Monday 31 May 2010

Who's worse: missionaries or marketeers?

David Griffiths writes in defence of missionaries in the Guardian's Comment is free section today. Griffiths works for Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an organization completely focused on defending Christians from persecution, so his interest in the image of missionaries is less than an objective one.

[There has recently been considerable noise in the UK that Christians - the vast majority here in this country with a Christian State religion - are being persecuted.  It just amazes me when the increasing rights of the minority are termed 'persecution' of the majority!]

Griffiths would argue that missionary work - when done respectfully - brings exposure to new ideas. It is a healthy thing done only by those dedicated to preserving the status quo.

Well, he may be ignoring the obvious fact that it has always been the powerful and the affluent who have the ability to send forth such missionaries. The poor and weak are always at the receiving end of the 'saving message.' This is not hardly our ideal free exchange of ideas when it is so entirely tied to power and money.

On the other hand, we live in a world awash in a different kind of evangelism - advertising. There is almost nowhere we can go where we will not be exposed to the promise of salvation through purchases. I am beginning to suspect that a new iPad will truly bring me the independence, connectedness, efficiency, effectiveness and sheer joy that I have been craving!

In that kind of a world - where missionaries are so enormously out-gunned by corporate evangelism - is a bit of missionary activity really so bad?

I recently heard an excellent presentation by Brian Kiely, President of the International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU). Kiely was very, very careful to ensure the audience that the ICUU was not in any way working to spread the U*U [Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists - oy!] movement, but rather to support those groups that have have already become identified with and connected to U*Uism. Good religious liberals like the U*Us are impeccably careful about imposing anything on anyone - so much so that we tend to be invisible. The ICUU is well aware of the history of Western religious imperialism. It clearly does not wanted to get painted with that brush.

But...  isn't there a good argument to be made that in a world awash in materialistic, corporate evangelism, a respectful message - a truly respectful message without attempts to convince or convert - would be appropriate? More than appropriate, perhaps it is irresponsible not to share a way of life that is more meaningful and satisfying than materialism.

I would be very supportive of some good U*U missionaries travelling the world, standing on soap-boxes, and shouting out our not so oppressive messages: "you are worthy of respect and love", "you have the right to think for yourself", and "it doesn't matter what you believe, just be good to each other and the planet."

Sunday 30 May 2010

Anglicans cling to biblical fig leaf in same-sex marriage struggle

Ken Cauthen, writes in his blog, Liberal to Left Musings: Politics, Religion, Ethics, Justice, Humorthat Exegesis Follows Belief.  For those who have not had to learn such arcane terms in a theological education, exegesis simply refers to a critical reading of a text, and particularly of scripture. [I do love how every speciality creates special language to keep the riff-raff off of their intellectual turff!]

Cauthen was reacting to a statement from Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, against Anglican recognition of same-sex marriage. Williams declared
Changing the Anglican theological position on homosexuality would have to be based on the most painstaking biblical exegesis and on a wide acceptance of the results within the Communion
Cauthen points out that, contrary to Williams' implication, religionists do not in fact make their moral decisions based on interpretation of scripture. Rather, they do their scriptural interpretation based on prevailing moral stances.

Were this not the case, we would certainly see Christian preachers routinely urging members of their flocks to stone their neighbours who wear clothing made of mixed fibres and extolling the virtues of slavery (so long as the slaves come from a nation other than their own, of course).

The Archbishop then only pretends that the intellectual work must come before a change in Anglican ethics, but this is merely another attempt to avoid having to make a move toward justice - a move that would be terribly divisive within the Anglican Communion.

Our moral stances do not - even for true believers - come directly from an interpretation of scripture. They come from our own sense of the world - a sense that is deeply and inextricably influenced by the culture of our times. In the 19th century, Theodore Parker told us that the moral arc of the universe is long, but that it bends toward justice. That ongoing change in the cultural ethics is influenced by religion, but it is a product of so many more influences that - in practice - our exegesis follows our moral choices and not the other way around.

Cauthen concludes,
[Those religionists] who approve of same-sex love need most is not more and better exegesis but to find non-exegetical ways to change hearts and minds. When that happens, the foundational and sustaining exegesis will be forthcoming.
My hope is that the Anglican Communion's 'bending toward justice' for same-sex couples does not take too terribly long and that - despite the very present risk of schism - it will recognize that an exegesis incompatible with the culturally recognized demands of justice is unsustainable.

Friday 28 May 2010

Unitarian congregations membership



Warning! The numbers below may be very inaccurate! Very!


