I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about Humanism and participating in our FreeThinker Book Club, and especially its role in the Unitarian movement. Thus, I took the opportunity this year to do a talk and focussed on the 10th anniversary of religious Humanism. I’ve come to learn (thanks to John Dewey) that religious humanism […]
You are browsing archives for
Category: Unitarian
Is Google Scholar a Filter Bubble?
A major goal of net-based mass media is to customize the feed that is delivered to each viewer received a unique screen that matches their interest and more importantly their likelihood of purchasing some product or viewing some paid for message. This phenomenon was labeled as “filter bubble” by author Eli Pariser – meaning that certain results […]
What’s So New about the New Atheists?
Last week I gave the Sunday sermon at Westwood Unitarian Congregation here in Edmonton. While trying to organize my book shelves, I noticed that I had nine different books on Atheism – many by authors labelled as “New Atheists”. In most Unitarian Churches members are allowed and encouraged to present a sermon on a topic that […]
Retirement is like being on sabbatical –
As my first “academic” term as a retiree draws to a close, I’m reflecting on what it actually was like to be retired. We hear all the stories (about men especially) who get terribly bored, follow their wives around the house, get addicted to golf or some other bad habit – but it hasn’t been […]
Unitarian Chalice Wheel
In this post I “show off” the carving I had commissioned from I Ketut Weda, a local woodcarver in Ubud, Bali. Unitarians are proud to both recognize and acknowledge the many spiritual paths followed by other Unitarians and by other citizens of this planet. The carving has it’s centre a flaming chalice. The chalice is the most […]
Buddhism and Thailand
This month, I enrolled in a 4 week course on Buddhism led by a member of our Unitarian Congregation here in Edmonton. I’ve always been interested in Eastern religions and the opportunity of this course coupled with my first opportunity to visit South East Asia, proved to be a great learning opportunity. On the first […]
Joseph Priestley – The Man Who Invented
Here is a link to the text of the sermon I did at the Westwood Unitarian Fellowship on April 15 2012. The title comes from the great book by Steve Johnson, The Invention of Air. Priestly was an 18th century scientist, minister and radical political critic. He won great fame as the inventor of carbonated water and the […]
Unitarians and Religion on the Net
I was pleased to hear Rev Brian Kiely talk this morning at Westwood Unitarian Congregation, where I am a long term member. Brian spoke about the effect, impact and opportunity presented by the Net for Unitarianism. His talk was inspired by a blog post from Peter Morales the current President of the US Unitarian Universalist Association. […]