Comments for Boy in the Bands

Comment on Anti-clerical? by Bill Baar

Bill Baar — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:25:36 +0000

I’m don’t think anti-Clerical = Minister-Less religous community.

Anti-Clerical to me has always meant being against Clerics using their authority outside the religous community.

Comment on Anti-clerical? by PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:29:44 +0000

While I agree with Derek, I think there’s a big difference between the anti-religious/anti-clerical mission of the fellowships and the minister-less religious community. Let’s be honest about what the fellowships wanted to be: conversation clubs operating under the rubric of free religion (ironic, since so many of the most staunch members would have described themselves as not religious). Was “spiritual care of the members” really in the vision of those fellowships? I think rarely, as the word “spiritual” gave so many of them the heebie-jeebies.

Comment on Anti-clerical? by Bill Baar

Bill Baar — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:42:11 +0000

I heard Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George on a talk show once mention his Father was anti-clerical. The host asked what that meant and George said his Father didn’t think your Priest should be your friend. You went to a Priest for the services you expect from a Priest. You didn’t go to him for anything else. That puts a healthy boundary on clerics too. I wonder if the success in the 50’s could in part be attributed to a sense of anti-clericism in that sense by everyone involved: clerics and laity.

Comment on Anti-clerical? by Derek

Derek — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:12:28 +0000

Sometimes I have wondered if the phenomenon being labelled as “anti-clericalism” is truly anti-clergy. Or is it, perhaps, “pro lay ministry”? Or perhaps it is against certain clergy-centered styles of authoritarian leadership where “father knows best”?

I think that underlying the anti-clergy concern, is often the unspoken notion that a real congregation has clergy; and that if you don’t want or need clergy, then you are refusing to “grow up” and “get real”.

Comment on Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts by Matthias

Matthias — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 10:34:49 +0000

I am writing from the comfort of my rumpus room here in Melbourne Australia .I first came across your websites in the late 1990’s,as i am a universalist worshipping in a liberal evangelical church , This is because the local Aussie UU’s i find to be spiritually dry and more interested in politics but not also the soul. The church here in Melbourne seems to me to be also a secular form of Calvinism- they’re the elect.
I noted on another of your blogs the Uniting Church of Australia’s distinction on membership,adherents etc. This is one church here in Oz that is dying-their demographic is 65 plus,and if it was honest enough it would pull out of the World Assembly of Reformed churches and join ICUU-as it has been a liberal denomination for donkey’s years. However it seems that that just as the UCA ,has generational problems ,the UUA is in the doldrums-regarding the financial. Would you not be prepared to take the leading of God and call for renewal or is it too late after nearly 50 years and time for the universalists to come out of the UUA!?

Comment on Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts by Elz

Elz — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:37:43 +0000

Still the best, Scott! An arrow of insight.

Comment on Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts by PeaceBang

PeaceBang — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:40:29 +0000

I haven’t had anything to add but thank you for these posts.

Comment on Thinking about the UUA staff cuts by Boy in the Bands - Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts

Boy in the Bands - Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:29:41 +0000

[...] the doleful demise of the UUA Washington Office, I agree with others in my last post that the bigger problem is the cessation of new church starts. Though, seeing how few new [...]

Comment on The winners with regions by Blog roundup: The price of democracy, no easy Easters, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:25:38 +0000

[...] shouldn’t be a reorganization unless there’s a good reason. And a good reason would be to devolve some of the functions centralized in the current system. . . . But again, where’s the fire, or is this an effort to make lemonade — unwillingly — out [...]

Comment on “Terminating ministers” by Evaluating General Assembly, clapping in worship, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:31:53 +0000

[...] at “Jess’s Journal” and the Rev. Scott Wells of “Boy in the Bands” also criticized the [...]

Comment on The religion of what? by Military chaplaincy, debunking UU myths, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:31:21 +0000

[...] And the Rev. Scott Wells at “Boy in the Bands” asserts that Christianity is “an itchy and integral part of our identity” as Unitarian Universalists. April 11th, 2008 | View Comments blog comments powered [...]

Comment on Post-Christian? by ‘Famous’ UUs, reactions to Knoxville, ‘post-Christian’ UUA, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:27:28 +0000

[...] in the Bands”: “‘[P]ost-Christian’ is a theological delimiter that singles out and minimizes Christians within Unitarian Universalism. It’s not a term of pluralism but triumphalism, and has no [...]

Comment on On Sinkford and Ahmadinejad by Sinkford and Ahmadinejad, Paul Newman, UU podcasts, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:24:00 +0000

[...] Rev. Scott Wells at “Boy in the Bands” saw the meeting as “propaganda gold” for Ahmadinejad, but speculated that it would only garner criticism of Unitarian Universalists from Bahai’is [...]

Comment on Thank you, Mildred Loving by Celebrating congregations, the value of staying put, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:08:13 +0000

[...] public schools. And the Rev. Scott Wells at “Boy in the Bands” expresses gratitude for Mildred Loving and her legacy of fighting for marriage equality. May 9th, 2008 | View Comments blog [...]

Comment on In orbit by Mother's Day, contemporary worship, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:07:56 +0000

[...] Rev. Scott Wells of “Boy in the Bands” lists Unitarian Universalist congregations that are not members of the Unitarian Universalist Association and do not fall into recognizable categories. “PolityWonk” suggests that the UUA bylaws [...]

Comment on To bookmark: UU leadership resources by Celebrating California marriages, ministerial retreats, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:07:37 +0000

[...] Histories,” a new online resource from the UU Historical Society. And the Rev. Scott Wells at “Boy in the Bands” recommends the Unitarian Universalist Association’s “Selected Resources for [...]

Comment on Unitarian Universalism is a Christian religion by The right words to describe Unitarian Universalism, and more « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:07:10 +0000

[...] Wells was not persuaded, and argued that describing Unitarian Universalism as a non-Christian faith excludes Christian Unitarian Universalists: I know that most Unitarian Universalist aren’t Christian and perhaps don’t want to be. [...]

Comment on Change for not believing in? by Article Two and politics: perennial UU favorites « uuworld.org : The Interdependent Web

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:06:25 +0000

[...] Wells also starts with what he liked: 1. The COA did the work. They engaged in a process offering language to change a document that — [...]

Comment on Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts by Derek

Derek — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:19:38 +0000

What we almost need is what was once termed a “domestic missionary society/foundation”. Give it some funds, an independent board of trustees, a few field staff members, and a granting program… And watch it fly.

Would the Veatch Fund even dare to seed-fund such an entity?

Comment on Possible next steps after the UUA staff cuts by Chalicechick

Chalicechick — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:50:07 +0000

I think you’re right. Great post.