The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica

Adult Programs

February, 2011

Explore “The Nature of Existence”

“Why do we exist and what are we supposed to do about it? What started the Universe and was it a mistake? Does God exist and why does he seem so interested in our sex lives?” These are among the 85 tough questions filmmaker Roger Nygard traveled around the world to ask of priests and preachers, rabbis, Taoists and Druids, Baptists and Buddhists, astrophysicists, biologists, wrestlers, waitresses, scholars, and seventh-graders. The answers he got are illuminating, amusing, sometimes infuriating, but always thought-provoking. The result of Roger’s four-year soul-searching odyssey is his new film, “The Nature of Existence.”

The Adult Programs Committee invites you to a screening of “The Nature of Existence” followed by a Question & Answer session with director Roger Nygard on Sunday, February 20, in the Cottage from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Known for his work on the documentaries “Trekkies” and “Trekkies 2” (about the subculture of “Star Trek” fans) and on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Office,” Roger turns his camera, curiosity and sense of humor on the very questions that have vexed our species for eons.

For a preview of the afternoon, check out the film trailers at: http://thenatureofexistence.com/media/videos/

If you’d like to preview Nygard’s 85 questions before the screening go to: http://thenatureofexistence.com/about/the-questions/

Printed copies of the questions will be available at Coffee Hour on Sundays in February before the screening. Please stop by to grab a copy, consider your answers (as if you haven’t already), and bring them to what promises to be a lively discussion, UU-style. Don’t worry: there won’t be a quiz at the screening, and the final answers won’t be revealed until you die.

The screening is free and open to the public—invite your friends. Imagine the conversation in the car on the way home. The film will be available for purchase on DVD, both the standard release version as well as the companion series of uncut, full-length interviews. For more info, please contact the Adult Programs Committee: Joe Engleman, chair, or Ian Dodd.

UU Controversies

UU Controversies is a new adult RE offering that seeks to promote discussion of some of the more difficult issues in UU history. It will consist of monthly discussions based on short readings from historical documents. No one has to sign up for the whole series. People can attend sessions based on their individual interest. Documents will be available from the website https://sites.google.com/sites/uusmcontroversies/home (make sure you use https instead of just http). If that doesn't work, contact me or just pick up hardcopies at the church office.

The first discussion will be at Tom and Bronwen's house Wednesday, February 16, at 7:30 p.m. The topic will be Unitarian involvement in the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century. A hundred years ago, the American Unitarian Association was a leading publisher of books advocating eugenics, the idea that humans should be artificially bred like farm animals. Eugenics was supported by prominent Unitarian ministers such as John Haynes Holmes. Holmes was very liberal and was a cofounder of the NAACP and ACLU. His belief in selective breeding of humans seems inexplicable to modern UUs. We will try to understand.

— Tom Hamilton