May 2013 Newsletter
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, spring has sprung and summer is just around the corner. April showers lead to May flowers and a time of renewal so apparent, people of almost all faiths incorporate observances to mark the change.
In fact, three faiths celebrated the start of a new year in April: Hindus (Ugadi), Sikhs (Baisakhi), and Buddhists (Therevadin). It is also a popular time to prepare for the many weddings that will come soon.
The 1st of May is known as May Day, or Beltane. On this day, earth-centered religions celebrate new life, the fertility of the earth, and the union of the god and goddess. The ULC Monastery celebrates this day alongside all our Pagan brothers and sisters. Read more about it
here!
Evangelical television host Pat Robertson has made the news again, and he still sounds as crazy as ever. In a recent episode of his program, The 700 Club, the former Southern Baptist minister suggested that supporters of same-sex marriage are just like the Illuminati, a group that, according to Robertson, will "seek to destroy the family, to destroy the state, to destroy capitalism, and destroy the Church... "
Robertson goes on to say, "we have here the debate over same-sex marriage, but is it really just about marriage? Or does it go far beyond that, to destroying the traditional family and building a country without God?."
Read more about Pat Robertson's comments on our
blog.
Lawmakers in North Carolina put forth a measure to establish Christianity as the official state religion. Oddly enough, the lawmakers who supported this bill seem to have completely forgotten the arguments they made just two years ago, when they cited the 1st and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution in an attempt to outlaw Sharia Law.
While Christianity can be a wonderful religion, no religion has merits sufficient to break the Constitution and destroy the freedoms that established the United States in the first place. Interestingly enough, one-third of all Americans that participated in a recent poll are open to the idea of making Christianity the official religion of the US. Read more about it
here.
Whether you got ordained to perform a wedding, start a ministry, or even just to belong to a group of like-minded people, labels can have an effect on outcomes and your abilities. We have received some calls from city and county clerks about some members who have chosen some unorthodox titles, but to some, labels are never going to accurately describe specific individuals or at least we shouldn't put so much weight on them.
Be sure you check out
this article on our sister site to make sure you know what your title is and how to handle labels for different circumstances.
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May 2013
