Episodes

Sunday May 11, 2014
Natural Rights and Civil Religion in Thomas Jefferson
Sunday May 11, 2014
Sunday May 11, 2014
Presenter: Lee Ward:

Sunday May 04, 2014
Spiritual Practices From a Unitarian Perspective
Sunday May 04, 2014
Sunday May 04, 2014
Presenter: Liz James.
What does "Spiritual Practice" look like for Unitarians?
Prayer. Meditation. Fasting. Pilgrimage. Most religions have some
form of spiritual practice as part of their teachings. What does
spiritual practice look like through a Unitarian lens, and why can it be so
hard sometimes to "keep it up"? What about people who don't identify
with the term "spiritual"? What are the common threads of spiritual
practices around the world and through time, and what do we have to
learn from them?

Sunday Apr 27, 2014
Tolerance & Relativism
Sunday Apr 27, 2014
Sunday Apr 27, 2014
Presenter: Eldon Soifer
Tolerance is an odd virtue, because you can really tolerate
only things you don't like or don't approve of. Nevertheless, people
often think it's very important to tolerate others' beliefs. Sometimes
the claim that we should tolerate others is grounded in the observation
that, in the past, people who were confident that they knew the truth
about things such as ethics and religion, ended up doing a lot of
terrible things. It is suggested that we should take a more modest
approach to our beliefs, and this is often taken to mean that we should
accept that our beliefs are no better or worse than anybody else's,
they're just the ones we happen to have. On this view, there are no
objective truths about morals, only relative ones. Yet it turns out that
such "relativism" is a philosophical view that stands in need of
defense just as much as any other--and there are important reasons for
thinking that it might not be right. Furthermore, relativism in any case
might not be able to provide the justification for tolerance that drew
many people to it in the first place.

Tuesday Apr 22, 2014
Unitarians look at Easter
Tuesday Apr 22, 2014
Tuesday Apr 22, 2014
Unitarians and traditional Christian beliefs about Easter are sometimes an uncomfortable combination in today's Unitarian congregations. We're never sure how to celebrate, or if we should celebrate. Over the past 180 years Unitarian Universalists have grown from a primarily Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the variety of beliefs we have today. Joanne explores the history of Unitarians and Easter, with excerpts from a talk by Rev. Phillip Hewitt of Vancouver.

Sunday Apr 06, 2014
Reflections on Transgender Awareness Week, March30-Apr5
Sunday Apr 06, 2014
Sunday Apr 06, 2014
Today Mikayla Schultz gave us some insight on what it means to be transgendered. Starting with her own experience coming out as transgender heralded by a story she suggested for the Leader Post 5 years ago for National Coming Out Day on October 11th, Mikayla has since worked tirelessly for awareness and education about the transgender community. She was able to tell of about some of her successes and her goals to achieve fair treatment in our society in terms of education, employment and health care.

Sunday Mar 30, 2014
Carrying the Chalice: A sermon by Unitarian Minister, Fiona Heath
Sunday Mar 30, 2014
Sunday Mar 30, 2014
Presenters: Helen Christiansen and Joanne Green.
Donna Cowley was unable to give her presentation this morning, so Sunday Service Chair, Helen Christiansen and President, Joanne Green decided to present a sermon by Fiona Heath, Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Durham at Whitby, Ontario. In this sermon, Rev Heath explains what it means to her to be a Unitarian. This is a very good discussion for anyone who is unfamiliar with Unitarian Universalism and would like to know what it's all about.

Monday Mar 24, 2014
Atheism and Conclusion: Final Presentation in the God is not One series
Monday Mar 24, 2014
Monday Mar 24, 2014
Presenters: Ethel Struthers and Helen Christiansen
According to Prothero, atheism is part of a tradition going
back to ancient Greece. Some of the greatest minds in the modern world
were atheists (e.g., Freud), as were some of the most brutal dictators
(e.g. Stalin). This presentation begins with Prothero’s overview of
atheism, and conclude with a summary of his final chapter.

Sunday Mar 16, 2014
Global Warming, the Tar Sands, and Canada’s Future Energy Direction
Sunday Mar 16, 2014
Sunday Mar 16, 2014
Presenter: Doug Mader
Doug will tie the three topics together and outline what he
believes must be the energy path Canada needs to take, as well as some
ways of getting there - definitely not what our federal government is
currently promoting. Doug will look at this topic from the perspective
of science and what's “real”.

Sunday Mar 09, 2014
Living the Apology: The Regina Indian Industrial School
Sunday Mar 09, 2014
Sunday Mar 09, 2014
Presenter: Dawn Rolke
The Regina Indian Industrial School operated on the outskirts
of Regina from 1891 until 1910. Run and staffed by the Presbyterian
church on behalf of the federal government, the school circulated a
newspaper to over 500 families and was lauded for its progress. Once a
proud part of our settler story, the school was eventually forgotten; so
too was the small cemetery lying adjacent to it. Now, citizens of
Regina and members of the United and Presbyterian churches seek to have
this cemetery remembered and restored.

Sunday Feb 23, 2014
Finding Peace and Meaning in Difficult Situations
Sunday Feb 23, 2014
Sunday Feb 23, 2014
Presenter: Dr. Douglas Amell
How is one to find peace in the face of what is felt to be a horrible injustice? This presentation will explore Doug's search to overcome helplessness and find peace through the very difficult situation of being jailed for an offense for which he felt unjustly accused as well as unfairly tried. At the end of his presentation, Doug sang a song he wrote which we did not include in the recording; however, the lyrics of the song are as follows:
PEACE WILL PAVE THE WAY
By
Doug Amell
We
need love to overcome what we’ve done to this world we live in,
And
though greed has dominated much of our inspiration, just know there exists
another way
We
need hope in our lives to sustain all the dreams inside us,
And
though there is poverty where others may prosper, just know there exists
another way
CHORUS
And love will save the day
By sweeping pain away
The darkness ends with the dawn of day,
And peace will pave the way
We
need pride to survive those who judge, they’re not in our shoes,
And
though many songs are sung of trials and tribulations, just know there exists
another way
CHORUS
The
choice is yours, intention pours through every action that you’re ever going to
take.
We
need peace in our hearts to cast out hatred and confusion,
And
though anger has a way of clouding the senses, just know there exists another
way
CHORUS
Yes,
peace will pave the way