Centerfield

I didn't realize you were a Unitarian, Rick. My wife and I went to our first Unitarian service a few months back, when a friend of ours was singing in the choir that day. Very interesting stuff.

Even the Communists couldn't or wouldn't stop the pogroms, and the earliest (modern!) Jewish settlers in Palestine were fleeing the rabid anti-Semitism of the Russians. I don't find it very surprising that as Russia slips back into dictatorship, some of the other "old ways" would return as well.

For a few brief years, many of us hoped that Russia would break with the past, and move away from the invasive ethnic paranoia and endemic brutal oppression that has marred its entire known history. A slim hope, getting slimmer.

One can be Unitarian and Jewish. There's no exclusivity on the Unitarian side, and no creed that violates Jewish beliefs.

I go to synagogue once a year to say the memorial prayer for my father, who passed away a few years ago. I find that most synagogues, except among the Orthodox, which I am not, have services that are focused on bar and bat-mitzvahs. They don't have much for childless adults.

The Unitarians are post-Christian, mostly humanist, and open to a variety of influences, including Buddhist, Jewish, which on like. They tend to be very liberal politically. The Unitarian Universalist Association even supported the removal of "under God" from the pledge of Allegiance. However, I've "come out" as a centrist, and they still seem to like me.

I subscribe to a journal called Daedalus; it last issue was devoted to human nature, especially the scientific evidence for such. It appears that there is some science that there is a biological predisposition for people to essentially identify with people that are similar to themselves; the articule suggests that, as a sort of negative evolution, this same mechanism may also be behind the development of racial concepts and animosity toward other racial groupings. Thus, it appears that hatred may be to some extent an inbred feature of humanity. The author does not suggest that this means that racial hatred is inevitable; indeed, he suggests that it suggests ways in which we need to work to fight against violent hatred. The article pretty much confirms my belief that some degree of prejudice and bigotry toward "the other" is probably inevitable and calling for "an end to racism" or such is futile. However, we need to structure political and social institutions to channel such feelings into relatively socially acceptable expressions. IMO, racism will always exist, but it has to be limited through social and political structures. But it's pointless to aim at eradicating all racism, in part because hatred is in many ways a liberating emotion, more liberating than people want to acknowledge. When you hate someone or something, you don't have any restraints on your emotions; the most violent actions become acceptable. Hatred eliminates all the social taboos and releases one from social strictures. I believe this is why movements based on hate--whether racial or political-have had such strong appeal. How bracing was it for Germans to be able to blame their problems on Jews--able to vent their anger and frustration, with no need to hold back. IMO, this dynamic has a lot to do with the continuing genocidal incidents that we see.

I have no solutions, just problems.

Anti-semitism just never seems to die. The Russians have been horribly anti-semetic for so long. At least the official Russian response was strongly against the statement. Less than 100 years ago that statement was the official Russian position.

And for several hundred years before that as well, Chris. Plus ca change....

I like the UU's, who are diversity and openness in action. I attended a UU church for several years when I lived in Colorado. They are as friendly and accepting as a church can possibly be. I still remember the pastor joking about how they'd done a survey, and found that fully half the members were "somewhat comfortable with the concept of a supreme being." The congregation ran from outright Wiccan pagans to lapsed Mormons. They were a wonderful crew.

Let's not forget the Russian oligarchy which Putin has been after. Five of the seven top so-called oligarchs, the beneficiaries of the criminal privatisation process, are Jews or hold dual Israeli citizenship.

One can be Unitarian and Jewish.

Of course one can be Jewish, and be any religion at all.
I have Jewish ancestry, and became Christian several years ago.

Also one can be Unitarian and be any religion at all, or even atheist. My late Jewish grandfather had converted to Unitarianism, and grandma gave too much money to them. :)