The shooting at a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, Tennessee has affected all of us -- myself to the point of groping for words. I've spent hours shifting from updates in the Knoxville papers to blog posts to my own blank posting screen.
It's too early to try to make sense of What All This Means. Right now we're grieving. We are grieving the loss of the two members who died in a twisted soul's feeble attempt at a blaze of glory.
And we grieve the loss of the illusion of safety. Jim Adkisson's actions don't make my church any less safe than it was two days ago. But there is a difference between appreciating intellectually that terrible things can happen without warning versus a visceral knowledge based on a real live terrible thing.
As UUs we believe ours is a chosen faith. That is, we attend church not because God commands us to but because we choose to seek out God. That choice takes on a special resonance with the knowledge that two of our fellow members lost their lives as a result of it.
Happily, others have found the words that elude me. A round-up. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations quickly built a site for expressions of support using the Blogger platform. Also, Sara at Orcinus wrote beautiful piece on the strength of liberal religion. Street Prophets has a good post up including thoughts based on other Orcinus posts about eliminationist rhetoric in conservative thought. Other UU bloggers weighing in include Philocrites who has been following the story piece by piece, ChaliceBlog and Yet Another UU.
RIP, JOHN OLESKY
5 months ago
1 comments:
UUs are the most tolerant and inclusive of any religion. It certainly looks like a crazed man was driven off the deep end by right wing hate broadcasters. I only wish they had conscience enough to feel guilt for fueling this guy's madness.
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