Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:3

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

The Free Seeker

The Voice of Liberal Religion in the Tri‐State

JANUARY 28, 2010

EVENTS OF SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010

11:00 A.M. PROGRAM with the U. U. Fellowship:

Jocelyn Muth's Review of War Is A Racket by General Smedley Butler

Is war necessary? If it weren't necessary, would War, Incorporated make it seem

so in order to maintain itself? Have the alternatives to war been fully explored?

Jocelyn Muth is reputedly a woman who does not mince her words. It's time to give

her a hearing.

FUTURE PROGRAMS

February 7th: "Open Discussion"

February 14th: Claire Horton will present "The Secrets of the Sahara Desert."

February 21st: "Autobiography" with Randy Miller

February 28th: Bill Patton on Religion in America

March 7: "Open Discussion:

CUUPS meets Thursdays 6:00 to 8:00 PM and the Tri‐State Meditation Group will be

meeting in April.

A RETROSPECTIVE OF LAST SUNDAY'S PROGRAM: RANDY MILLER PRESENTS A FILM

Randy Miller presented a film, "The Art and Religion of Mustang Bhutan."

Bhutan is located in the Himalayan Mountains. It is bounded on the north by China, on

the south and east by India, and on the west by Sikkim. The temple embodying the art

and religion being presented was on an old trade route which has not been

modernized due to its extremely rough terrain. The closest accessible launching point

to reach it is 56 miles away, and the intervening space takes five days to traverse. In

recent years the Bhutanese under King Jigme Singye Wangchuk (in power since 1972)

has engaged in a gentle version of ethnic cleansing through the expulsion of Indian and

Nepalese settlers, including those who have been there for several decades. The

government is a lamaistic theocracy with no constitution, Bhutan has been a free

republic since 1949.

The Temple that is being renovated is located in the Mustang province. Two

archeologists from outside have driven the project for at least ten years: John Sandy

and a man from Italy, first name Luigi. Their first task was to rebuild the roof, which

Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:3

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

had become a refuge for a flock of pigeons, by replacing the rotten timbers. Luigi has

trained about twenty locals to restore the temple murals by removing six centuries of

smoke. The resulting bright colors no living person had yet seen were reminiscent of

the restored Michaelangelo ceiling in the Sistine Chapel.

We witnessed the annual Tiji Festival with its preliminary procession through the

streets led by two youths blowing long horns. This brings to mind the Jewish shofar

ushering in Rosh Hoshanna. Due to the temple project and the building program for

new schools Bhutan's interior is becoming repopulated as disaffected natives slowly

return.

HOMILY: "SUFFERING BEGETS FREEDOM"

Inasmuch as this issue keeps coming up, as it did last Sunday in an informal

discussion between me and another member of the Fellowship, it may be germane to

look at it again. I was told that there can't be a God, because there is suffering. My

response was that suffering is a gift, because it sets us free.

Long ago I wrote a sermon, "Pain the Teacher and Death, the Friend." If higher

beings indwelt us, as they once did, we could do no wrong, because we would be ever

under divine guidance and protection. In fact, this was pretty much the case during

our clairvoyant phase, which we traded for our self‐reliant, intellectual phase, during

which we learned how to learn. We learned from bumping into things and from

putting our hand in the fire, certainly, but also from words and numbers. Well, much

of our learning has been associated with pain, and when it got to be too much, we

were rescued from this earthly hell by death, wherein we were once again reconciled

to our higher purposes. Then in new bodies reconstituted by the interwoven threads

of our earthly deeds we were reborn, or re‐matriculated, if you will, to try again and

press on still further.

A SLICE OF HISTORY

Ever heard of Abner Kneeland (1774‐1844)? He is one of our less well‐known

Universalist ministers. He was a friend of Hosea Ballou, a high‐profile minister of

Universalist history. Kneeland achieved prominence when Universalism was a more

formidable presence than it is today in such states as Massachusetts, New York and

Pennsylvania. However, his theology gradually evolved into what he characterized as

'pantheism' and what others called 'atheism.' Now comes the incredible part of the

story. In response to an article he wrote in the Trumpet and Universalist Magazine

stating his theological beliefs (which his colleagues had urged him to do) he was

charged with blasphemy under Massachusetts law and was brought to trial in January

of 1834. His detractors seized on one statement, letting all others slide. The

statement was "Universalists believe in a God, which I do not." He was convicted of

Unitarian Fellowship of Huntington, 619 6th Avenue, Huntington, WV 25701-2103

Member of the Unitarian Universalist Association �� Newsletter Number 2010:3

President: Bob Williams �� Vice President/Programs Director: Randy Miller �� Treasurer: Jim Maphet

Newsletter Editor: Jack Wilkinson III (304-521-9201)

blasphemy and sentenced to three years in a Boston jail. His lawyer, Andrew Dunlap, a

Unitarian, argued that the Massachusetts law relating to blasphemy was contrary to

the U. S. Constitution, an argument which failed to sway the jury, which convicted him

after only five minutes of deliberation.

I toss in this tidbit of biography as a suggestion that we should, now and then,

ponder the genesis of our present freedom. Think of people sitting in jail on our behalf

from Martin King in Birmingham in the twentieth century to Abner Kneeland in Boston

in the nineteenth, people who did hard time for us. Every time a brave soul goes to

the slammer in the name of liberty we are nudged a bit closer to the ideal society.

Kneeland was a brave man with extreme views, and he was a Universalist. We should

be proud of him.

I would also like us to ponder something else. How could a person be jailed in a

country with a constitution, 45 years old at the time, guaranteeing free speech? And

could this happen again?

At age 65 Kneeland moved to Iowa and founded the first settlement there, one

of the many that ultimately made the west a bastion of freedom, not only for

Unitarians and Universalists but for everybody. Remember the Iowa Caucuses in

2008? Ha! They were the ghost of Abner Kneeland.

Information on Abner Kneeland gathered from “These Live Tomorrow” by Clinton Lee Scott, Beacon

Press, Boston, 1964.