What's a "peña?" In South America, the term refers to a gathering of like-minded people who get together to talk about some topic with the aid of finger food and wine and spirits (of the alcoholic variety). It's like a salon, but for regular folks.
This month's topic is TBD
We will gather to ponder the world, one topic at a time. We will examine debates without debating, exploring our convictions –or lack thereof– and the reasons we have to have them –or to not have them. We will do so in relaxed, friendly setting, keeping in mind what Bertrand Russell is said to have said about beliefs: "I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong." Or, if you prefer, what The Dude said about opinions:
Feel free to bring food and beverages of your liking.
The plan is to meet the Wednesday after the Assembly each month, with a new topic.
Because of limited space at my place, we have to limit the attendance to 10, so please only RSVP if you plan to plan to make it, or cancel if you won't be able to in order to open a spot up for someone else.
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when he was called here back in 1916. Dietrich imagined an American Protestant style
religious gathering that could be done without reference to a god or traditional
religious trappings such as scriptures or religious language. Secular poetry and
secular music, Dietrich thought, would do just as well.
Out of this insight, Dietrich and the people of this congregation created what they
called ‘religious humanism,’ what today I like to call ‘congregational humanism.’
One-hundred-and-one-years of weekly gatherings have proven that the model works.
And today, UU ministers, Ethical Culture Leaders, and Humanist Celebrants across the
nation serve the life-passage needs of people who identify with no religion.
But there is a problem with that model: Remind yourself: when John Dietrich arrived
here in 1916, most everyone in the city belonged to a congregation. What Dietrich
and his partner in Humanism, Curtis Reese, thought they were doing was placing a
time bomb under Christian dogma but keeping the idea of congregations. They
thought that science and critical thinking and technology and democracy would
destroy ideas that they considered to be old fashioned—such ideas as a god who is
like a European king; such ideas as praying rather than rolling up our sleeves and
getting to work; such ideas as passivity in the face of government, economics,
superstition, and the human condition in general.
A century and more have shown that they were only partially correct in their
assumptions. What blew up was not superstition or the human need for the spiritual.
Rather, it was the social binding that religion offered that went to pieces over the
decades.
The telephone. The automobile. The radio. Then television. Then the internet. Since
1916, the physical bodies and brains of our species have evolved in the slow, halting
pace that they always have. But our technology . . . that evolved at break-neck speed.
In the century of Humanism, capitalism went from a system severely questioned by
the Russian Revolution and then the economic collapse of the Great Depression, to
the only game in town for most human beings living on our planet.
Things have changed, and our thinking about what religion means must change as
well. "
http://firstunitarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Talk-Aggregating.pdf
So he decided to set up an alternative with a fellow comedian, Pippa Evans. It would incorporate many conventions associated with traditional places of worship, but do away with the deities. So while there would be sing-songs and sermons, collections and volunteering, tea and biscuits, there wouldn’t be as much as a hint of the holy or hereafter. The first Sunday Assembly took place in January 2013. ”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/14/like-idea-church-believe-god-sunday-assembly
https://atheopaganism.wordpress.com/atheopaganism/
The sermons of Rev. Simmons on evolution, science, and ethics drew large crowds. Simmons was a vocal opponent of the U.S. invasion of the Philippines and the congregation was instrumental in convincing the state of Minnesota to withdraw its troops from the war. 4 5
…First Unitarian Society remains a humanist congregation and is a focal point for humanist, freethought, and atheist groups in the Twin Cities.”
History of FUS Minneapolis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Unitarian_Society_of_Minneapolis