The multi-year downward trend began, ironically, in 2008, the year in which the election of the country’s first black president strangely coincided with a marked increase in leftist discontent. This was expressed—sometimes violently—by Occupy Wall Street and #BlackLivesMatter. The language intensified: “sexism” became “misogyny” and “racism” became “white supremacy.”
The Reverend Kate Braestrup
I had the bad luck to become a UU in 2007. It’s interesting to me that Rev. Braestrup traces the genesis of our problems to Occupy Wall Street becoming a UU cause célèbre; I do too.
By Rev. Kate Braestrup
When my first husband Drew and I joined a Unitarian Universalist church back in 1992, a UU could be Christian, Jewish, humanist, pagan, a seeker or a sinner, gay or straight. Nationally, Democrats outnumbered Republicans 2-to-1 in our churches, so it was a bit lopsided politically but there was still sufficient ideological diversity to keep things interesting, educational and honest.
Our own home congregation boasted a wide variety of folks — white, black, relatively rich and relatively poor, liberal and conservative, straight and gay, with all sorts of opinions about God, life, and death. It was a living, lively UU church.
One of my favorite memories from our early membership is of my late husband Drew, chatting at a church potluck with a congregant I’ll call Ralph. Drew was a State Trooper, and he’d come to the party straight from work and…
View original post 1,381 more words
