Green Oasis

I’ve known for a while about the Nirvana song Jesus Don’t Want Me For a Sunbeam (originally by The Vaselines), but I was just reminded of it and I think it’s cute.

Jesus don’t want me for a sunbeam. ‘Cause sunbeams are not made like me.
Don’t expect me to cry for all the reasons you had to die. Don’t ever ask your
love of me.

Don’t expect me to cry.
Don’t expect me to lie.
Don’t expect me to die for thee.

For those who don’t know, this is a parody of a popular Christian song for children, I’ll Be a Sunbeam. It’s popular in Mormon circles where child folk tradition dictates that the refrain is sung with special emphasis on the syllable “beam” sometimes accompanied by hopping up in your seat:

A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam;
A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
I’ll be a sunbeamfor Him.

Are Mormon kids the only ones who do this?

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (songwriter of Hurt) in a 2005 interview for Rolling Stone about seeing Johnny Cash’s video cover for the first time: “I saw the video and it took my breath away. Immediately my throat had a lump in it, and at that point, it really struck home. It was heartbreaking. I had goosebumps, which I have right now even thinking about it. It became really inspiring to me.… It works. And it probably works better than my version.… I haven’t listened to my version since then.”

Mortality is a bittersweet pill.

Although I’m an loud and proud nerd, these nerd girls do nothing for me. “I failed my saving throw!” Priceless.

I realize that community is important. Mormonism has always provided me and my family a ready-made community—a quirky, somewhat dysfunctional community, but no human community is flawless after all. Leaving Mormonism has meant leaving that community behind (in spirit at least since I attend Sunday services to support my family).

A recent Time article, Sunday School for Atheists, highlights the growing trend of atheistic parents banding together to support each other in teaching and living their values. The most consistently held values among the diverse atheist population seem to be free and critical thinking. Parents find it challenging to cultivate these values in the midst of a culture that instead values faith in traditional ideas at the expense of personal exploration and determination. This would probably be a non-issue in a largely non-religious culture.

As a parent, I worry that community (or the lack thereof) might be the determining factor in my children’s choices regarding their belief systems. Human beings are social animals. Going it alone is difficult for most. People like to fit in to a group, if possible. Thinking like your peers is a good way to fit in, so stray thoughts and doubts may be subconsciously pruned when they seem too aberrant from cultural norms. I don’t want that for my girls, but I do want them to have a community.

So I’m in the market for a community that supports human development without restricting free thought, exploration, and expression of what it means to be human. I intend to visit the local Unitarian Universalist congregation after New Years when my family’s LDS ward will presumably change its meeting schedule. The UU congregation seems like a good place to start my search.

In the meantime, I like what I heard in these videos that I found through their website (from the UU FAQ website). The first is a bit cheesy, but it gives me a flavor.

Mr. Deity and the Voicemail—Season 2, Episode 3