I also used Katie Erslev’s “theological house” curriculum resources that she developed based on the Rebecca Parker’s talk on “theology of religious education” talk presented at the 2003 LREDA Fall Conference:

http://www.uua.org/ya-cm/resources/pdf/UU_Identity-Erslev.pdf

I also brought into our discussion some historical tidbits from our UU history.

A DRE friend mentioned her historically Universalist UU church had to special-order their stained glass window of Jesus. The special stained glass window portraying Jesus had no halo, no signs of crucifixion, no ascention into heaven, etc … he’s portrayed as a teacher who offered salvation through the ethical example of his life and not his crucifixion.

I also mentioned that many early Universalists rejected atonement theology popularized in movies like Mel Gibson’s Passion, which (surprisingly or not) several of my middle school youth had seen.

This is a very interesting discussion which I intend to share with my RE Committee. This question of what “liberal Christian” means is a hot one for us at Eliot Church. In our continuing development of our own congregational identity (a journey we do not intend to have a distinct “end-point”), we constantly run up against the idea that the word “liberal” has only political conotations (sp?). “Liberal Christian” means more than Christians who vote Democrat (or Green, for that matter).

Our experience, as I have mentioned over at Unity, is that it is perfectly normal for an atheist or agnostic to consider him/herself Christian. Of course to do so means being steeped in the Christian tradition and, in fact, a part of it. There needs to be a concerted and authentic effort to wrestle with the Bible.

I share Peacebang’s concerns, both as an insider and an outsider in the UU discussion about Jesus (serving a united church can make one dizzy!). While the UCC did invite Spongebob to Cleveland and has the pictures to prove it, Their motivation was different, because of their faith, than the general spiritual motivations around the same issue in the UUA. Both are fine, but the story these two groups tell to get to their positions are different.

That having been said, I think the bouncer add does get to a basic theological issue in the UCC. “Jesus didn’t turn people away, neither do we.” Thanks Steve!

Anyway, this comment is now longer than one of my posts! I am sorry…

Happy Holy Week!

In short, they need to know the theological difference between liberal Christians and the orthodoxy, not just the political.

I did a values voting activity to see where they were at in terms of attitudes, experiences, etc surrounding Christianity and social issues. We discussed the results of the values voting activity.

To ensure that they were aware of the wide diversity within Christianity, I did bring examples of Christianity different from the typical Southern Baptist or Assembly of God views they run into at school into the discussion. We even went to the church office and watched the UCC “bouncer” ad on their web site as part of this class.

With them, I ticked off item after item, explaining to them how Unitarianism and Universalism had already addressed these same theological questions, coming up in most cases with alternatives or outright rejections of those doctrines. “So what’s left of Christianity?” I asked them. And they said, “Nothing!”
And so we spent the next hour refuting that idea. By the end of the session, each of those UU kids knew that the Christian tradition was their path for the choosing, and that Jesus belonged to them, too.

I highly recommend such an activity to your youth, as it seems potentially a very rich one for them, and might help them respond from a more informed, prepared and mature place to the conservative Christian triumphalism of their peers.

Two years ago when I was teaching high school RE classes, one of the kids during our check-in was venting about how the “Bible Belt” Christians in his high school were acting like real jerks.

This conversation could have easily slid into a very typical UU complaint session on Christianity and I didn’t want this to happen. I knew that at least one high school youth was a UU Christian and others in the group may have been leaning this way. I also knew that some youth in the past before my involvement with youth left because the group didn’t feel Christian-friendly.

I did acknowledge that some Christians you meet (e.g. the rude Christians described during check-in) can be incredibly rude. But the folks described in this check-in aren’t the only examples of Christianity available to them.

I mentioned the woman who played piano during worship services (a former UCC member who joined our congregation because the nearest liberal UCC congregation is several hours away and we were the best fit for her in Shreveport).

I also mentioned the Our Whole Lives curriculum and how this was a joint effort of UUs working alongside liberal UCC Christians.

And yet they gather for worship under the symbol of a flaming chalice, which whether they acknowledge it as such or not, represents in Christian terms the flames of the Holy Spirit rising out of the blood of Christ.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite funny-tragic moments from “Life is Beautiful,” when Guiseppe and his son Josue see a sign on a store front that says “No dogs or Jews allowed.” Guiseppe says to his little son that they won’t let any of their enemies into their special place, either! “And who would that be?” asks Josue. “Visigoths,” says Guiseppe. “Visigoths and… spiders!”

Visigoths are very welcome to Peacebang. Spiders are not. We suck them right up with a vacuum cleaner nozzle attachment.

Well I would! Yerr a terrific writer with a massive intellect.

I sent your link to a whole pile of friends, and I have heard back from a couple re your site. (impressed–They are a bit intimidated to post or discuss)

I know a web pal linked you up.

keep up the fascinating discussion.