The United Church of Christ...
Welcomes all people, and CBS and NBC don't like that too much. Here's a press release from the horse's mouth. If you are gay, you are of course welcome here.
If you are gay, wiccan, buddhist, taoist, bisexual, asexual, christian, muslim, jew, satanist, atheist, catholic, agnostic, whatever, you are welcome at one of many New Thought churches and study groups around the country, as well (you can spend literally days browsing the links on Alan Anderson's New Thought page). New Thought 'religions' are primarily pantheistic with a focus on metaphysics and philosophy. Phineas Quimby and Ralph Waldo Emerson are a couple of possibly familiar names; the former is known as the prime influencer of New Thought, and Emerson is perhaps the most inspirational writer that ever lived, save Walt Whitman of course :)
While I tend to avoid Sunday Services, I am a big fan of Ernest Holmes and the Science of Mind. He's more accessible than Emerson and more sensible than many of his contemporaries. His goal in life was to find the 'golden thread of Truth that weaves through all the world's religions, philosophies, and sciences,' and present his discoveries and theories in a format that was easy to digest in his time (the 40's and 50's, primarily), via small books, a popular radio broadcast, and some of the most successful lecture hall sessions in the past century. The result is a lifetime's work of inspiring and crystal-clear thought. You may have heard the phrase "Change your mind, change your life." Well, that was Ernest Holmes.
You can read the first printing of "The Science of Mind" here, though I would urge you to read the revised and expanded edition to really understand what his life's work was about. Better yet, ring up your local Religious Science organization and talk to them about it. If you don't have one of those, try Unity. Or the public library. Or Amazon.
And if that isn't enough reading for one day, check out Thomas Troward's Edinburgh Lectures. This is some great stuff, the beginning of much spiritual upheaval in this world. While I don't necessarily agree with him on all points, I think it's a shame that Troward isn't more widely known, or Holmes for that matter. But when a person finally does stumble across their writings, it changes things a little. Kind of like when you first heard about Herman Hesse, or Alan Watts, or the Beat Generation or Rumi or Ghandi or Jesus. That ripple spreads out and comes back to you, over and over throughout your life.
One of my favorite quotations from Holmes, before I slip away for the evening:
"We have to have the same faith in what we teach and practice that the scientist has, or the gardener has, and when that great simplicity shall have plumbed and penetrated this density of ours, this human stolidness and stupidity, this debauchery of the intellect and the soul, something new and wonderful will happen. It is the only thing that will keep the world from destroying itself..."
posted by novachild @ Thursday, December 02, 2004,
