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By Rev. Eric Stephenson on the 31st March, 2013.

Finding meaning in this weekend presents an unbeliever with a number of problems. I have already suggested that we dispense with an examination of the pagan ones. They are mostly grounded in various forms of nature worship; you can still decide whether you will enjoy an “Easter” sunrise observance even if it did originate with the pagan god, Baal. And like some modern pagans, you can still choose to deny yourself goodies during Lent even though there is no historically Christian reason to support its observance. And by all means let us do a pagan Anglo-Saxon Spring Festival but not till September. The real problem arises from the fact that according to Tacitus and Josephus there is only one historical event in the life of Jesus of Nazareth which we can be sure of,. It is that he died.
To read the rest of this talk click here.

By Rev. Dr Ian Ellis-Jones

Using empiricism and Buddhist teachings, Ian will show why there is no such thing as the “universe.”
To read the whole of this talk click here.

Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists have had a reputation throughout their history as people who do things. However, as human population soars to the 9 billion mark and climate change, if unchecked, makes life under the equator intolerable (with consequent millions fleeing to more liveable places) is there anything anybody can do? Which NGOs are most useful at this time? What policies should we be asking our governments to pursue? As a small group, could we specialise in letter-writing to fulfil our Unitarian mission?

The complete talk given by Jan Tendys, 7 October, 2012, can be read here.

The spiritual wisdom contained in Lewis Carroll’s book “Alice in Wonderland”, especially the advice given as respects the search for one’s “true” self.

The complete talk given on 23 September 2012 by Rev. Dr. Ian Ellis-Jones can be found here.

This is a talk given on the 22nd April, 2012 by Rex A E Hunt, who is a retired Uniting Church minister, Founding director of The Centre for Progressive Religious Thought, and Chair, Common Dreams Conference for Religious Progressives.

It was Christmas Eve in December 1968. Apollo 8 was orbiting the moon, the American astronauts busy photographing possible landing sites for the missions that would follow.

On the fourth orbit, Commander Frank Borman decided to roll the craft away from the moon and tilt its windows toward the horizon – he needed a navigational fix.  What he got, instead, was a sudden view of the earth, rising.  “Oh my God,” he said.  “Here’s the earth coming up.”  Crew member Bill Anders grabbed a camera and took the photograph that became the iconic image perhaps of all time” (McKibben 2010:2)

The space agency NASA gave the image the code name AS8-14-2383, but we now know it as “Earthrise”, a picture “of a blue-and-white marble floating amid the vast backdrop of space, set against the barren edge of the lifeless moon” (McKibben 2010:2). This image, along with another of Earth from space, called “Blue Marble”, and taken by crew on board Apollo 17 four years later, has appeared in TV mini-series, scientific publications and school text books, on greeting cards, a postage stamp, and advertising posters, not to mention having their own pages on Wikipedia!

As the other Apollo 8 Crew member, Jim Lovell, put it: “the earth… suddenly appeared as ‘a grand oasis’” (McKibben 2010:2).
But author and environmental activist Bill McKibben has pointed out: “…we no longer live on that planet” (McKibben 2010:2).

To read his thought-provoking talk, click here.