
The events of the 20th century knocked optimism for a loop. Two World Wars, numerous genocidal campaigns; and the use of atomic weapons all seemed reasons to give up hope in human nature. With his eyes wide open to these realities, James Luther Adams asserted that while immediate optimism was unrealistic, “the resources (divine and human) that are available for the achievement of meaningful change justify an attitude of ultimate optimism.” We’ll take a close look at that claim in this final service on Adams’s tenets of religious liberalism. World AIDS Day is, strangely enough, an apt day for such an exploration.
Worship Leader: Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern
Worship Associate: Mary Grebenkemper
Music: Veronika Agranov Dafoe, piano
Topics: Five Smooth Stones, Religious Liberalism