While recording a podcast yesterday (WebBeet no. 2) I surprised everyone, including myself, by flying into a technicolor rant.  Religion, politics and the web.  It’s heady stuff.  Specifically I was venting about the websites for the two candidates currently running for the office of President of the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Association of Congregations: Laurel Hallman and Peter Morales.

Unlike like most UU websites, these are both somewhat attractive and attempt to use the new media, with hat tips to blogging, YouTube and even Facebook.  But the bar for candidates on the Web was set by Obama some time ago, and by this measure they both fall far short.

First, I’ll run through three quick and simple changes both could make to their sites, and then I’ll get to the more serious issues.

Quick Fixes

1. Stop the non-stop slideshows on the home pages. Most web users dislike endless animations.  The photos on both sites are fine, but I’d strongly recommend adding a stop command after about three or four photos.  Then I’d switch some or all of the photos out every few weeks.

2. Improve the contact forms. Hallman has a good big “Contact” button in her main menu, but the text box for actual comments is very small, suggesting she doesn’t really want to hear much from you.  Moreover, when you fill it out, you don’t get clear acknowledgement that your message has been received.  Morales has a “Contact us” email in the footer of all pages.  The footer is where people will often look, so that’s good, but it’s in a small font, suggesting they too would just as soon not hear from you either.  That said, the Morales campaign replied promptly when my church used this email recently.

3. Shrink the photos of the candidates. Did you ever notice how small the photos of Obama and Biden were on their site during the campaign?  At first I was surprised, and then realized it was brilliant.  It meant the focus of the site wasn’t really Obama – it was you, the site visitor, the person who might vote or donate.  Plus it made room for other content in that prime real estate.  On UU campaign sites, what do the visitors most want and need to see?  Clear position statements are essential, and both have that, but might it not also be comfort and hope?  Might it not be ministry?

A Shift in Understanding

Those are the easy things to talk about.  The hard part, of course, is what’s more important.  To oversimplify, neither candidate really knows how to use Web 2.0, in particular social media.  They both talk growth, but they aren’t communicating effectively to the base that swelled Obama’s ranks – the younger generations.  And it’s not just the 20 and 30-somethings they are missing.  It’s anyone who gets the Web.

UUs can be proud that our faith attracts the technoscenti in unusually large numbers.  But that said, do we live up to it?  We can attract such people sometimes, but can we engage them?  Neither of these candidates does – yet.  The funny thing is, nor should they.  I learned long ago that there is, roughly speaking, an inverse correlation between first-rate ministry and technological-know-how.

Rather, what they need is to find someone they each can trust in this arena – and work with that person.  I would advise both candidates to put a technological visionary on their team and turn not just this aspect of their campaign over to him or her, but once elected, be sure to channel that vision into the denomination.  UUism needs it.  Desperately.   To quote a recent (and excellent) presentation I went to, “The Internet is Our Parish.”

Here are some Web 2.0 things I hope for.

• A UU podcast that speaks to me.  I don’t mean yet another sermon-cast.  Ho hum.   That’s trying to mold the ‘net to old faith models rather than molding faith to the new models.  All I’m asking for is a five minute podcast, perhaps every-other-day, with a meditation or thought for the day.  We have roughly a bazillion brilliant orators in UUism.  Can’t one of them do this?
• Twitter feeds from UU leadership.
• Targeted, informative, ministerial email newsletters that are easy to subscribe to.
• Websites that collect feedback in meaningful ways and build new, virtual UU communities.
• And of course, the Obama signature technology — highly selective blast texting — at just the right moment.

Were I to see such things I would know the future for my faith is bright.

“There is more love somewhere…. I’m gonna keep on, til I find it…. There is more love somewhere.”

I’m not sure why this hymn keeps rattling through my head today, because honest-to-pete, I have been astonished by how much love I have witnessed the past few days. It’s more than I ever imagined possible. (And please bear in mind that “love” may be my least favorite word in the English language — though that’s another story.)

The outpouring I’ve seen makes me not just glad, but actually proud, to be part of such a wonderful faith community (Unitarian Universalist and beyond). At my church’s vigil last night, I heard that many (maybe even all) of the different churches and temples in Knoxville have reached out to help their UU neighbors.

From my worm’s eye perspective, it’s in-my-face evident in the TLC our family has received around the loss of our beloved Roxy. There has been so much terrible news for the church the last few days that I assumed the death of a 95 year-old would have to take a back seat. But no. Not two hours after hearing of the second tragedy, the President of the congregation called me to say we weren’t going to be forgotten. At the point he called it hadn’t even crossed my mind.

Then this morning I thought we shouldn’t bother our Caring Committee about a reception after the memorial service this coming Saturday. But no again. The minister said they actually want to do this. Their chair even called her about it yesterday — from the road, returning from a vacation. I shake my head in wonder. And I hope I can find ways to mirror this love back.

Like many in my congregation (First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville), I currently am reeling not just from the shock of the recent tragedy at our sister church in Knoxville, but also the death yesterday of a beloved youth in our congregation. And in my case, I am processing the recent illness and death of my mother-in-law.

From my sorrow one memory keeps emerging, like a lotus from the mud. I share it in hopes it helps others coping with these or similar tragedies and losses.

About 10 years ago, I went to one of Vanderbilt’s Holocaust Lecture Series. Several survivors were generous enough to speak of their experiences in what may be the most moving lecture I have ever witnessed.

My clearest memories are of two different women. One recalled how for 40 years she had never spoken of what had happened to her until one day, at the urging of a friend, she spoke before an Episcopalian congregation. She had her talk written out in front of her, but could not get through even the first page as the tears started to flow. Then she looked up and saw the whole congregation was crying with her.

The other spoke calmly, emanating a remarkable sense of serenity, of the terrible things both that had happened to her and that she had witnessed. Then she talked of her struggle to come to terms with these horrors — and she said (with a profound conviction that my written words can only begin to convey) what I will never forget…. Love is the only answer.