Coffee Hour

Activity was slow over the weekend on-line at the UUA Certification of Congregations. Here are the latest figures:

# of US Congregations Certified: 671
Adult Membership reported: 111,846
Net Change in Adult Membership: +2,026
Growth: 1.84%

Responding to ChaliceChick's query about regional growth, only three states so far have 100% participation. (All three of these states have a small number of congregations.) Here are those states:

Kansas, with 7 congregations, grew by 5% (+40 UUs)
Nevada (2 congregations) grew by 20% (+54 UUs)
Hawaii (1 congregation) reported no change in membership.

We're into the home stretch with the on-line certification of UU Church membership. By the end of the weekend, we'll have nearly a final count.

Here are the latest totals:

# of congregations certified: 594
Adult Membership in those congregations: 102,180
Net change since last year: +1847 members
Percent growth: 1.84%

I'm having a short-attention-span MTV-generation sort of night, so the reviews are short today.

At Boy in the Bands the debate over the place of atheism in the UU church continues. It’s a cool discussion. Check it out. Weigh in. The Left Coast Unitarian has.

Rich has a rather poetic post about the moon in Facilitating Paradox

Will has a bunch of writing advice in It’s All One Thing

Phil’s little blog on the Prarie is looking into the future.

At Unity, Adam comments on the crucial SpongeBob issue.

Ever heard anybody say "I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual”? Yeah, Peacebang has too.

The Socinan is a new blog, and it rocks.

CC

More fun than watching the stock market? For a while yesterday, it looked like Boy-in-the-Bands' forecast of a plummet in the rate of growth would hold true. However, a late surge brought the rate of growth back to stable. Here are the numbers:

# of US Congregations reporting: 467
Net change in # of UUs: +1690
Percentage growth: 2.18%

Of course, this steady growth comes with one caveat. Ten percent of this growth can now be attributed to the Sycamore Federated Church in Illinois, which went from reporting 10 UUs in 2004 to 181 UUs in 2005. Boy-in-the-Bands wrote critically of Federated churches one year ago.

Here's the very latest from the On-line certification of membership in UU Congregations.

# of US Congregations Reporting: 350
Net Change in # of UUs: +1261
Percentage Growth: 2.27%

In the next week, as many as 600 more congregations will certify on-line so I am going to be up to my eye-balls keeping track. In early and mid-February, I plan on making some conclusions from all this data. Which states are growing the fastest? Do small, mid-sized, or large congregations account for the most growth? What do you want to know?

Let the voting begin! Between now and February 1, please cast your votes in the first annual UU Blog Awards. There are polls for each of the following categories:

• Best UU-Themed Blog
• Best Non-UU-Themed Blog by a UU
• Best UU-Themed Group Blog or Online Community
• Best Writing
• Best Links
• Best Design
• Best Anecdote or Narrative
• Best Review or Cultural Commentary
• Best Religious Writing or Theological Commentary

The polls won't appear on the front page of Coffee Hour, so be sure to click the "Continue Reading" link to load the poll. You may only vote once in each category, but you may certainly lobby your friends and readers to come vote for your site.

Sadly, there were not enough nominations in several of the proposed categories, so feel free to post honorable mentions here in the Best Commenter, Wayside Pulpit, Shout It from the Rooftops, and Best GA Workshop Idea. And a reminder: This whole process is for fun. It's intended to bring attention to the excellent work so many people did this past year. There are already even more exceptional UU blogs than last year, and next year's awards will undoubtedly highlight a few new areas and demonstrate even more diversity in the voices. I can't wait. I also want to acknowledge that several of the first-generation UU blogs deserved to be included in these awards, but because they have already been taken off-line, they were ineligible. We couldn't look back at 2004, however, without honoring Across, Beyond, Through and Gatheringwater. They featured passionate, powerful, insightful writing, and I miss them.

