More Award Planning - Demographics

I like the idea of asking optional demographic questions on the blog award voting. So far CC has also indicated she would be interested in seeing demographic breakdown of votes. Not many other have expressed an opinion.

I like the idea, but I hate the idea of trying to define demographic questions myself. If we ask about Theological Orientation should we ask in a "Select all that apply" format, or "choose the one you most identify with" or what? What is the best way to ask about gender? What age categories would work best?

Probably the best way to determine this would be to borrow someone else's hard work. Has anyone else taken a survey recently where they asked about demographics and liked the way they asked the questions? Anyone have any good suggestions for the best practice methods of collecting demographics? Other demographic categories to add? Geographic location?

I am planning on pulling out particular items for discussion from my previous post asking for feedback, anyone who wants to add stuff in that previous post please feel free.

Third Annual Blog Award Planning

Last year after the second annual UU Blog Awards I posted a request for feedback. I also mentioned that I would like to have a bit of discussion well before the next awards to make sure ideas had time to be implemented.

Anyway some initial things that I would like to work out:

• What's a good timeline to shoot for. Should there be a break between nominations and voting to give people time to read all the stuff that's nominated, if yes how much time?
• Should there be any new categories?
• Should nominations for a category be limited to only a handful of entries? If yes how do we decide which of all the nominations should be the final ones?
  
• Could someone please help come up with a better description to stick in the about page?
• Should current vote totals be displayed during the voting period?
• Should the website display some sort of countdown to voting closing?
• Is it appropriate to ask optional demographic questions? If yes, what type of demographics? Specifically I would want someone to define the categories for me, I would not want to come up with them on my own.

Oh heck, that should be enough to get the ball rolling. What worked well? What could use improving upon? What should be added? What should be dropped? in short what would you change?

The Top 30

Ok, so no promises that this will be a regular feature, but people seemed to enjoy it last time. Here is the top 30 places people visited from UUpdates for the past 30 days.

1. The ChaliceBlog


2. PeaceBang


3. The Happy Feminist


4. PeaceBang's Beauty Tips For Ministers


5. arbitrarymarks.com


6. Yet Another Unitarian Universalist


7. Boy in the bands


8. Lo-Fi Tribe


9. Making Chutney


10. Elizabeth's Little Blog


11. CUUMBAYA


12. Sexuality and Religion: What's the Connection?


13. Media Nation


14. Philocrites


15. Jess's Journal


16. Ms. Kitty's Saloon and Road Show


17. Finding My UU Soul


18. The Wild Hunt


19. The Journey


20. Sisyphus


21. debitage


22. Shadow of Diogenes


23. ministrare


24. Spirituality and Sunflowers


25. iMinister


26. Returning . . .


27. thelivelytradition


28. RadicalHapa is Joseph Santos-Lyons


29. Paul Wilczynski's Observations


30. Red State Rebels

Evolving Denomination

I wrote the following back in 2004 (or earlier) before I had a blog. Seems appropriate to bring it up again. A post on the hanif blog reminded me of it.

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I listened to a interesting "sermon" given by a lay person at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Reston. According to the person giving the sermon the natural evolution of organisms was as follows (and I believe this is simplified):

• The development of the systems necessary to sustain life and provide energy (respiratory, digestive, etc.)
• Next, was the immune system. The organism needed to be able to differentiate between what was the organism and what was not the organism.
• More complex systems were able to be formed like the nervous system, brain, etc. as well as the basic sustaining systems becoming more complex.

Cells which formed into more complex organisms followed this pattern (there are of course probably exceptions). Plant cells sustained by light, Carbon Dioxide, etc. formed into more complex plants, and animal cells sustained by Oxygen, protein, etc. formed more complex animals. And in order to evolve those systems needed to "organize" around the same purpose to sustain themselves. Adaptations in the kingdoms created varieties of plants and animals that could only survive in particular climates. Organisms became specialized and basically "experts" at what they did best.

How then does this relate to human systems, and in particular to religious systems. Do religious systems need to follow a similar evolution. If yes the evolution should follow these lines:

• The determination of that which nourishes or sustains the individuals.
• If a group of individuals want to flourish as a group it is necessary to be able to determine who should be in the group and who should not be in the group. The group needs an immune system.
• When the group is defined then at this point it should have common goals, and from that point it should be able to develop more complex systems that will allow it to give the members what they strive for with more efficiency. The nervous system, the brain of the organization can develop.

I do believe that most world religions follow this evolution. Christianity had its roots in people who were nourished by the message attributed to Jesus. From there they developed a system for identifying who was and was not Christian, churches were organized with leadership and hierarchies tasked with the further development of the church. Christianity further evolved into multiple organisms with more defined immune systems: belief in Jesus, acceptance of Jesus as savior, confirmation, etc. And further development of the leadership or the churches.

Judaism is interesting in that to me it seems that the immune system is part of what nourishes the members. The identity of members as "the chosen" is a large part of what nourishes the members in their relationship to "their God". So if anything I would say this is particularly interesting because steps one and two (discovering that which nourishes and self identity) are combined.

It is in this sense that I wonder about UUs. Have Unitarian Universalists followed such an evolution, is it necessary to follow such an evolution.

In particular I have seen members of churches leave because the church does not meet their spiritual needs. And I have to wonder about the ability for a church to meet the needs of those who wish to feel the connection with spirit and those who seek nourishment from a religious community that does not require the existence of any sort of spirit. Now, I know humanists and pagans who sit side by side, some even happily. But I have to wonder if the nourishment provided by the church is less than what could be obtained by multiple groups of members who had more in common. Is there truly a common thread that nourishes all Unitarian Universalists?

However, I think it is the second aspect that UUs lack the most. In my experience UUs strive for a sense of inclusiveness to the point of a lack of identity. Sure we have principles and purposes, but that is not a litmus test for membership. The UUA affirms and promotes them, but no church which is a member of the UUA nor any individual member of a church or fellowship is required to affirm or promote any of the principles and purposes. I think the reason that I like the metaphor of a faith movement needing an immune system is because I believe that it is healthy and indeed necessary to be able to define who is and who is not a member of an organization. If these types of boundaries are not defined then you will have people who feel that there are others who claim membership that should not, for example the humanist/pagan/Christian struggle.

Now, don't get me wrong. I believe it is very important for a church or fellowship to strive to be inclusive. However, I also believe that the church must scrutinize what it means to be inclusive and not lose focus on the need to nourish the members of the church. Further I think if the church wishes to retain its membership it must also realize that this identity, this sense of belonging is a need that must be filled in order for people to feel "safe" in their community.

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In rereading this I feel I should note that I would not propose the principles and purposes become a litmus test. But I did not want to rewrite this in it's entirety. For me the main point is the question of nourishment and discernment. Who is a UU? Who is not a UU? What does a UU find value in? If we can't identify who we are and what we want how do we move forward? If someone says they are a UU does it make it true? If not a creed, then what?

If truly anyone is welcome, then there is no sense of belonging. I think the question is related to looking for a UU core, that which nourishes "us".

Blog Removal

Typically I don't mention it when I remove a blog from UUpdates. Generally it's an unceremonious removal of a blog that has gone defunct. But I thought I would mention this one because it means the removal of a UU Blog Award winner. So, a fond farewell and best wishes to Lo-Fi Tribe's Shawn Anthony.