The very-open structure of FUUCI allows brand new
thinking
to be discovered and shared without any elaborate organizational
procedures.
Within local UU congregations, there are almost
always some procedures
that must be fulfilled before a new thinker will be able to present new
thoughts.
The most extreme manifestation of such processes
is the complicated way in which new UU ministers are trained and
selected.
They are required to have three years of seminary education,
earning a masters degree beyond their basic 4-year bachelors degrees.
There are requirements for them to do work in local hospitals and UU
churches.
And then they must face a denominational committee
that evaluates them as candidates for the UU ministry.
Even after they fulfill all of these requirements,
they must find a local congregation that wants what they have to offer.
The process of matching candidates and congregations
can last over a year for a new person trying to find a job as a UU
minister.
And candidates sometimes never find a placement.
But the First Unitarian Universalist Church of the
Internet (FUUCI)
asks nothing of the thinker except to see an outline of the proposed
cyber-sermon.
Nothing else needs to be known about the thinker.
In fact, the identities of those who propose cyber-sermons
are not disclosed to those who vote.
Thus, the members of FUUCI will not be influenced
by anything that they might otherwise know about the author.
Each proposal has an equal chance of being selected
to become the next cyber-sermon-of-the-month.
And because many of the members of FUUCI have been UUs for years,
we will be looking for what's
new in the proposals for the next cyber-sermon.
If we have already heard (or read) hundreds or even
thousands of UU sermons,
we probably do not want repeats of the familiar content of UU sermons.
Rather, we are ready for
something new and different.
Our voting process allows new thinking immediately to rise to the top.
And when we vote for the next cyber-sermon,
we might explicitly ask this question:
"Will this cyber-sermon offer something that I have never heard or read
before?"
And all FUUCI members have the opportunity to
participate
even earlier in the quest for new thinkers and new thinking:
If we know about a creative thinker,
no matter what his or her status might be,
we can suggest to that person that he or she might propose a
cyber-sermon for FUUCI.
In short, any member can search for new thinkers and new thinking.
New thinking that has originally appeared in other
formats
can be converted into a short cyber-sermon.
Perhaps we have read an articles in a magazine
that might be converted into a stimulating cyber-sermon.
Maybe we have read a book that deserves to be introduced
in the short form of a cyber-sermon.
Television programs and movies could also be sources
of new thinking.
Almost any creative thinking can be expressed in a cyber-sermon.
And FUUCI offers complete openness to all thoughts.
The members alone decide what will be presented
as the next cyber-sermon-of-the-month.
Created
July 19, 2009; Revised 7-20-2009; 8-14-2009; 5-16-2012; 5-1-2013