The official nominees for the Best UU-Themed Blog of 2004 are:

• Boy in the Bands (Scott Wells)
  
• My Irony (Chutney)
  
• Philocrites (Chris Walton)
  
• Phil's Little Blog on the Prairie (Phil Lund)
  
• Prophet Motive (Tom Schade)

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for the Best Non-UU-Themed Blog (written by a Unitarian Universalist) of 2004 are:

• American Buddhist Study Center (Jeff Wilson)
  
• Debitage (Stentor Danielson)
  
• Informed Comment (Juan Cole)
  
• Media Log (Dan Kennedy)
  
• Pericles (Doug Muder)
  
• Respectful of Otters (Rivka)

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for the Best UU-Themed Group Blog or Online Community of 2004 are:

• Beliefnet UU Forums
  
• Coffee Hour
  
• FUUSE - Voice of the RevolUUtion
  
• LiveJournal Unitarian Universalists' Community

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for Best Writing on a UU Blog in 2004 are:

• iBeth (Beth Young)
  
• Measured Extravagance (Mechaieh)
  
• Pericles (Doug Muder)
  
• Respectful of Otters (Rivka)
  
• Unity (Adam Tierney-Eliot)
  
• Virginia UU in King George's War (Gregory)

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for the UU Blog with the Best Links in 2004 are:

• iBeth
  
• It's All One Thing
  
• My Irony
  
• onReligion
  
• Philocrites

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for the UU Blog with the Best Design or Visuals are:

• El Caliz Azul
  
• Debitage
  
• iBeth
  
• My Irony
  
• Voyager

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for Best Anecdote or Narrative on a UU Blog or Online Community are:

• "The Adventures of Purple Cowboy Hat Lady" — Chutney (My Irony 10.25.04)
  
• "Are Parents Another Species?" — Beth Young (iBeth 11.7.04)
  
• "Chrismahanukwanzakah, Mexican Style" — Enrique (El Cáliz Azul)
  
• "Evangelism" — Mechaieh (Measured Extravagance 1.14.04)
  
• "Happy Birthday, Bach" — Chris Walton (Philocrites 3.21.04)
  
• "I Care" — Chutney (My Irony 11.22.04)
  
• "Round Robin" — allpoints23 et al. (Beliefnet 11.9.04)

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for Best Review or Cultural Commentary on a UU Blog in 2004 are:

• "Bad Arguments for a Good Cause" — Stentor Danielson (Debitage 2.23.04)
  
• "It's a Question of Character" — Tom Schade (Prophet Motive 9.9.04)
  
• "Liberalism Reframed" — Jake (Philocrites 11.4.04)
  
• "Life in Privatopia" and "Life in Privatopia II" — Beth Young (iBeth 12.17.04, 12.18.04)
  
• "10 Ideas for 2008" — Doug Muder (Pericles 11.29.04)

Vote below by February 1.

The official nominees for Best Religious Writing or Theological Commentary on a UU Blog are:

• "Advent 1", "Advent 2", "Advent 3", "Advent 4" — Adam Tierney-Eliot (Unity 12.2.04, 12.6.04, 12.14.04, 12.28.04)
  
• "Cape Cod's Scaaary Unitarian Universalists" — Chris Walton (Philocrites 10.18.04)
  
• "How to Renew a Vocabulary of Reverence, Part 1", "Part 2", "Part 3", "Part 4" — Chutney (My Irony 4.13.04, 4.18.04, 4.22.04, 4.26.04)
  
• "If I Can't Win, At Least Don't Let Me Lose" — Tom Schade (Prophet Motive 4.17.04)
  
• "No One Is Worthy to Mention God's Name" - David Soliday (Facilitating Paradox 3.7.04)

Cast your vote below before February 1.

Well, it’s Inauguration Day here is Washington DC. There are three democrats in my office. Two of them wore black. Nobody told CC about the uniform so she was in a green sweater and black pants.

It’s cold and very windy. I didn’t have the day off, but I didn’t go downtown either. The CSO is still in Chicago, so he doesn’t have much sympathy on the coldness and windiness issue.

So I spent my inauguration day designing invitations, working on steering committee letters and cleaning my office.

Hail to the chief.

Adam has some inauguration-day thoughts on Unity

Looks like MyIrony has a new look. Check it out. It's purty.

