Who can be racist?

I googled, "only white people can be racist"--don't ask me why--and the first hit was an opinion piece from The Harvard Crimson written by Michelle I. Gao entitled Who Can Be 'Racist'? I think it's a good article. I've been disturbed about the idea that reverse-racism doesn't exist, and that it seems to be okay to disparage white people solely for being white. I get the power argument, but there's definitely something lacking. I've lacked the motivation to work through exactly how I feel about it, but this article does a decent job.

Is the Trinity similar to an avatar

Stray thought: Is the Christian Trinity similar to avatars in Hinduism?

Unitarianism

I'm studying Trinitarianism right now, which has brought me into contact with Unitarianism. I had come across the term Socinian several times this semester, but I hadn't been motivated enough to follow up on it. But then I hit the term Latitudinarian and I knew it was time to stop being lazy. Now I know that Fausto Paolo Sozzini was a 16th century Italian theologian whose doctrines were largely responsible for the Unitarian movement in Europe.

What I already knew was that the Unitarian movement merged with the Universalist movement, and created a church that is about as Progressive as you can get. I won't elaborate more on that here. The thing I keep getting wrapped around the axle about is if you believe that the bible isn't infallible and that all religions have value, what is the motivation to devote yourself to a church? I don't have an answer to that yet, but I read two articles from Unitarian ministers that piqued my interest: Why You Should Not Be A Unitarian Universalist by Rev. Dr. Tony Larsen, and Why Agnostics Go to Church
by Rev. J. Mark Worth. That is all.

Regulative and normative principles of worship

I'm blogging this because I keep forgetting it so I need to record it somewhere. The regulative principle of worship basically says that whatever isn't in scripture isn't permitted in worship. The Churches of Christ practice this, as did Calvin, and hence the Reformed tradition. The Churches of Christ say, "where the scriptures are silent, so must we be."The converse is the normative principle of worship, that says if it isn't explicitly prohibited in scripture, it is permitted.

So hopefully if I forget again, I remember that I blogged it...