Peacebuilders

I attended two Prescott Peacebuilders events in September -- part of a Sunday afternoon concert at Granite Park and a Saturday night September 21 event at the Courthouse. I was inspired by the speakers.

Neither Unitarians nor Universalists are historically American peace churches. Many UUs have served in the military. The phrase "historic peace churches" refers to the Church of the Brethren, the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and the Mennonites.

My own view, which has no official standing in our Granite Peak UU Congregation, reflects the fact that my mother came from a pacifist Mennonite background and my UU minister in Phoenix was a pacifist. I was 14 years old on Dec 5, 1965, when I heard Raymond Manker deliver a sermon at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Phoenix. In part Rev. Manker said,

“I am a religious pacifist, I was raised as a Quaker, a member of the Religious Society of Friends, I was taught that human life was perhaps the most sacred entity on Earth. No man had a right to take the life of another human being. To take another human life was the ultimate in human degradation, Coupled with this idea and an integral part of it was the idea that human beings were divine, each man had the spark of divinity in his soul which, if properly nurtured, could help him develop into a sensitive, compassionate person.”

I have learned not to use sexist language, but otherwise, this is my view, and I try to live my life consistent with my beliefs. You will see it reflected in my year with you as your interim minister.

I was encouraged by the Prescott Peacebuilders events. In the words of the Catholic pacifist Dorothy Day, “No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.”