At Prophet Motive Tom took an interesting approach in his Martin Luther King Day Sermon

A lot of sermons about stereotypes were probably preached on Sunday, but at A Virginia UU in King George’s War, Gregory is asking UUs to examine their own.

One of the coolest things about Peacebang’s blog is her passionate nature. I live in a city with an entire holocaust museum that my tourist friends keep wanting to see. I can be hard to get me worked up about the holocaust. This did.

Have no fear! I haven't forgotten about the UU Blog Awards. In fact, I've almost finished compiling the nominations into ballots for your voting pleasure. (Well, "almost finished" means I've got the nominations into a single file and gathered most of the links together, but I haven't actually set up polls for each category, and that will involve some effort.) Realistically, let's say that voting will commence this weekend. Thanks for your patience!

Here are the latest numbers:

# of Congregations in the US that have certified thus far: 208
Net increase in # of Unitarian Universalists: +730
Percentage growth: 2.25%

I haven't finished making my own nominations for the Unitarian Universalist Blog Awards, but the deadline for nominations is tomorrow. (The pressure!) We've had some good nominations so far, but if we're going to have anything like a full slate of candidates for the various awards, we must pick one of the following approaches: (A) Let Philocrites pick all the remaining candidates — kind of the Nominating Committee approach; or, (B) Let the people speak. I choose B. Speak, people, speak!

CC is feeling rather peckish, so she apologises in advance if her reviews reflect that. She’s just getting over the flu, her husband is about to go out of town, etc, etc and soforth. Insert more bitching here.

The best I can do for happy news is that CSI just showed a really bitchin’ slow motion shot of a car windshield shattered by a bullet. I love those CSI-cam things.

Anyway, onto the reviews:

At Call and Response Anna is thinking over confirmations.
CC had one herself as a 12-year-old and often wonders if she should blame that for the fact that she still feels she looks at UUism through Christian eyes sometimes.

Is it just me, or does the new CBS show about the FBI agent and his mathematician brother who solve crimes together look really good? No, really, I seriously think it sounds cool.

At Ministrare Sean answered last week's questions about being a minister in a town full of Mormons. CC actually works for Mormons, and when she first took the job, a wise B-netter said Mormons were, on the whole, “very nice people who believe very strange things.”

On the whole, I have found both to be accurate. My experience with conservative Christianity has been largely in the south, where the congregants are often ex-fundamentalists. I’m delighted to read what Sean has to say, because, comparing Sean’s experience to my own, it seems that his congregants handle ex-Mormonness with a great deal more aplomb than the ex-fundamentalists I know have handled what I assume are similar experiences.

I also get what he says about ex-Mormons being great congregants. My Presbyterian mother pretty much walks into her church, sees what needs to be done, and does it. I’ve noticed similar patterns in my own behavior.

Oh… Grissom and Sarah are having a “relationship” talk. Sarah just said “sometimes, I look for validation in inappropriate places.” You and me both, sister.

Ok, reviews, reviews, sorry.

At Facilitating Paradox David asks of the four CBS staffers fired over the swift boat vets news story: “Why should they get dragged through the mud and not the producers of the Swift Boat Veterans ads, or all the people involved in assassinating President Clinton's character?”

Well, because the CBS producers were journalists who were had. They allowed lies to show up on CBS’ flagship news show and made CBS look stupid. An independent report said the error came from the news departments’ “myopic zeal.”

By contrast, the producers of the swift boat veterans ads were basically paid propagandists who did their jobs. The people who “assassinating Presidents Clinton’s character” were telling the truth. The man had a zipper problem and lied to the country to cover it up. Ask me if I think that was worth millions of my tax dollars for an impeachment trial, I’m gonna say “no,” but getting hysterical will not help liberals retake the country.

Oooh! Oooh! That creepy little girl from the Brittany Murphy movie and that Cat-in-the-Hat thing is in a horror movie. That kid was scary in PG-rated movies. I bet she’s really good in a horror flick.

Reflections has something good for the wayside pulpit.

"I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it."

