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Unitarianism Crosses
the Ocean 
On this date, April 7, in 1794, after losing his home, church and laboratory to a fire, a Unitarian minister set sail for the United States. In honor of the anniversary, we present a short version of the Joseph Priestley story, the man Thomas Jefferson credited for his own conversion to Unitarianism. The world knows Joseph Priestley as a gifted scientist, who discovered oxygen, and invented anesthesia, carbonated water, and pencil erasers. He is often credited as being the founder of chemistry as a branch of science, though he was also an educator, an historian, and a theologian. He had a gift for languages, learning Latin, Greek and Hebrew as a boy, then teaching himself French, Italian, German, neo-Aramaic, Syrian, and Arabic as a youth. His boyhood dream was to enter the ministry, though by the time he was ready to do so, he had fallen away from his Calvinist upbringing, and was strongly influenced by liberal religion. By the time he had his first church, his theology had become overtly Unitarian, though his preaching was not popular and hampered by a speech impediment. Priestley's scientific career was evolving at the same time. When his first book, The History and Present State of Electricity proved too difficult for most readers, he wrote a second version, which required illustrations. When he was unable to find an artist to produce these, he taught himself the rules of perspective so that he could produce the drawings (and finding no book to help him learn this, he wrote one himself). In the process, he stumbled upon the use of rubber as an effective eraser for his lead pencil work. He went on to write Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever and History of the Early Opinions Concerning Jesus Christ, in which he argued that the bible did not support the doctrine of the trinity. A dissenting crowd gathered to protest his heretical views, and ended up burning the building he preached in, his laboratory and his home. Priestley fled to London where he was denounced in the House of Commons, burned in effigy, and criticized from numerous pulpits. At last, he and his family immigrated to the US. and settled in Pennsylvania. There he founded the first Unitarian church in America, the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia, where John Adams was often in the pews, and he exchanged views on Christianity with Thomas Jefferson. Priestley later dedicated his book, General History of the Christian Church, to President Jefferson. | ||||||
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Starr King School for
the Ministry to Welcome Large Class 
The Reverend Dr. Rebecca Parker, President of the Starr King School for the Ministry, writes to describe their incoming class. A huge group of students, 45 of them, have been accepted for next year, and 26 have already expressed their intention to enroll. The class is described as "younger, more international, and more diverse than usual . . . ." The age range of this group is from 22 to 64, with nearly one-third of the class being in their 20s. Several are parents and several are life-long UUs. In fact, many say their chosen path was influenced by their YRUU experiences! The experiences of others include "college teaching and administration, campus ministry, the Peace Corps, home-making, social work, marketing, business, social justice organizing, military service, youth work, farming, art, and more." They represent more than a third of the states as well as Botswana, Canada, Senegal, Thailand, and Turkey. All of the accepted applicants need to think carefully about their decision to enroll and, for many, this discernment must focus on the financial realities of their calling to ministry. We can help. Online donations are welcome at www.sksm.edu/onlinegifts/ | ||||||
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This year's theme of UU University, Ministry in the Borderlands, invites congregational leaders to consider the challenges and rewards of faithful engagement across the borders of religious identity. Keynote speaker, the Reverend Nick Carter, is passionate about the possibilities and realistic about the challenges. It is a winning combination. Carter, President of Andover
Newton Theological School, is actively engaged in interfaith
cooperation for action. He has been reading about us and will begin with
the Unitarian Universalist experience, helping us focus on the ways we can
bring our particular perspective to the world in ways that can heal
religious strife. Participants will explore the borderlands of
diversity-of thought, opinions, theology, and more-at the
inter-personal, congregational, and community level.
This program continues the UU University commitment to relevance and excellence in congregational leadership development. If your congregation is working in the borderlands or considering it, Nick's stories, ideas and activities will help you develop a good plan of engagement. These models will also be useful to those of you who want to engage the religious and theological diversity within your congregation. | ||||||
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Sadly and with a sense of loss we report the news of the passing of the Reverend Robert Botley. He died peacefully, with his wife at his side, at the age of 84. His obituary appeared in the Eureka Reporter. Bob had served our San Mateo congregation for nine years in the 1960s, was active in the Civil Rights movement, and marched with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma. He later retired in northern California, and became a leader of our Humboldt congregation. HUUF will celebrate his live on May 31, at 2:00 p.m. Donations may be made in his honor to the Fellowship or to the Hospice of Humboldt in Eureka, CA. Times Online recently ran a piece on the Internet's best religious blogs and, while no UU blogs were on the writer's radar screen, there are some interesting choices, including the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. How are clergy responding to Barack Obama's speech about race relationships and the preaching of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? One minister, the Reverend Willie Anderson of the predominantly black New Bethel Community Church, recently invited the Reverend Katie Kandarian, who serves our Starr King congregation, to meet with a small group of his lay leaders and talk about it. Katie's reflections included our local legacy of the ministry of Thomas Starr King. The ANG newspapers (the Argus, the Oakland Tribune, the San Mateo County Times, the Tri-Valley Herald. . .) covered the story on its insideBayArea website. Who's your Eco-Hero? The UU Ministry for Earth is inviting our congregations to nominate and celebrate a member who has made a significant contribution to Earth Ministry. This person may become the first annual recipient of the Guardian of the Future Award at General Assembly 2008. I can personally think for several worthy candidates for this honor, and sure would love to see any one of them on that stage! Nominations are due by May 15. How fun to get to report that the Reverend Meghan Cefalu, who serves our UU Community of the Mountains congregation, was voted First Runner Up in the "Best Minister" in Nevada County category by the readers of the local paper, The Union. Love that! Get out your calendars - and please note that next year we'll be changing the dates of our District Assembly, from its traditional slot on the last weekend of April, to its new home on the first weekend of May. Many thanks to the members of our UUMA Chapter who worked out this tricky change with us-it will help us bring in the most popular and dynamic national speakers, so we're very happy about that! This year's District
Assembly will still be held on April 25-27, and now you can
register directly on our website!!! Yes, you can now register using
PayPal! Please keep the following deadlines in mind, 'cause we're
getting close to them:
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