, in 1862 U.S. Surgeon General William A. Hammond granted Barton a general pass to travel with army ambulances "for the purpose of distributing comforts for the sick and wounded, and nursing them." Officially, she became the superintendent of Union nurses in 1864 and began obtaining camp and hospital supplies, assistants and military trains for her work on the front. She practiced nursing exclusively on battlefields, experiencing first-hand the horrors of war on sixteen different battlefields. As a result of her untiring work, she became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield."

"In my feeble estimation, General McClellan, with all his laurels, sinks into insignificance beside the true heroine of the age, the angel of the battlefield."
- Dr. James Dunn, surgeon at Antietam Battlefield, describing Clara Barton.

After the war, President Lincoln granted her the ability to begin a letter writing campaign to search for missing soldiers through the Office of Correspondence.

Years of toil in the Civil War battlefields physically debilitated Barton. In 1869, she went to Europe to rest. However, the outbreak of war in 1870 between France and Prussia (part of modern-day Germany) brought hardship to many French civilians. Barton joined the relief effort, and in the process, was impressed with a new organization--the Red Cross. Created in 1864, the Red Cross was chartered to provide humane services to all victims during wartime under a flag of neutrality.

Twelve nations had signed the treaty but the Unites States had not. Barton returned to the United States; rallied to have the US join in this treaty; and vowed to establish this work in the United States. A reluctant U.S. government could not imagine the country ever again being involved in armed conflict after the Civil War. But Barton persisted, and finally at age 60, she persuaded the government to recognize the Red Cross and sign the Geneva Agreement in 1882.

Barton was the President of the American National Red Cross for twenty-two years. Under her leadership, she adopted the framework of the Red Cross to fit the needs of the United States not only during wartime but in peacetime (natural disaster relief). Internationally, countries noticed and recognized the need for such peacetime assistance and in 1884 the Geneva Convention passed the "American Amendment" to include this concept. This service brought the United States the "Good Samaritan of Nations" label.

Barton herself was the most decorated American woman, receiving the Iron Cross, the Cross of Imperial Russia and the International Red Cross Medal.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/bartonbio.htm
http://www.nps.gov/archive/anti/clara.htm
http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/bart-cla.htm
http://www.americancivilwar.com/women/cb.html

 

[des]

I feel a connection with a lot of what you say. I don't have children, but I have been a single living in a big city (not so big any more-- but without any ties to anything much).

I actually find many of these same kind of values in UCC (or at least the UCC churches I have been to-- as I realize there are some UCC churches that are rather different, even intolerant). Of course, as I have stated i sometimes find even the bit of dogma they do have is a bit much.
However, you will find the same "charges" leveled at it. That "we" don't believe in "anything". Of course, they are usually asking the wrong "belief" questions. If you asked, do you believe in diversity, social justice, rights of all people, and those sorts of questions, you'd find we believe in those things. If you'd ask if we believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus or some other such idea, you'd get all sorts of answers, but many times "no", I expect.

I think that UU and UCC both share a strong belief in many things that I think many of our neighbors do not. Some of my, even liberal friends, bristle at the idea that whites have an advantage in the US and that immigration is a social justice issue. Most UCC people I know (and I would bet UU as well) are very upset with the racist dialogue taking place on immigration, just to take one issue.

So I have lately thought this idea of "not believing in anything" was a convenient slur or a convenient disregard for what joins us all as humans.

--des

Like many people, I had a religious upbringing which I rejected as a teenager: in my case it was a protestant Christian (Church of England) upbringing. I rejected it just after being "confirmed" and told how essential it was to believe in all kinds of unbelievable things. Since then I have discovered that many of the people around me who were "Christians" in fact used a sort of loose interpretation of some of that stuff, but it relieved a great tension just to say no. In fact, confirmation is when you say "yes", and well, we all make mistakes. In fact the need for the basis for Christian philosophy but without the dogma was a vacuum for many years.

If you're used to other religions you might be confused by UUism being called a religion, but it qualifies I think. Like many people, I came back to religion when we had children. Why does everybody do this? Is it just that one feels that values and things are important for kids though one wouldn't have time for it otherwise? I hope not. Or is it that having kids is such a direct, strong, stark experience that it brings thoughts of life and love again bubbling up through the turgid morass which otherwise clogs our thinking? Or is it that it gives us an excuse? But for whatever, happenstance had our family living in the Boston area, where UU churches abound, and we were lucky enough to hit on a great one, with a great minister.

Unitarian Universalists are people who are concerned about all the things which your favorite religion is concerned about, but allow or even require their belief to be compatible with reason. They are hugely tolerant and decidedly liberal. The fundamental value and dignity of every human being is a core philosophy, and they have a healthy respect for those whose beliefs differ. They meet in churches instead of wired hotels, and discuss justice, peace, conflict, and morality rather than protocols and data formats, but in other ways the peer respect is very similar to that of the Internet Engineering Task Force. Both are communities which I really appreciate.


For Berners-Lee's comparison between UU and WWW, see:
http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/UU.html

 

[lilithu]

I feel a connection with a lot of what you say. I don't have children, but I have been a single living in a big city (not so big any more-- but without any ties to anything much).

Hi des, namaste.

Thanks for your thoughts. I just want to make it clear that the words that you responded to were not written by me. They are the thoughts of Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the internet, and they reflect his musings on why he is a UU and how he feels the UU community and the www community are similar.

I also feel a connection with what he wrote. The only two places where I've felt at home (for the most part) have been in the science community and in UU. In both places, we are united by common ideals that transcend our differences.

It doesn't surprise me at all to hear similar experiences within UCC. (Did I tell you that my church's social justice minister is UCC?)

 

[des]

Namaste,

Quotes are so confusing. Ok, you didn't write those brilliant thoughts. I'll straighten that out right now. She didn't write those brilliant thoughts.

No, re social justice minister. Doesn't suprise me.

--des

Hi des, namaste.

Thanks for your thoughts. I just want to make it clear that the words that you responded to were not written by me. They are the thoughts of Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the internet, and they reflect his musings on why he is a UU and how he feels the UU community and the www community are similar.

I also feel a connection with what he wrote. The only two places where I've felt at home (for the most part) have been in the science community and in UU. In both places, we are united by common ideals that transcend our differences.

It doesn't surprise me at all to hear similar experiences within UCC. (Did I tell you that my church's social justice minister is UCC?)