BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.2.1//EN TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:VEVENT UID:9446@uucpa.org DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210731T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20210731T170000 DTSTAMP:20210702T192825Z URL:https://www.uucpa.org/events/sacred-text-reading-group-2021-07-31/ SUMMARY:Sacred Text Reading Group DESCRIPTION:Sacred Text Reading Group \n\n\nA weekly online sacred text re ading group with Amy\n\nUsing a spiritual-practice approach\, in each sess ion we will explore a different brief scriptural text in depth. The aims o f the sessions are educational (learning something about the texts and tra ditions)\, spiritual/moral (discovering what the texts ask of us)\, and co mmunity-building (getting to know each other better). Amy will have a vers ion of the text available to share\; “bring” your own if you like. All are welcome\, as are your suggestions of future texts. About half our rea dings so far have been those suggested by group members.\n\n\nOur text for Saturday\, July 31 is from Reinhold Niebuhr\, Moral Man and Immoral Socie ty. From the member who suggested the text: Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971\; not to be confused with his brother H. Richard Niebuhr or his nephew Richa rd R. Niebuhr\, both also theologians) was a minister and theologian who w restled with topics such as justice\, non-violence\, coercion\, and realis m. He was German American and was a minister in a German evangelical churc h in Detroit in the 1920s. He was a pacifist at the start of his career bu t his observation of the injustices suffered by workers in Detroit’s aut omobile industry moved him into the ‘militant’ wing of the Socialist P arty. He favored strikes despite the interpersonal violence and property d amage they sometimes produced. He wrote Moral Man and Immoral Society (193 2) to explore\, among other topics\, the meaning and limits of non-violent resistance to injustice.\n\n The distinguishing marks of violent coercio n and conflict are usually held to be its intent to destroy either life or property. This distinction is correct if consequences are not confused wi th intent. Non-violent conflict and coercion may also result in the destru ction of life or property and they usually do. The difference is that dest ruction is not the intended but the inevitable consequence of non- violent coercion. […]\n Non-violence is essentially non-co-operation. It expre sses itself in the refusal to participate in the ordinary processes of soc iety. It may mean the refusal to pay taxes to the government (civil disobe dience)\, or to trade with the social group which is to be coerced (boycot t) or to render customary services (strike). While it represents a passive and negative form of resistance\, its consequences may be very positive.\ n It certainly places restraints upon the freedom of the objects of its d iscipline and prevents them from doing what they desire to do. Furthermore it destroys property values\, and it may destroy life\; though it is not generally as destructive of life as violence. Yet a boycott may rob a whol e community of its livelihood and\, if maintained long enough\, it will ce rtainly destroy life. A strike may destroy the property values inherent in the industrial process which it brings to a halt\, and it may imperil the life of a whole community which depends upon some vital service with whic h the strike interferes. Nor can it be maintained that it isolates the gui lty from the innocent more successfully than violent coercion. The innocen t are involved with the guilty in conflicts between groups\, not because o f any particular type of coercion used in the conflict but by the very gro up character of the conflict. No community can be disciplined without affe cting all its members who are dependent upon\, even though they are not re sponsible for\, its policies. The cotton spinners of Lancashire are impove rished by Gandhi's boycott of English cotton\, though they can hardly be r egarded as the authors of British imperialism. If the League of Nations sh ould use economic sanctions against Japan\, or any other nation\, workmen who have the least to do with Japanese imperialism would be bound to suffe r most from such a discipline. […]\n [Thus Mr. Gandhi has written]: “ Often a man's actions defy analysis in terms of nonviolence\; equally ofte n his actions may bear the appearance of violence when he is absolutely no n- violent in the highest sense of the term\, and is subsequently found to be so. All I can claim for my conduct is that I was\, in that instance ci ted\, actuated in the interest of non-violence” (C. F. Andrews\, Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas\, p. 142).\n The advantage of non-violence as a method of expressing moral goodwill lies in the fact\, that it protects the agent against the resentments which violent conflict always creates in both par ties to a conflict\, and that it proves this freedom of resentment and ill -will to the contending party in the dispute by enduring more suffering th an it causes. If non-violent resistance causes pain and suffering to the o pposition\, it mitigates the resentment\, which such suffering usually cre ates\, by enduring more pain than it inflicts.\n\n\nHow to join:\n\n Join this class from your Web browser: https://zoom.us/j/578882781\, passcode: words\n Join this class using the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 578 882 781\n J oin this class by phone: 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)\, Meeting ID: 578 882 781\, passcode: 171919\n Join this class by one-tap on mobile phones: +16 699009128\,\,578882781# US (San Jose)\n Phoning in\, but not in the bay a rea?  Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/abL8clvIYT\n\n \;\n\ n\n\n\n\n ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.uucpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03 /Online-Sacred-Texts-Reading-Group.png CATEGORIES:Adult,Classes,Learning,Small Groups END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Los_Angeles X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Los_Angeles BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20210314T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0800 TZOFFSETTO:-0700 TZNAME:PDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR