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"Faith of the Free"
-- A "grassroots forum" of information, inspiration and ideas...in the spirit and tradition of critically-thinking, broadly inclusive, "liberal religion"...about its rich heritage, intrinsic values, and growing relevance for an ever-shrinking world. --
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uufreespirit
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1745
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 Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 6:55 am Post subject: International U & U Blog |
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-- The Rev. Brian Kiely, current ICUU president, has set up a blog about current ICUU activities, with the help of Spanish UU Jaume de Marco. Here's the link...
http://uuwithoutborders.blogspot.com/
-- Included there is a post that's dated December 4, 2007 which gives additional links about ICUU, including a new "Wiki" entry...and a January 18th post about a new "international UU skypecast" that has been started.
Ron
_________________
-- Ron
"Freedom depends on free thinkers." --- Dan Barker
"The Reformation Must Continue!" --- Friedrich Schleiermacher
-->> Have you tried "UUPLINK UU RADIO" lately? You may be surprised! Go to... http://www.live365.com/stations/uuplink?site=uuplink"&"%20play
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uufreespirit
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Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1745
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| Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:10 pm Post subject: Kenya Conference Continues |
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-- Rev. Kiely's blog posts from Kenya have been both interesting, and illuminating. This international U and U leadership conference has been an unprecedented opportunity for our kindred spirits in Africa to interact with, and learn more about, the various flavors of our liberal faith from other sections of the world...and, of course, vice versa. And, even within Kenya, liberal religion is experienced through the different lenses of different religious backgrounds. Here's what Rev. Kiely writes about this;
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"[T]he excellent and focused questions which followed [the formal program presentations] suggested that the participants were hungry for such information and highly knowledgeable about religion in general. It was personally interesting to see how the questions and comments grew out of the different experiences of the different national groups. In each nation Unitarianism has been overlaid on top of a slightly different religious experience. Burundi is primarily a Catholic country while Kenya was most recently served by English missionaries. By contrast the strongest undercurrent in Congo-Brazzaville is still the animist religions of ancient Africa. As each national group tries to refine the place of Unitarian Universalism in their country, very different questions arise. Watching the process unfold is fascinating..."
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-- The rest of this post can be found at the following link;
http://uuwithoutborders.blogspot.com/2008/02/kenya-day-four-today-began-early-for.html
Ron
_________________
-- Ron
"Freedom depends on free thinkers." --- Dan Barker
"The Reformation Must Continue!" --- Friedrich Schleiermacher
-->> Have you tried "UUPLINK UU RADIO" lately? You may be surprised! Go to... http://www.live365.com/stations/uuplink?site=uuplink"&"%20play
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uufreespirit
Site Admin
Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 1745
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| Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:57 pm Post subject: Conference in Kenya, Continued; |
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-- More from Rev. Kiely's blog. I thought this was so good that it should be quoted here in some depth;
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"How to live our Unitarian Universalist faith into our daily lives is a challenge many westerners and northerners face. We tend to go through our lives not announcing our religion to the world. In Kenya that kind of separation of faith and practice is literally unthinkable. Ask the Kenyan Unitarians about their church and they won’t talk about worship or membership numbers. Instead they will tell you about the projects they do: the women’s groups, the working cooperatives, the orphanages, the volunteer-run schools and so on. To be a Unitarian here is to be involved in the community in a faithful way. Take my new friend Cyrus Itare. He is a young man still in his 20’s. He and his wife have a one month old child. He is unemployed (not unusual around here and while problematic, not a shameful thing). Oh, did I mention that he and his wife have taken eight orphan children in their home? I am in awe.
The last major difference between Kenyan Unitarians and the ‘first world’ UU’s concerns the topic of growth. It’s hard, exactly to say how many Unitarians there are in this country, but it is certainly over 500 in over 40 congregations. Five years ago, there were none... Zero.
Why so much growth so fast? Kenyan Unitarians are willing, eager to spread the word of their faith far and wide. Some preach in market places. Some talk to groups from other churches. There are many cases where entire congregations have ‘converted’ to Unitarianism. And then there is the outreach of their community programs. Anyone can participate, but they WILL hear about our faith. No one is forced to convert, but few who come in contact with Kenyan Unitarians will walk away not knowing something about us.
Good heavens! Conversion? Proselytizing? Unitarians doing that? Amazing.
But here’s something worth thinking about: If their success continues, within a few years there will be more Unitarians in Kenya than in Germany, Canada or the UK. Wow!
And now, the commercial: These folks are growing fast and are hungry to learn. I mentioned in Blog post 5 that they snapped up a suitcase full of books on our tradition. Perhaps we could look around our churches and communities for Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist books that haven’t been read for awhile. When I get home, I will start to explore how best to get those books to Africa. PLEASE DON’T SEND ANYTHING YET. Past experience has shown that a mailed book stands little chance of reaching its destination. But if you think you have a few books to contribute the cause, write to me personally (brikie@aol.com). I will keep track and then in a few weeks (more likely a few months) I will contact you about next steps.
Thanks,
Brian
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-- Thanks, Rev. Kiely! I really appreciate the insight you've given us into a part of our faith in which most of us know so little. And, yes, at least a few of us are trying to "get the word out"...what little we can, anyway. Hmmm...imagine what might be possible if most of us did!
Ron
_________________
-- Ron
"Freedom depends on free thinkers." --- Dan Barker
"The Reformation Must Continue!" --- Friedrich Schleiermacher
-->> Have you tried "UUPLINK UU RADIO" lately? You may be surprised! Go to... http://www.live365.com/stations/uuplink?site=uuplink"&"%20play
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