Tonight I begin co-faciliating a class with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing called Building Your Own Theology. Originally I just wanted to take the class but my persistence in requesting it led to Callie (almost her real name), a church employee, offering to lead it with me. I’m still uncertain as to whether I want to join the church but I’m very invested in this class. The curriculum was developed by a seasoned UU minister so, no worries, I’m not just winging it.
We’re going to be doing writing and exercises and class discussions around such topics as the nature of God, human nature, the difference between religion and spirituality, ethics, and values. We’ll be writing our own Ten Commandments, drawing our conception of God if we believe in One, and ultimately preparing a faith statement that represents our current beliefs. The class lasts for 6 2-hour sessions about every other week throughout the summer.
My current conception of God is, well, perhaps stodgy isn’t too fine a word for it. I’m pretty old fashioned about God with some shockingly modern beliefs thrown in for texture and effect. My beliefs about God have not been seriously addressed since I converted to Islam nearly 30 years ago. I think its time. Time to press for the answers to life’s persistent questions to quote Garrison Keillor.
For instance, I believe in Judgment Day (although I don’t believe in eternal damnation). I believe that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and intimately involved in everyday human affairs. I believe in the power of prayer to intercede with God on our own behalf and on behalf of others. I believe that God does not need our worship but that it is good for our souls to worship God. I believe that human beings have souls that can be tarnished by our own deeds and redeemed by the grace of God. I do not believe in original sin. I believe that humility is good for human character and that a proper appreciation of God and our place in His universe is good for our sense of humility.
Not all of the questions I’m interested in will be addressed during this class so I plan to continue on to the second volume of the class on my own which covers such topics as sin and salvation, perennial favorites those.
I’ll try to keep up with the class in this blog, following my own progress. Tonight the getting aquainted exercise is to pick up a name badge and to write in the four corners these things:
- A religious belief I cherish: That God listens to our prayers
- A religious believe I have rejected: The Trinity
- The religious community I was raised in: I was raised in the Bible Belt by Atheists
- A religious issue I am struggling with and would like to explore: Religious obligation such as prayer and fasting
We are also working on aspects of our spiritual autobiography. We’re asked to consider experiences that have shaped our religious faith. One of mine was the day I took my Shahadah, or conversion to Islam. But another certainly are my experiences at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, now sadly defunct. Festival was a womyn-only camping extravaganza in the rural heartland of Michigan that I attended three separate years. It changed my understanding of how people can interact with one another and what is possible in human community and relationships. And it’s been at least as religious as pledging myself to monotheism in terms of how it influenced my understanding of how the world turns on its axis.
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