Tapestry of Faith Call For Authors
The Lifespan Faith Development department of the Unitarian Universalist Association is seeking authors for two new youth curricula.Virtue Ethics in Today’s World (working title)
The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings…As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become.—From the Dhammapada
Sayings of the Buddha
“Virtue Ethics in Today’s World” is not just providing a time and place for youth to talk about problematic issues. It is foremost about character development. The program will provide an opportunity for youth to appreciate themselves as moral decision makers and ethical agents for change. This understanding will come about as participants pursue topics of relevance in their lives of today and tomorrow. As the quote above explains, the decisions they make and the actions they take will have life-long consequences of the kind of person they will become.
Sometimes young people imagine that adulthood is a state where you get total control over your life. Therefore, the first goal of this curriculum involves a recognition that as responsible adults their power is both limited and unlimited: limited in that they will not be able to control everything that will happen to them in life; yet unlimited in that they do control their own subjective reality by controlling their thoughts and feelings about what happens to them. These thoughts and feelings will manifest themselves as deeds or actions. To control one’s action, first one needs to control one’s thoughts.
A second goal is a commitment from youth to live ethical lives. This involves deciding what kind of person they wish to be and committing to the deeds necessary to shape this character into being. Character is not gelatin that becomes set overnight. The process of thought to word to deed to character is constant and never ending. It can happen subconsciously or we can direct it. Our lives call for an unending number of decisions to be made. All of these decisions have consequences, which will affect us. The decisions you make shape your character and your character shapes how you make decisions. We must learn to live with the consequences and learn from the consequences if we truly claim the power to shape our own character. This program will help youth understand the responsibilities of living a moral life without being overwhelmed by them.
How will this program help this process of character development? Youth will practice discernment and decision making in discussions of real life situations. Some of the situations they might have faced before, be facing now, or could face in the future. Learning can also happen by examining the decisions others have made when faced with similar situations. However, as the quote above suggests, we cannot talk about our actions without first realizing the thoughts behind them. By examining the reasons for our decisions—whether actual or hypothetical—and the consequences of those decisions (and the cyclical relationship in between), we are both encouraging youth toward greater responsibility for actions taken and helping them understand how to control future actions.
We know that people who feel good about themselves are more accepting of other people. They are more tolerant of those who differ from them, less judgmental, and more empathetic. Therefore, another goal of the program is to affirm participants' confidence in being moral decision makers—not by praising their every decision, but by first helping them ground their actions in virtuous thought and then paying attention to the consequences. The feeling of competence will give them the strength to act not only as moral decision makers, but also as ethical agents for change.
Making the decision to be a responsible and empathetic adult is also deciding to be an ethical agent of change in the world. After all, the world is not something that exists outside of us. It is composed of individuals: having thoughts, doing deeds, creating consequences, good or bad. Taking control of this process in our lives is really the only way we can effect change in the world.
What manner of issues will the program examine? Both personal and public because the one affects the other. Decisions about lifestyles will be discussed, as youth are urged to make decisions that balance individual desires with communal needs. Are Americans' unhealthy tendencies driving up the costs of health care and thereby contributing to making good health care unaffordable to the most vulnerable members of our society, such as children and the elderly? This might be the public question. The personal question might involve the decision to smoke or to be a vegetarian.
This full year program will have the flexibility to allow for discussions of current events as well as the common decisions we all need to make (how to make a living, setting priorities, how to deal with life transitions, discriminating between which groups one should join, etc…). It also will use humor, games, and the arts to keep conversations lively and active.
Building Bridges: Embracing Theological Diversity (working title)
Unitarian Universalists are often accused of selecting beliefs from other faiths…. like picking appetizers from a menu at the World Religions Restaurant.
There are those who misunderstand our faith to the point of saying “As a Unitarian Universalist, you can believe anything you want to believe.”
In the past, some of our youth were exposed to world religions so much that some of them say they felt encouraged to seek spiritual fulfillment at other houses of worship.
As Unitarian Universalist, with our shared belief that no one culture or people or religion has the whole Truth, we are in a unique position to embrace theological diversity. Not for the reasons above. But because our respect for the individual’s right to pursue their own spiritual path can be a bridge. We can be a bridge of common values to increase interfaith work on finding solutions to global crises. We can be a bridge of hospitality that can create wholeness in our communities. We can be a bridge of shared humanity that will disperse forever “the other” and leave only “us.”
In order to respect the range of religions operating in today’s world, we must first understand them. That is where this program fits in.
“Building Bridges” will provide necessary literacy on the major religions in the world today. Participants will be presented with historical context, holy texts and key founders and figures because religions cannot be totally understood out of context. Participants will also discuss the values held by other religions.
From there, workshops will guide participants to interact with members of other faiths. You will seek invitations to the houses of worship of your neighbors, extend invitations to your neighbors to visit you, and participate in interfaith work in your community—creating it, if necessary!
Always participants will be asked to relate what they have learned back to the central question: “What does this mean to me as a Unitarian Universalist?” Common values, practicing hospitality, and working together towards creating a better life for our fellow human beings will start building bridges across the lines of faith.
A key element in this program includes engaging with the theological diversity within our own congregations. How does living in the world as a Christian Unitarian Universalist differ from living as a Humanist UU? How is our faith able to embrace theological diversity? Do we do it perfectly or are there still places where the balance is not yet there? Can our congregations be a model for embracing theological diversity in the wider world? If so, what do we need to do to be a part of that process?
This will be a full year program. Individual workshops will contain 60 minutes of material, with alternate activities. Early workshops will examine faith and the human need to make meaning out of life and how faith relates to religion. A short history of religions will bring us up to today and workshops on the major religions (Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, etc…) and philosophies (Buddhism, Humanism, Atheism, etc…) of the world. After exploring other religions, how they interact with Unitarian Universalism, and the theological diversity within our own congregations, participants will reflect upon their individual theologies and its place within Unitarian Universalism.
Though this program is aimed primarily at high school youth, it holds possibility as a multigenerational program with youth and adults.
Potential authors for both programs will exhibit strong writing skills, experience working with youth, and a firm grounding in Unitarian Universalism. Applicants for Building Bridges also need an in-depth knowledge of world religions. Previous experience writing curriculum is a plus. Writing is paid and will start in May 2008, to be completed by March 2009.
Interested applicants will need to provide a resume and writing samples, along with an application that can be obtained from the Youth Resources Director.
For more information contact religiouseducation @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, February 15, 2008.
