What is Good—and What Deserves Smiting?

Rev. Byron Carrier will explore the nature of good at Pioneer Hall, 73 Winburn Way, Ashland, 4-6 PM on Sunday November 11th. Most people try to live up to their answers of what is good or not, often informed and pressured by their culture's norms. Surprising answers can be discovered in the opening chapters of the Bible — Genesis One, and Genesis Two/Three — the Garden of Eden myth. The three great theistic religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (also the three great trouble-makers) all base their scriptures on these stories. While Reverend Byron does not believe "the Bible is the Word of God," or that we have to believe in God to be good, he will use these short scriptures to affirm our humanistic and naturalistic place in the world. To him, Eden isn't merely a mythical haven of a particular people, it is a symbol of the evolved natural reality that we are born of and into.

Reverend Byron Bradley Carrier came to Ashland in 1986 to be the Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship's first minister. He also helped found the Grants Pass UUs, where he is now emeritus. A self-described philosophical materialist, he is seminary-educated in theology and a variety of religions. Visit his website www.earthlyreligion.com for more.