UBU MINISTRIES

NOTICE: To help facilitate better understanding and communication of our message, the Board of Trustees has elected to form the Church of Universal Truth. Although UBU Ministries is organized as a church, the name has caused some confusion with the public. UBU Ministries will continue to be an official arm of the church and at present no formal distinction will be made between the two. Henceforth UBU Ministries will operate under the direction, subscribe to the rules, beliefs, practices and conventions of Church of Universal Truth and the two will eventually operate as distinct functional divisions of the same body and  Parent Organization, Church of Universal Truth. Membership, general meetings and most services are transferred to the new Parent organization. Further functional distinctions are planned by the Board to further define specific services offered by the Church and the Ministry.. Such distinctions of function will be published in the official Church Operat...

From Science and Religion Today http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2012/05/30/is-atheism-increasing-at-the-expense-of-theism/ Is Atheism Increasing at the Expense of Theism? From Gregory Paul , an independent paleontologist and researcher who examines the relationship between religion and society: In recent years, there has been lots of discussion and debate about whether atheism or theism is on the rise around the world . A good deal of the answer can be found in results from the International Social Survey Program. In its Religion II survey conducted in 1998 and Religion III survey sampled in 2008 and just released (why the ISSP is so tardy in releasing its results is obscure), the ISSP asked the same set of questions in 28 countries, allowing assessment of gross longitudinal trends over a decade (because their Religion 1 poll in 1991 asked different questions in far fewer countries, it is not very longitudinally useful). % Don’t believe in God % Theists ov...

by Rev. Gregory "Doc" Lowrey Happy Sunday. Today I gave in (got sucked in) to a discussion presented on Linked-In titled: Where Is God? Where Is He Not...?  Many views were presented and it was obvious that the participants had all spent a lot of energy and concern with this issue of "understanding" God and determining if we are collectively God or individuals with our own thoughts and powers of self-determination. If you would like to consider the conversation you can find it here: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=1437977&type=member&item=115060458&report.success=Tj8fJnK62GOU9jIFdRRZ-uJ21Ua1K69XF6XJ24FUowP1Q6iOAj_JytVeP7141jKoFHbECgNULh4dKgM5922xwphYoiFzZgLoXzigjsFUqQP1Q3npf6B26XPRL7AdKgLX4C92j0PRoWkFbdGXFjkETtPa1WcFKTnOlHbNjC1aqaRlQ6XflzweyASC1h0qQl5flADNabsU-pc (you may have to join the group to read this.  I really know little about Linked-In and rarely participate) My personal contribution to the discussion was this: It se...

by Rev. Gregory "Doc" Lowrey This morning on Meet the Press, the topic of Same-Sex Marriage was discussed. Here is a short report on what was said.  By Ryan Teague Beckwith  May 6, 2012 Vice President Joe Biden became the highest-ranking U.S. official to endorse same-sex marriage this morning. In a wide-ranging interview on “Meet the Press,” Biden said he has no problem with gays and lesbians having marriage rights. “The president sets the policy. I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” Biden said, according to Reuters . Biden did not say whether the White House would take concrete steps to help legalize gay marriage if President Obama wins a second term. Obama has said his views on same-sex marriage are “evolving” and that it is a matter best l...

by Rev. Gregory "Doc" Lowrey I thought about Proverbs 29:2 today while writing to my Congresspeople and the White House regarding new attempts to abuse the God given (and hence off limits to government interference) Unalienable Rights recognised and guaranteed by the United States Constitution. This verse is commonly rendered "When the wicked rule, the people mourn". However there are many other passages which I feel are absolutely pertinent today. The proverbs were kept because they taught enduring truth and were relied on as a guide for behavior and expectation. In today's political climate, there is good advice and hope in these verses. I hope we can all draw guidance, hope and inspiration from them. Feel free to forward this to your legislators and other civil servants. Don't be surprised if you need to extrapolate the meaning for them. I suggest that where the scripture says "righteous" you not ascribe any particular religiou...

by Rev. Gregory "Doc" Lowrey (I wanted to post this while I was thinking about it and so this is "from the hip", a first draft.  It may get changes later - please excuse any brain farts) I would like this to be a longer post, but I want to at least get it started and perhaps the simple statement (which I have never seen) of this basic simple but essential fact will be sufficient. Just as Jesus points out "The 'natural' man is an enemy to God", humans are at the most basic level "animals" who put individual needs and wants above concern for others.  This is NORMAL and is the normal, basic foundation from which nearly all people actually operate - a purely animal level where little to no concern is shown for anyone (or anything) who do not show direct advantage to, or are confusingly different than that individual (each of us). What Jesus then asks us, and which every religion or philosophy promoting civilization and especially altr...

By Rev. Doc Lowrey If the "First and Great Commandment" is " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind . " Matthew 22: 37-39 [KJV] there should be a lot of wonder about just what that means and how we accomplish it. Jesus understood this complication and rightly followed with an extrapolation on this command in verse 39, "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." From this and other similar teachings from Jesus, we understand that this is pretty much the whole of his religion, but we often fail to see how this applies in our various life situations.