Biblical Patriarchy Intro

I'd like to go back, first, to my experience with the UU church. UUs believe in the Beloved Community, and that by following the 7 Principles, by working to build a community that loves and respects each other, and treats people with dignity, we can create a bit of heaven here on Earth.

The family religion I grew up with had similar but different beliefs. As I understand my parents' teachings, they believed that "heaven on Earth" would come when everybody on this planet chose to live Biblically. (Exactly which Biblical lifestyle, was not necessarily as clear.)

My parents tried to teach us to live in the world, but not of the world.

With this series, I hope to raise awareness that Biblical Patriarchy includes a wide range of beliefs AND faith traditions

Thirty-Meter Telescope on Hawai'i

What I've been trying to work my way up to, this week, is discussion of the Thirty-Meter Telescope. It's... complicated, to say the least.

One of the first principles of intersectional work, is that anti-oppression should be led / centered by the voices that are directly affected by it. That being said, this is my blog / my space. So I'm going to begin with this great list of links: http://www.aoletmt.com/

And this Storify that Janet Stemwedel (@docfreeride) put together. My own analysis / processing will be below the cut.

Pay attention, in this Storify, to who are the kanaka maoli, the pre-European Hawaiian voices:

My own processing is below the cut, in two parts: 1) Who I am / Why I care, and 2) What I think.

This is a long post.

Evangelism, power, and Eclipse

I have written about living near the Columban Fathers headquarters, a missionary society, in the 1980's. I grew up hearing about El Salvador, Archbishop Oscar Romero, and calls from the pulpit at mass for the closing of the School of Americas (now renamed).

That was one of those political topics where, as a military family at the time, we listened and kept silent. Sometimes we could sign the petitions on tables after Mass (I think we usually signed the Pro-Life ones), and sometimes we did not.

Things change when a family becomes civilian. Some changes were obvious: not living in military housing, no longer surrounded by military families. Other changes took more time: figuring out who I really am and what I believe for myself, and then learning how to articulate it and use my constitutional Freedom of Speech.

Moments of Science History

This week I've been discussing history in light of the Women's Studies literature I've read, looking into "where did we go wrong?" Today I want to discuss some of the historical issues with science.

This is a complicated post to write, as I believe in STEM careers, and the ability of science to improve our world... while recognizing that sometimes science has gotten it wrong. It is relevant to several current topics of discussion, most notably the vaccine debate.

There is a meme, "Science can tell you how to clone a dinosaur. The humanities can tell you why that is a bad idea."  The case studies of scientific ethics that I was aware of to begin this post, appear largely to have come after the fact, in reaction to scientific decisions rather than preventative.

My Catholic education has long taught me that the question "Can we?" must also consider "Should we?" on scientific concerns. At the time, it was most applied to reproductive issues, both In-Vitro Fertilization and looking forward to the potential for "designer babies" in the future.

Beginning a survey on religions

I'm going to start a series next week, taking one world religion at a time and attempting a 50,000-foot view of origin, founder (if any), holy book(s), and major holy days or celebrations. It seems to me that this is a significant part of culture that many people overlook.

I grew up in a religious family, where our faith was a big part of our lives, and not just on Sunday morning. I have known many people in the United States for whom that is also true. A few years back, I found an article one Facebook discussing why several Muslim students chose to attend the University of Notre Dame, a major Catholic campus.  Among the reasons was that a religious campus understood religious observations that can include clothing and dietary restrictions.

Question everything, including this

I've hit the point in both my "becoming an engineer" and "path to social justice concerns" stories that I can't avoid discussing my spirituality. I'm pondering a post about "the far side, where the fringes meet," but this will not be that post.

My parents were conservative, Catholic, Charismatics.  There's a lot to unpack from those three words.  One of the blogs that I subscribe to and periodically read, is Love, Joy, Feminism on Patheos.com.  Things were a little different in my family, where she was homeschooled by Evangelical Protestants, we went to Catholic schools and Catholic church... but that also is another post.

The naming of things

Taking a study break to pull together some thoughts I've been having lately.

One of my aunts passed away suddenly, two summers ago.  At her funeral I realized that interest in languages and cultures is not uncommon on my dad's side of the family.  She was into those things too.  And American Sign Language, which I gather she studied as part of her work.

Even state-side, being a military Brat tends to encourage those thoughts of a bigger world, knowing people who were born in Germany, or were stationed in Japan, or other parts of the world.

I can remember reading articles in the 1980's, about the idea of the United States as a melting pot, versus a salad bowl. 

The problem with melting pot imagery is that it implies that we lose our individuality.  That everything mixes together, that everyone loses their previous identity, and we all become one homogeneous alloy.  In fact, Globalization of the 1980's often seemed that way, like the imposition of Western cultures upon the rest of the world.

Many people would prefer to keep their language, traditions, holidays, cultural foods.  Keep them, enjoy & share their own traditions, and sometimes pick up other traditions learned here.  That's the salad bowl, where lettuce and carrots and tomatoes do not lose themselves.  Each difference can add something new to the mix... but we don't have to eat everything.

Along with this idea, comes the idea that each person has a right to name themselves, to name their heritage, to name their culture, whatever blend of cultures their family has.  I don't have the right to impose my name for things on another person's reality.  It is their right to name themselves.

More recently, I see this in social justice work, applied to both gender and sexuality.  Each person has the right to name their own reality; their own gender, their own sexuality.  Trying to force someone into one of your label boxes is an act of violence.   By denying their name, one denies their reality.  Denying their reality is a step towards denying their very existence.  That is violence, and unacceptable.

I've tried to apply this to my understanding of languages and cultures over more than twenty years. 

As I became UU, I carried it over to my philosophy about spiritual practices. 

It is not my right to name another person's religion or spiritual path, only they can do that.  I can ask them if they think this name I know that seems to fit their beliefs is one they wish.  But it is their decision, to pick it up and wear it with pride, or to set it aside and say "No, thank you.  That label doesn't fit me right now." 

Just as I give that courtesy to others, I will insist on that courtesy for myself.  I am the only person who gets to name my spiritual path.  You may offer ideas and suggestions for what you think my path might be, but I choose whether to accept those ideas or not.  While my spiritual path is chosen, it is very deeply rooted in my being, and a very important part of my life.  To deny my name for this piece of me, is to deny my reality and my existence.  That is violence, and I will not accept it.

Bonus post: 2012 Annual Budget Drive

Since I missed a post last Friday, here's a make-up post.  Life is getting busier, I start the Natural Language Processing course on Coursera this week.  I mentioned last week that I am co-chairing the Annual Budget Drive for my church this year.  As part of the lead-up, we asked people to give testimonials, describing why they attend the church, what it means to them, and why they support it.

In the spirit of leading by example, I gave my testimonial last week.  The theme this year, is GIFT: Growing Into the Future Together.  Here is a lightly edited version of what I said:

Early Religious Education

My son started "Sunday school" this year, as a Preschooler.  Our UU church here is small, so the 2- and 3-year-olds play in the nursery with the babies.  But as a 4-year-old, he can join the first class.  It's really making me think about my experiences in Religious Education (RE), and the years I spent as an RE teacher.