“Faith is not a question of the existence or non-existence of God. It is believing that love without reward is valuable.”
― Emmanuel Levinas
Chad Snyder
I am a Unitarian Universalist.
A religious humanist.
A minister.
I look to the wisdom of humanity’s myriad faith traditions, philosophical ideas, science, arts and pop culture for inspiration and ideas to ground us in this existence we humans share with each other and the world. I offer a caring presence in moments of grief, crisis, joy and change, and forthright leadership rooted in decades as a lay leader and as a lawyer and mediator.
I'm also a husband, a son, a brother, a friend, an uncle. A fan of superheroes and science fiction.​ An ... adequate ... guitarist. And sometimes I’m kind of funny. At least I think so.
Worship
We humans are feeling and thinking beings. Sunday gatherings can explore the breadth and depth of all the ways we “know” our world – challenge our thinking with new ideas, move our hearts and spirit with music and story, joyful noise and held silence.
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Crafting a service that ties all these elements together is a shared project, pooling the talents of the minister with musicians, religious educators, and members of the congregation. In the making and in the experiencing, we accompany each other on a path toward a new perspective on what it is to be human together.
Why Divine Humanism?
It sounds like a contradiction in terms. That dissonance is kind of the point.
Though I am a religious humanist, I call my theology “divine humanism” out of a conviction that this shared existence is a thing of wonder and awe we should meet with humility. The “divine” in my divine humanism is an invitation to everyone -- those who believe in a God of some kind, those who absolutely don't, and those who aren't sure it even matters -- to talk, to listen, to embrace the many ways we find our place in a universe that is fearfully and wonderfully made.