{"id":7641,"date":"2023-11-24T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-11-24T19:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/?p=7641"},"modified":"2025-06-07T10:51:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T17:51:52","slug":"uu-connects-with-the-natural-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/news\/blog\/uu-connects-with-the-natural-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecting with the Natural World [#79]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unitarian Universalists\u00a0<\/span>have<\/span> long emphasized celebrating the <\/span>natural<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>world and<\/span>\u00a0protecting\u00a0<\/span>it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>1843,<\/span>\u00a0Unitarian Rev.\u00a0<\/span>Margaret<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Fuller<\/span> spoke out to challenge the Western cultural notion that everything in nature was <\/span>created\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>be<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>used<\/span>\u00a0however\u00a0<\/span>humans<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>saw<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>fit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From\u00a0<\/span>their\u00a0beginnings\u00a0<\/span>in\u00a0<\/span>America, Unitarians and Universalists saw in the natural world a place to deepen their essential connection to what they saw\u00a0as \u201cthe ground of all being.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>late<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>nineteenth<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>century,<\/span> the two faiths fully embraced a deep sense of wonder and gratitude for their natural surroundings, and their ministers drew life lessons from the wilderness areas encircling their communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>time<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>they<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>consolidated, in 1961,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>form the Unitarian Universalist Association, a generation of leaders took over\u00a0 <\/span>who\u00a0<\/span>had<\/span>\u00a0started developing their worldviews from a Sunday school\u00a0<\/span>curriculum<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>celebrated<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>natural\u00a0<\/span>world and encouraged them to explore earthworms, stars, birds, rocks, and the human hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since April<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>1970,\u00a0<\/span>with the first Earth Day, UUs have been active in local, national, and international efforts to bring environmental issues to congregants\u2019 (and all citizens\u2019) attention through worship,\u00a0<\/span>witness, and service.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The UU Green Sanctuary program, begun in 2001, urged all UU congregations to commit\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>protecting<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>their not-yet-developed, nearby environments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Unitarian<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Universalists<\/span> regularly “affirm the interdependence of all life on earth” — <\/span>one of their foundational principles.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Therefore, they embrace the environmental justice movement, which calls upon us to care about and contribute to the well-being of <\/span>people increasingly <\/span>impacted\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>global\u00a0<\/span>warming and other harmful consequences of climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unitarian Universalists\u00a0have long emphasized celebrating the natural\u00a0world and\u00a0protecting\u00a0it. \u00a0 In\u00a01843,\u00a0Unitarian Rev.\u00a0Margaret\u00a0Fuller spoke out to challenge the Western cultural notion that everything in nature was created\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0used\u00a0however\u00a0humans\u00a0saw\u00a0fit. \u00a0 From\u00a0their\u00a0beginnings\u00a0in\u00a0America, Unitarians and Universalists saw in the natural world a place to deepen their essential connection to what they saw\u00a0as \u201cthe ground of all being.\u201d \u00a0 By\u00a0the\u00a0late\u00a0nineteenth\u00a0century, the two … Continue reading Connecting with the Natural World [#79]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7641"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8877,"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7641\/revisions\/8877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sedonauu.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}