Does Rev. Peter Morales' "Less Than Diplomatic" UUA Presidential Campaign Rhetoric Disqualify Him As The "Ambassador" Of Unitarian*Universalism?

The following was posted as a comment on The UUA Presidential Election and The Point of Our Faith post of Elizabeth's Little Blog in which she shares her concerns about some of Rev. Peter Morales' problematic UUA Presidential campaign rhetoric. I am cross-posting it here and on The Emerson Avenger blog for good measure. I encourage U*Us to read Elizabeth's thoughtful blog post and the various comments that have been posted to it -


Quite evidently Rev. Peter Morales pretty much *had* to portray the three "Abrahamic faiths" (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) to say nothing of other "old religions" in a purely negative and critical light, and even go so far as to write them off as "obsolete religions", in order to advance his "thesis" and campaign slogan that Unitarian*Universalism "can be the religion of our time." If one reasonably and rationally considers the possibility that, in spite of their various faults and failings, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and any number of other "old religions" such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism etc. are none-the-less far from being "obsolete religions" (as he would have U*Us believe) Rev. Morales' presidential campaign slogan comes across as vainglorious and even quite ludicrous, especially in light of the fact that Rev. Morales describes Unitarian*Universalism as being "a tiny, declining, fringe religion" in that very same "stump speech" announcing his candidacy for UUA President. . . I have been making this point for months now and am quite gratified to see Elizabeth so articulately share her concerns about Rev. Peter Morales' eminently *questionable* campaign rhetoric here in a manner that quite eloquently echoes my own concerns about it.

Months ago I directly challenged Rev. Peter Morales' about his questionable campaign rhetoric in comments on his apparently moribund 'Along The Campaign Trail' blog*, the YouTube video of his "stump speech" and in various comments on other U*U blogs. To date, Rev. Morales has declined to respond to even a single one of my legitimate questions and critiques. The UUA Presidential elections are less than three weeks away yet Rev. Morales has consistently failed to responsibly address the serious questions and concerns that his rather dubious campaign rhetoric has caused to be raised. Recently someone pointed out that the President of the UUA plays a role as an "ambassador" of the U*U Movement. I am really not sure how Rev. Peter Morales can realistically serve as an effective ambassador for the UUA and the Unitarian*Universalist religious community more generally when he managed to belittle and malign, if not insult and defame, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and any number of other "old religions" with the considerably less than diplomatic language of his "stump speech" announcing his candidacy for President of the UUA. I expect that an explanation of, and/or apology for, his undiplomatic attack on all those "obsolete religions" would be something of a prerequisite in that regard. . .


* if you want to read my own and other people's comments submitted to Rev. Morales' apparently "obsolete" 'Along The Campaign Trail' blog you will need to view it in Microsoft Internet Explorer since comments are not displayed when it this poorly designed blog is viewed with the Mozilla Firefox browser. I am not sure about whether or not other internet browsers display the comments but Firefox does not and Internet Explorer does.

Where's The Beef Rev. Peter Morales? What Do You Mean By "The Religion Of Our Time"? And How Do You Propose To Make U*Uism "The Religion Of Our Time"?

The following is a "new and improved" version of a comment that was just submitted to the 'MSG Religion' blog post of Rev. Thomas Perchlik's Weblog -


It is not very likely that any UUA President will be able to assert that -

"We are the religion for our time,"

with any credibility any time soon.

UUA Presidential candidate Rev. Peter Morales' campaign slogan is -

"We *can* be the religion of our time."

In other words, in UUA Presidential candidate Rev. Peter Morales' personal estimation, Unitarian*Universalism has the *potential* to become "the religion of our time" (whatever that rather grandiose phraseology actually means, assuming that it has any substance at all. . .) but has not yet achieved that lofty goal. Indeed one wonders if U*Uism is even within striking distance of reaching that goal, or is realistically capable of achieving that rather vain (in every sense of the word) aspiration. In that Rev. Morales currently assesses Unitarian*Universalism as "a tiny, declining, fringe religion" it would seem that he has his work cut out for him if he wants to transform U*Uism into "the religion of our time" in *our* time. Let's say 25 to 30 years at the outside.