I needed to get that warning out of the way... I arrived at these membership numbers using the congregational quota contributions from the GA's 2009 Annual Report. I simply divided by £24 and rounded, as each chapel was meant to contribute £24 per member in 2009. Some chapels give more and some give less. Some chapels have  not cleaned out their membership list in a while. It happens... Life is messy.
Nonetheless, as the old management adage goes, "you can't manage what you can't measure." If we are trying to measure growth, we need to be able to measure it.
Admittedly, weekly attendance is a better, more reliable measure than membership, but you have to use what you've got.  So, here are the 2009 numbers!
If anyone would like to correct the numbers listed for their chapel, please feel free to post a comment.

Congregation
Members
Aberdare
23
Aberdeen
50
Ainsworth
17
Alltyblaca
3
Altrincham
50
Ashton-in-Makerfield
52
Atherton
59
Banbury
10
Bath
7
Bedfield
2
Belper
4
Billingshurst
7
Birmingham Edgbaston
48
Birmingham Hollywood
50
Blackpool
19
Bolton Bank Street
56
Bolton Chorley New Road
19
Bolton Egerton
29
Bolton Halliwell Road
15
Boston
9
Bournemouth
8
Bradford Russell Street
17
Bradford Unitarians
17
Bridgwater
5
Bridport
12
Brighton
38
Bristol Brunswick Square
14
Bristol Frenchay
19
Bury
81
Bury St Edmunds
22
Cambridge
49
Capel Ifan
0
Cardiff West Grove
18
Cefn Coed y Cymer
23
Cellan
2
Chatham
8
Chelmsford
10
Cheltenham
11
Chester
10
Chesterfield
4
Chorley
23
Ciliau Aeron
2
Cirencester
6
Coseley
7
Coventry
10
Cradley
24
Crewkerne
12
Cribyn
5
Croydon
49
Cullompton
6
Cwmsychbant
5
Cwrtnewydd
7
Dean Row
84
Denton
0
Derby
7
Ditchling
16
Doncaster
18
Douglas
6
Dover
5
Dudley
1
Dukinfield
50
Dundee
35
Eccles
64
Edinburgh
54
Enfield
16
Evesham
26
Felinfach
2
Framlingham
10
Glasgow
38
Gloucester
8
Godalming
34
Great Hucklow
19
Great Yarmouth
11
Hale Barns
29
Hastings
16
Hinckley
64
Hindley
12
Horsham
29
Horwich
6
Hull
27
Hyde
2
Hyde Flowery Field
8
Hyde Gee Cross
12
Ipswich
38
Kendal
47
Kidderminster
29
Knutsford
53
Lampeter
14
Leeds
30
Leicester
25
Lincoln
13
Liverpool Gateacre
19
Liverpool Sefton Park
28
Liverpool Toxteth
9
Llandysul
4
Llanwnnen
8
London Bethnal Green
0
London Brixton
0
London Golders Green
39
London Hampstead
163
London Islington/Newington Green
56
London Kensington
50
London Lewisham
13
London Stratford
5
Loughborough
2
Lytham St Annes
14
Macclesfield
42
Maidstone
7
Manchester Chorlton
10
Manchester Cross Street
26
Manchester Dob Lane
15
Manchester Gorton
14
Mansfield
48
Mossley
12
New Mill
6
Newcastle
22
Newcastle upon Tyne
21
Newport
7
Northampton
8
Norwich
34
Nottage
12
Nottingham
21
Oldbury
4
Oldham
10
Oxford
36
Padiham
50
Plymouth
22
Pontsian
5
Portsmouth
45
Prengwyn
6
Pudsey
12
Rawtenstall
8
Richmond
34
Rivington
19
Rochdale
54
Scarborough
13
Sevenoaks
26
Sheffield Fulwood
48
Sheffield Norfolk Street
56
Sheffield Stannington
24
Shrewsbury
25
Sidmouth
4
Southampton
16
Southend-on-Sea
3
Southport
10
Stalybridge
12
Stockport
8
Stockton-on-Tees
21
Stourbridge
7
Styal
24
Swansea
12
Talgarreg
8
Taunton
13
Tenterden
8
Torquay
9
Trebanos
19
Trowbridge
20
Urmston
46
Wakefield
17
Warrington
14
Warwick
18
Watford
11
Whitby
7
Whitefield
53
Wick
10
Wirral
19
Wolverhampton
2
Worthing
4
York
40