Comments on: A Prairie Hate Companion

By: anon

anon — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:26:19 +0000

One response to Keillor, found here: http://uugrowth.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/silent-night-garrison-keillor/

The only words changed in Silent Night in the current UU hymnal are that the lines “Christ the Savior is Born” and “Jesus Lord at thy birth” which conclude stanzas two and three are replaced by the equivalent ending line from stanza 1, “Sleep in heavenly peace.” They are omitted because many UUs do not accept Jesus as the Messiah, as implied by the term Christ and Lord.

Seems simple enough.

By: pandora

pandora — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:43:08 +0000

Wow, just imagine if all religions focused on and centered around “play nice.” Is that seriously something to sneer at?

By: Liberal Elite

Liberal Elite — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:23:26 +0000

@rhubard “In my humble experience, the congregation is the church.”

Not unless the congregation is electing the leadership positions in the church. At most churches, the only vote a parishioner gets is with his feet.

By: Liberal Elite

Liberal Elite — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:21:09 +0000

@RWR “Like I said — a lowest common denominator faith that amounts to “play nice”. It is less a religion than a social club for folks who feel a need to go someplace on Sunday morning.”

Aren’t they all like that? Some just push the superstition stuff more than others.

Superstition…a great way to promote critical thinking skills.

By: rhubard

rhubard — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 03:22:48 +0000

In my humble experience, the congregation is the church.

By: Rhymes With Right

Rhymes With Right — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:12:55 +0000

Like I said — a lowest common denominator faith that amounts to “play nice”. It is less a religion than a social club for folks who feel a need to go someplace on Sunday morning.

Not, of course, that there is anything wrong with that.

By: Geezer

Geezer — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:29:41 +0000

Keep in mind Keillor’s own faith-centered upbringing — some splinter group of the Seventh-Day Adventists or something, IIRC (too busy shoveling to look it up), where they baked their own communion bread and the spiritual leader was also Uncle Lou. That could warp anyone, let alone a sensitive kid who looked like a giant toad and knew it.

I’m pretty sure I’ve heard Keillor use the “whom it may concern” line about U-U’s on the air. He’s made plenty of jokes at the expense of Catholics and Lutherans over the years, too, so maybe this isn’t about religion. If you’ve heard the show in recent years, he does a lot of singing (and it’s mostly worse than you’re imagining right now). Maybe he’s just an aggrieved music lover. Even in translation, the original lyrics are pretty good, and 4 out of 5 atheists would agree.

By: John Manifold

John Manifold — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 19:35:52 +0000

Combine an Anglican with a Zealander and you get … one of the greatest billboards in the history of postmodern civilization

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091217/od_nm/us_newzealand_billboard

By: nemski

nemski — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 18:05:06 +0000

Love RWR’s ignorance of UU.

Seven principles which UU’s follow
* The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
* Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
* Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
* A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
* The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
* The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
* Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

By: Unstable Isotope

Unstable Isotope — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:27:45 +0000

I don’t understand why Keillor or O’Reilly care what one church does in its own church. Freedom of religion is just a sham to them, I guess. Does O’Reilly want to force some denominations to not marry same sex couples or not ordain women? As far as rewriting hymns goes – that happens all the time. I hear country singers singing religious music and it isn’t using a harp or harpsichord. This episode just validates my cynicism that the people who cry about “freedom of religion” generally mean “freedom of MY religion” and not anyone else’s.

By: johnny longtorso

johnny longtorso — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 15:20:44 +0000

So has he complained about Maryland’s state song using the melody of “O Tannenbaum”? How about “What Child Is This?” stealing the music from “Greensleeves”?

Anyway, Garrison Keillor is not, has never been, and will never be funny, although I didn’t know he was that crotchety. Maybe it’s just old age, or someone crapped in his grape nuts that morning or something.

By: anonone

anonone — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:34:52 +0000

Um, Rhymey, your view of Unitarian Universalism is simply wrong. They don’t try to have any “least common denominator faith”. They don’t require a faith or belief or creed to become a member. They are interested in supporting an individual’s search for truth and spiritual exploration within the context of 7 UU principles:

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

It seems to me that these embody the highest ideals of religious thought, not the lowest. The UUism that you describe is incompatible with the principles above. The UU churches that I have attended have had people from many different faith and humanist traditions as members – and it hasn’t been a problem.

For more information, see:

http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml

By: JG

JG — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:10:09 +0000

Technically, A Prairie Home Companio isn’t with NPR, A Prairie Home Companion is produced by American Public Media, not NPR. It is however carried by a lot of NPR affiliates.

By: xstryker

xstryker — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:56:54 +0000

See, the Unitarians, at least, aren’t telling you that their interpretation of your own hymn is definitive.

No question, though, that what you linked to is deplorable – harassment is harassment. But I don’t judge all Baptists by the Westboro Baptist Church.

By: xstryker

xstryker — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 23:53:25 +0000

RWR – hate to tell you this, but that’s exactly how I feel about the way Christians use the Old Testament. In my book, Unitarianism is no more offensive to Judaism than the whole of Christianity (with the possible exception of the Quakers, who more or less got it right).