Of course, to paraphrase former U.S. President Bill Clinton, just how realistic and credible Rev. Morales' UUA Presidential election campaign slogan is depends very much on what the meaning of the phrase "the religion of our time" is. . . To my knowledge Rev. Peter Morales has never clearly defined exactly what he means when he pretends that Unitarian*Universalism *can* be "the religion of our time", nor has he laid out a legible and credible "road map" for just how he intends to move Unitarian*Universalism from Point A of currently being no less than "a tiny, declining, fringe religion" to Point B of "the religion of our time" within *our* time. . . In comments posted to his apparently moribund 'Along The Campaign Trail' blog months ago I have repeatedly requested that Rev. Morales provide this information, and I have reiterated this request in comments on other pertinent blog posts here and there in the U*U blogosphere, but, so far. . . he has declined to answer these legitimate and quite straightforward questions.

One or two of Rev. Morales' supporters have suggested that "radical hospitality" is all that is needed to achieve that goal but "radical hospitality", in and of itself, cannot "grow" U*Uism into "the religion of our time". To use your own analogy, without spiritually nourishing "full meals that have real integrity and their own unique flavor" being served at the figurative "table" of the Unitarian*Universalist religious community, no amount of "radical hospitality" will sustain and retain new "citizens" of the U*U World. If people are invited to a "feast" and find the fare being served to be little more than thin spiritual porridge liberally sprinkled with dollops of MSG, to say nothing of saccharine. . . they will seek their spiritual nourishment elsewhere.

Will Rev. Peter Morales Answer My Question During The UUA Presidential Candidates Telephone Forum Of Friday April 17, 2009?

I guess I should thank my very good friend ever so "conservative" U*U pagan Joel Monka for giving me this U*U heads up about tomorrow's telephone forum with the UUA presidential candidates Rev. Dr. Laurel Hallman and Rev. Peter Morales. I have posed a number of as yet unanswered questions to Rev. Peter Morales, or his associate Martin Voelker, in comments posted months ago on his apparently quite moribund 'Along The Campaign Trail' blog. These important questions have never been responded to in any way whatsoever by Rev. Peter Morales. I decided to take a cue from Joel Monka's 'My question for the telephone forum' blog post and submit the most important of these unanswered questions to Rev. Peter Morales as a question to be answered during tomorrow's telephone forum.

Time will tell if the question I submitted is actually posed to Rev. Peter Morales and if he answers it adequately. Indeed in less than 24 hours we will know if Rev. Morales was asked this question, or a similar one posed by somebody else. Without further ado here is the full text of the email that I just sent to the moderator of this telephone forum, UUA Secretary Paul Rickter, with some additional embedded hyperlinks and an embedded YouTube video of Rev. Peter Morales' "stump speech" that is referenced in my preamble:

Here is my question addressed to UUA Presidential candidate Rev. Peter Morales for tomorrow's telephone forum -

The preamble - Rev. Morales, you have not unjustifiably described Unitarian*Universalism as a "tiny, declining, fringe religion" in your "stump speech" announcing your candidacy for President of the UUA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvTP5mFyeZg

In that "stump speech", which is also a Sunday sermon titled 'A Religion For Our Time' you suggest that Unitarian*Universalism could be "the religion of our time". Indeed your primary campaign slogan, as prominently displayed on your campaign website and other promotional materials, is -

"We can be the religion for our time."

Here is my question -

What objective criteria does Unitarian*Universalism need to meet in order for U*Uism to be able to be credibly described as "the religion of our time" as per your presidential campaign slogan, and what is your comprehensive and, more importantly, realistic plan to "grow" and/or transform Unitarian*Universalism from the "tiny, declining, fringe religion", that you openly acknowledge Unitarian*Universalism currently is, into a religion that can be credibly described as "the religion of our time" within *our* time, let's say 30 years at the outside?

Thank you,

Robin Edgar

"Lead, Follow, Or Get Out Of The Way U*Us!" Thomas Paine Joins The RevolU*Ution And Provides A Presidential Campaign Slogan For The Emerson Avenger!

Boston Unitarian posted the conclusion of a Rev. Henry Wilder Foote sermon today.

The concluding paragraph of that sermon said the following -

"The only solution is the double truth: that God has not finished but is still making His world; and that He does not work in this alone, but calls for the co-operation of man and nature with Him."

In light of the ongoing abject failure, if not obstinate refusal, of many Unitarian*Universalists aka U*Us to co-operate with God this brought to *my* mind the famous saying of Thomas Paine -

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way."

It seems like a very fitting UUA Presidential Campaign slogan for The Emerson Avenger, possibly one amongst several others to follow. . .