—Voltaire

I have two words for the resolution of the plot about old people on tonight’s CSI: Justifiable Homicide

Unity is proving me wrong. In my blog awards nomination, I said it wasn’t updated as often as Prophet Motive. Needless to say, Unity has now been updated like four times since Prophet Motive last was. Shows what I know.
Adam reports that Christmas was nice, but that his congregation seems happy to be back to their usual routine. My favorite Presbyterian minister once wrote a sermon on “ordinary time,” those times in the Christian calendar when nothing is officially going on.

Well, well, CSI is over and Grissom, with his inexplicable mystery-solving-hotness, is gone for another week. Well, really only until 7pm tomorrow night, when Spike TV shows reruns.

Thank goodness.

CC

Sorry these are going up lateish. Us politics chicks work some late nights sometimes.

A belated Happy Birthday to Nancy Johnson, who is, as far as I know, UUism’s only voice in congress. (Or so I thought, until Chris schooled me, reminding me of North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad and California Representative Pete Stark.) Anyway, Johnson is a really cool woman, and a fabulous example to pull out when someone accuses UUism of not having any Republicans. Johnson turned 70 on January 5, but looks fifty tops.

This was a really excellent week for blogs, BTW. There’s some seriously good stuff out there. Good call, kids.

Facilitating Paradox has a “litany of Goodbye 2004, hello 2005.” It’s an interesting thought, though the litany as written cheats one out of the opportunity to say goodbye to Paris Hilton, something lots of us would like to do.

It really gets me that I don’t even like children, and people talking about their children usually bore me, but I always read iBeth with great pleasure. Must be because it is typically very well-written and insightful. Her anecdote about her kids writing on the driveway alone is worth the price of admission.

On B-net last year, we made an abortive attempt at a Round Robin story about a guy joining a UU church. As far as I can tell, I killed it by giving people writing advice and thus making them self conscious. Maybe I should have just linked to It’s All One Thing instead. His advice is just as good as mine was.

One of the better new blogs recenty, in my unhumble reviewer opinion, is Ministrare, the blog of Sean Parker Dennison, a UU minister from Salt Lake. As he’s answered questions I’ve posted here before, I’d like to ask some more. “What’s it like to be a UU minister in a town full of Mormons? Do you have a lot of pissy ex-Mormons in your congregation? How does your congregation view the Mormon church?”

Phil’s Little Blog on the Prarie continues the ongoing discussion on the place of marriage within the UU church. These posts are not the first I’ve read that use marriage terminology in metaphors about faith. For years, I’ve thought of people who switch religions every few years as “beliefsluts,” to give my crudest yet most amusing example. What Phil has to say is good here, emphasizing the importance of commitment and connection in all aspects of our lives.

Almost a month ago, I announced that we would celebrate the new year here at Coffee Hour by honoring outstanding Unitarian Universalist blogs, journals, and on-line forums. After some fruitful conversation about possible award categories, we have finally set up three tracks of awards and opened up nominations. Hooray!

How can you participate? First, read through the award categories. We'll be giving six awards for general excellence, five for individual entries, and three specialized awards. Then, spend some time browsing through your favorite UU blogs and online communities. Even better, spend at least a little time visiting blogs and communities you don't know well. Where to find them? Why, on the front page of Coffee Hour, down in the sidebar below the Current Poll, where you'll see a list of UU blogs and another list of online forums. A blog or forum does not need to be listed already to be eligible. You may know of extraordinary blogs or journals that I've never heard about; this would be a great time to tell the rest of us about them.

When you find something you think deserves one of the awards, go to the appropriate list of awards and add a comment that gives the name of the blog or forum (and the title of the individual entry, if you're nominating an individual entry), along with the link to the page you're nominating. (Copy the http:// code from your browser window when you're on the page you want to nominate and then paste it into your comment here at Coffee Hour.)

A note about eligibility: It seems to me that any publicly-accessible blog, online diary, journal, on-line forum, news group, or bulletin board related to Unitarian Universalism is fair game for these awards, so long as the blog or blog entry was published on-line in 2004 and is still available for other readers to visit. Members-only sites that require registration in order to read a post (such as "friends-only" LiveJournal diaries) are not eligible.

