Earthly Religion

July 16, 2020

Imagine how inept I seemed to myself having presented an entire Zoom video sermon to my Unitarian Universalist fellowship in Grants Pass, Oregon, only to discover I had moved the camera so that it wasn't on me. David, the Zoom…

Gladly Alone Together

June 30, 2020

Clothes drying inside is the mildest form of dealing with our current challenges. I discuss a few more.

Stretch

April 30, 2020

Stretch is the only name that has emerged for my white cat. He's also gone by Little White Guy or Lank. Something Egyptian seems appropriate. He's majestic yet unpretentious. He likes it when I purr. Stretch wasn't always like this,…

The latest from Earthly Religion

To all my subscribers

All three of you! Or maybe there's 116, which Mail Chimp says is how many checked this website last month. I was down and out much of last month, barely…

The French Broad, Thomas Jefferson, and a Holy Hope

Sure, Thomas Jefferson was the sort of man who appreciated the French and their women, but in this case, the “broad” refers to a wide, flat ancient river. Lets review…

The latest from Brad's Blog

Gladly Alone Together

Clothes drying inside is the mildest form of dealing with our current challenges. I discuss a few more.

Stretch

Stretch is the only name that has emerged for my white cat. He's also gone by Little White Guy or Lank. Something Egyptian seems appropriate. He's majestic yet unpretentious. He…

The latest from Healthy People & Planet

Good Earthkeeping Tools and Trends for September, 2018

This may be my last Good Earthkeeping Tools and Trends. KSKQ has changed the two-hour Morning Show, changing the first hour to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! After three years of bringing in such tools and trends, I may start an evening radio show, The Liberal Hour, or invest my time in other related ventures.

For all Marys – Mothers, Lovers, Helpers

“My Goddess Gave Birth to Your God” reads the bumper sticker. The growing notion that God is not just and only male is well known in our UU churches and…

The latest from Democratic Relations

Bong Iran!

See at Avaaz and Zazzle/Bonoville We're in the midst on yet another pre-war round of dehumanizing an "enemy." Iran isn't our enemy. However, murderous hawks in our own government try…

Trump Victory as Republican Funeral

At this inaugural moment, Republicans should consider Lao Tzu’s warning: conduct your victory as a funeral. Your gloat of power could turn on you. For the next four years, or…

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The dream of an Earthly Religion…

Earthly: our precious natural earth which allows us our bodies, lives, cultures and future.

Religion: from the old root words religare and religio, meaning “to bind back to the root and be whole again.” This does not assume we need to believe in God or the Bible. Rather, we should be well-related with our own bodies, each other, natural life, and natural existence as it actually is. If there is connection with divinity or God, it is in and through our bodies and beings that we relate primarily, not via scriptures, traditions, rituals, or supposed religious authorities. In short, by religion we mean “relating well with reality.”

The emphasis here is on the earthly. It is not an afterlife or an instead-of-life that interests us. Living well here on earth together does.

While we take our religious perspective and work seriously, we don’t want it to be stuffy. Too often, religions can be alien to the human condition rather than affirming of it. They can be demeaning and demoralizing, dull and bossy, ponderously pretentious. We lean more towards the fun and sexy, natural and lively, human and humane, thoughtful and pertinent.

Reality: the obvious and inescapable stuff of physical existence. We intend to enjoy and tend our lives in these bodies, for our time, in our cultures, for our singular and interrelated ecosystem. There may be more, but there is AT LEAST THIS of which we are born, in which we live, and into which we will die.

God or no-God is not the point; Earth is. Both believers and non-believers are welcome here, for we all share a common source, opportunity, and responsibility: life as it is and could be. This ranges from simply improving one’s own life to your helping save and restore Eden’s, not just to “sustain” it, but veering it to thrive as never before. If you value your life, each other’s, and Earth’s – welcome!