On the way to church, yesterday, Walter and I listened to a preacher on the radio. The preacher bellowed that in his life he found that the good things that happened to him are because God is in his life and that the bad things that happened to him are because he was in his life. The preacher demanded an amen but did not receive one. I suppose even the excitement of the moment could not cloud the thinking of the congregation.

What kind of screwed up theology was the preacher preaching? Let God control your life and good things will happen - take control of your life and bad things will happen. Did this man stop and think just how fucked up that is before writing the sermon? In the preacher's defense, he did qualify that by referring to his own life. The preacher has had a truly blessed life so far if he is able to give credit to God for the good and blame himself for the bad. Maybe this man has not experienced anything truly horrible.

I pray that this preacher does not experience anything truly horrible. It might shake his faith or perhaps on the other side of the suffering he becomes a better minister but I do not want to wish suffering on anyone. That would be a bit presumptuous on my part anyway. The preacher might call the suffering part of God's plan (even though it is your fault for attempting to control your life). I suppose that is one way to avoid despair. Not too comforting.

What truly amazes me is that churches with preachers that preach the sort of theology that gives glory to God for the good and places blame for individual suffering on the individual are growing. Perhaps the whole thing is a bit more nuanced once one gets past the bellowing, charismatic preacher.

Church is about personal growth and community. Church should be the last place to find condemnation. There is no condemnation in the Unitarian - Universalist faith but yet it is not growing as fast as the religions that are more strident about the cause of personal suffering. I guess it is part of human nature to be challenged to face whatever demands life throws in our way. Even the artificial demands of dogma.

Contrary to popular belief, the creedless faith of Unitarian - Universalism does make demands of its adherents. Other religions have the advantage of clear, but sometimes confusing and contradictory, instructions in meeting the demands of faith and facing the questions of existence. Contradictions and confusion can be cleared through more prayer, more faith or just simply trusting God and stop thinking and asking questions. Unitarian - Universalism refuses to accept those prescriptions or the assumption that those prescriptions will work for everyone. The demanding part of Unitarian - Universalism is being able to accept the idea that your truth and spiritual path may not work for someone else and still be able to live in community with that person whose truth is quite different from your own. It is not as easy as it sounds given humanity's demand for conformity.

Here is the evangelism bit: visit http://www.uua.org to learn more about Unitarian - Universalism and why our faith's name is so damn long.