Ralph wrote:

> In the course of my genealogical work (done primarily when the
triplets were little, which of course was a coincidence), I spoke to a
descendant of theirs who said that one day when they were living in
Amsterdam, her father or uncle came back from his daily stroll, and
asked his wife if she knew who he had met while out walking.  Needless
to say, she didn't know who he had met on the street, but the answer was
"Jesus Christ."   Turned out he had wandered into a church, and their
branch of the family has been Unitarians ever since.
--

Ralph,

I am a third generation Unitarian Universalist and have never personally
met the esteemed Mr. Christ. But maybe that's because I don't go to
church much, except when there's a maintenance or construction chore
that needs doing, or a landscaping event or something. And lately I've
been missing those too, since the volunteer organizers tend to have them
during daylight hours, when I'm (usually) sleeping.

I noticed a while ago that many of the members of both my childhood UU
fellowship and the newer one of my adult years, which calls itself a
community instead, are of German Jewish descent, or "lapsed" Catholics
(as one of them laughingly put it.) Most members were not "born"
Unitarians. Some are Christians, some are christians, some are probably
buddhists if the truth be known, and we have a lot of agnostics and
couple of atheists. The thing we all seem to have in common is a concern
for the condition of the here and now, as opposed to our imagined
probable status in the hereafter. Legend has it in my family that one of
the great American writers (either Emerson or Thoreau, both Unitarians,
I think) was asked by a clergyperson when on his deathbed if he was
ready "for the next world", and replied, "one world at a time".

UU's supposedly have the highest per capita income of any religion on
Earth, but I think that survey was done before the rise of Scientology.
At anyrate, I give truth to at least one Biblical teaching, that in any
congregation, "the poor will always be with you."  ;)    (This category
is, of course, all relative.... )

One time an acquaintance asked me what Unitarians "believe in", and I
reeled off the principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association
(this was back in my younger days before memory loss and garbled speech
had set in):

We believe and affirm:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our
congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our
congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
and
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a
part.

He said, "Wow, really? our preacher told us Unitarians are secular
humanists and atheists who don't believe in anything.....  "

mitch wilds wrote:

> My former secretary is buried in the new section. She wasn't a
politician either. She used to lived in a house that is now in a
historic district. My former secretary grew up in the former country of
Transylvania.  She walked out after WWII.  She hated the Nazis.  So does
Ralph.  Eerie, huh?
--
This is tooo spooky....   the Unitarian Church was started in
Transylvania, my former secretary wasn't a politician either (she was an
Alcoholic),  _I_ am a Unitarian who hates Nazis.... and Ralph's ancestor
was also!  too too crazy!!  and here we all are, on BP.... what a small
world it is....

deb

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