UU Cultural Ethics Series: Roger Doebke

CERTAINTY IS NOT A VIRTUE Roger Doebke holds an MA in Religion from Meadville Lombard Theological School and is the immediate past president of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Chautauqua, a position he held for many years. In addition to leading the everyday activities of the UU Fellowship, his warm and inviting ministerial presence at its weekly services provided a continuing inspirational and nondogmatic Sunday experience for members and visitors. Roger is a devoted Chautauquan who has worked tirelessly on outreach and interfaith efforts for both the Fellowship and the wider institution. He has collaborated closely with community-group leaders and administrators across Chautauqua. For example, he co-founded the Chautauqua Dialogues with Lynn Stahl and others. The Dialogues have become an important forum for communication at Chautauqua. As Amit Taneja wrote in a Daily article about the Dialogues, The principles of dialogues stand in contrast to debate. They call us to listen deeply, to find strengths in other people's arguments, to ask genuinely curious questions, and to seek commonalities amongst differences. The goal is not to win the argument, but to seek common ground. Roger also worked closely over the years with Maureen Rovegno and other members of the Department of Religion inviting prominent interfaith speakers and furthering interfaith programs. The Cultural Ethics Series is one of these programs. Having him as the final speaker of this year's series is wonderfully appropriate.