[Buddha-l] Another Unitarian perspective on Buddhism

[jkirk]

> How can I write this message without having to confess that yet again my
> lovely wife and I went to the Unitarian-Universalist church?
>
> The sermon yesterday was all about the obligation of the wealthy to take
> care of the poor. The minister approached the topic by looking at what
> several religious traditions have had to say on the topic. >

> The minister did not say anything about how Buddhism addresses the topic
> that I did not already know. .....
But what I did find interesting was that she said things I have
> never heard in any American Buddhist setting during the past thirty-five
> years. And I do sort of wonder why. Why do I have to go to a Unitarian
> church to hear an excellent Dharma talk about our collective social
> obligations to alleviate poverty?
>
> One claim of the Unitarian-Universalist minister was that American
> Protestantism has evolved in a particularly self-centered way. Not that
> it directly and openly advocates being selfish, but rather that certain
> Protestant doctrines lend themselves to being interpreted as invitations
> to neglect the needs of others. The Calvinist notion of election, for
> example, has been seen by some something like this: No one knows for
> sure whether they have been elected for salvation. One must look for
> signs. One sign is that those who are elected by God for salvation will
> receive favors here on earth, such as wealth. The corollary of this is
> that the poor are receiving a sign that they are NOT in God's favor. If
> if God doesn't think they are worth saving, then why should we?
============
Well, Richard, I can attest that having gone off and on to the Boise
UU Fellowship, and reading their monthly newsletter so I know the sermon
topics even if I don't go, I haven't seen anything in my 10 years here as a
sermon topic from the minister about the duty of the rich to help the poor.
As in so many organisations, this motive is taken care of (and kept out of
the public gaze so to speak) by instituting yet another committee. They ask
for volunteers, do the work. and take care of the two small institutional
efforts supported by this fellowship: helping the kids at a school in a poor
neighborhood of town with winter clothing (discarded of course); and serving
at the community house soup kitchen once or twice a month on a rotating
basis. The minister repeatedly says that she avoids politics because she's
only interested in "spiritual matters."

Therefore, one does not look for any social or political critique from her
pulpit. Occasionally someone will give a lay sermon on some aspect of
Buddhism,
but never anything to do with what the Buddha said about maintaining a just
society so as to relieve suffering and increase happiness. A month or so ago
while Ms Minister was out of town, a visiting UU minister gave a truly lame
sermon on karma.

Speaking of Calvinist notions, following on what you wrote about it, seems
to me that the dominant capitalist mode in the US today is a variety of
Social Darwinism that fits snugly with the Calvinist ideas of yore, that may
not be so "yore" after all. (I don't attend Protestant churches any more so
do not know if they explicity teach election, or not.) There are hints in
the wind, overheard here and there when Republicans are talking, that
environmental pollution and arctic meltoff together with rising sea levels,
are god's way of reducing population growth. The fittest survive all that
and the weak perish. Air and water pollution? good for the country.
Joanna