Finally, don't feel restricted in the number of nominations you can offer. Let's recommend great stuff — and if you want to second or third or fourth a nomination, please do. The real point of these awards is to highlight outstanding work on the Interdependent Web in the last year, so let's highlight away. Also, there's no reason you can't nominate yourself. Go right ahead.

Nominations will wrap up Friday, January 14. Feel free to post questions or comments about the process in this entry.

Between now and January 14, please comment on this post to nominate candidates for the following Unitarian Universalist Blogging Awards:

• Best UU-Themed Blog by a Unitarian Universalist: If a blog written by a Unitarian Universalist focuses regularly on Unitarian Universalism, it's eligible — even if the blog focuses on other subjects, too. If a reader would be hard pressed to figure out that the writer or the blog's focus had anything to do with Unitarian Universalism, nominate it for the next award instead.
  
• Best Non-UU-Themed Blog by a Unitarian Universalist: For outstanding blogs by UUs that only occasionally or hardly ever mention Unitarian Universalism.
  
• Best UU-Themed Community Blog or On-line Forum: For UU-focused blogs with three or more authors, publicly-accessible community forums, and on-line communities. Members of LiveJournal and sites like FUUSE or Daily Kos should note that their personal journals on those sites may be eligible for other awards; FUUSE as a community is eligible for this award, but Daily Kos is not.
  
• Best Writing: Please nominate either a blog or individual's journal or an individual writer from an on-line community. Include a link to a sample of their work.
  
• Best Links: For consistently recommending the best material elsewhere on the Web.
  
• Best Design: For excellence in presentation, organization, and use of graphics.

Eligible candidates for these awards must have been published as a blog or online community during the calendar year 2004. Blogs that have subsequently disappeared aren't eligible, unfortunately, because judges — that would be you! — can't assess a blog that has gone off the air.

Between now and January 14, please comment on this post to nominate candidates for the following Unitarian Universalist Blogging Awards:

• Best Anecdote or Narrative: For the best story. Please include a link to the nominated entry.
  
• Best Review or Cultural Commentary: For the best review or commentary on a cultural phenomenon, whether it's a movie, a social trend, or a presidential election.
  
• Best Religious or Spiritual Writing: For the most inspiring or spiritually moving entry, including prayers, meditations, and other forms of religious expression. Please note that a sermon (published on a blog) may be eligible for this award or the next one — or both!
  
• Best Theological Commentary: For the best use of religious resources in analytical or critical writing. Don't be intimidated by the word "theological": If an entry uses religious ideas as tools in making an argument, it's probably eligible for this award. It shouldn't be necessary to say this (because UUs are clever), but a "theological" commentary need not be about — or even mention — "God."
  
• Shout It from the Rooftops: For the entry you most want other Unitarian Universalists to read and discuss.

Eligible candidates for these awards must have been written by a Unitarian Universalist and published on a blog or online community forum during the calendar year 2004.

Between now and January 14, please comment on this post to nominate candidates for the following assorted awards in the First Annual Unitarian Universalist Blogging Awards:

• Best Commenter: Please include a link or two to blog entries or forum topics featuring the nominee's comments.
  
• Top Candidate for the Wayside Pulpit: This is the award for bon mots, aphorisms, memorable statements, witticisms, etc. Please include a link to the entry in which the statement appeared. (The Wayside Pulpit is a poster-sized sign outside many Unitarian Universalist churches featuring a thought-provoking statement for passers-by.)
  
• Most Likely to Turn into a General Assembly Workshop: The award for the most useful UU resource or practical idea introduced in a blog entry. Please include a link to the entry you are nominating. (The annual General Assembly features a wide range of workshops on congregational leadership.)

Eligible candidates for these awards must have appeared on a blog or online community written by or addressed at least in part to Unitarian Universalists during the calendar year 2004.

I'm back, with the latest information from the on-going annual membership certification of UU congregations. It is a marathon, not a sprint, my friends. (Did anyone even notice I was gone?) Here are the numbers as of January 4th:

# of US Congregations reporting: 96
Net change in # of members: +397
Percentage growth: 2.99%