Helen "HP" Rivers

If I ran a special every time I had a fascinating and frustrating conversation with someone who is somehow convinced that UU religious educators are teaching our children and youth that a pig is a the new symbol of our faith… well, I wouldn’t stay in business very long. But today y’all are getting a special ~and a sermon.

“HP, you’re literally promoting materials and writing a curriculum all about JETPIG! You’re teaching the kids that JETPIG is our faith! That’s insulting to our religion and using an image of a pig is offensive to millions!” (Slight paraphrase of real feedback.)

Lots to unpack there. Yes, I am making materials and writing a curriculum based on JETPIG. As a professional religious educator and minister-in-formation, I am so incredibly excited about it for a lot of reasons.

We know nearly everything has changed in the last 5 years. Many, if not most, kids are up to two years behind developmentally and socially post-shutdown, their attention spans have decreased dramatically, and it takes a significant investment of time and effort for families to commit to engaging with church considering the amount of other activities, events, and priorities competing for their attention.

As an educator and someone who has worked with children of diverse ages and abilities for 16 years, the idea of teaching a simple six-letter acronym representing six words that have been reviewed for plain language as opposed to a magniloquent 95+ word statement of principles is incredibly exciting to me.

We know that mnemonic devices aid memory and retention and as a person with ADHD I’ve got to tell you – I have been a UU since 2010 and UU religious professional since 2019 and I have NEVER been able to fully recall or recite all of the principles. However, remembering JETPIG I can rattle off our shared values easily from memory. Being able to lay that groundwork in a simple, entertaining, and engaging way allows JETPIG to take off (pun intended) from there and make way for more nuanced and in-depth conversations about our shared values.

It’s less “Our values are JETPIG. What would JETPIG do?” and more “Which of our shared values might come into play here? How can we apply JETPIG to this situation?”

There has been some concerns named about the possibility of a pig being an insensitive or even offensive symbol, particularly to our Muslim and Jewish neighbors. This is a concern that I took very seriously when deciding to develop these materials. What I found is that yes, pork is not consumed for religious reasons in these traditions and the animals themselves are considered “unclean,” which means they are not fit for consumption. I also found that these religious laws, like many others, likely originated from something practical – foodborne-illness prevention in ancient times. I have not found, however, any evidence that pigs in general or their depiction in media is considered offensive, harmful, or sinful in these traditions.

While I am sure they may exist, I have also not been able to find any conversations where our Jewish or Muslim neighbors or colleagues have expressed being offended or harmed by the concept or use of JETPIG. Everything I’ve found has indicated that most of them don’t seem to care. (I also imagine they probably have bigger issues to deal with right now than children being exposed to a cartoon pig in religious education.)

However, I have noticed several of my fellow melanin-deficient kindred expressing strong concerns on behalf of traditions other than their own. I do agree it is important to ensure we are being sensitive and I am 100% open to questions, feedback, and productive discourse on the topic. I also want to make sure we are centering the opinions and concerns of those directly impacted and so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case most of the time.

While I understand that some people might just not like JETPIG, and that’s a perfectly acceptable position for one to take, as we say in youth group – there is no need to yuck someone else’s yum.

Something not being to our taste is ok – I imagine the world would be quite boring if we all liked exactly the same things. It takes a strong sense of self and a significant amount of emotional regulation to accept that two things can be true at the same time – we can dislike or disagree with something and there can be nothing actually wrong or harmful about that thing, it’s just not for us.

If you find that JETPIG just isn’t for you, that’s ok! I invite you to use this as an opportunity to try out saying, “I love that for them. It doesn’t work for me, but I’m happy that other members of my community have something that works for them. I hope when it’s my turn to have something that works for me, they will be happy for me as well.”

Remember: “We need not think alike to love alike” applies to other UUs, too.

😉

Love,
HP

PS – I might be wrong. I might be flat wrong about some or all of this and I feel prepared to navigate that outcome responsibly should it arise. I love you. I love us. We’ve got this.

(Square image displaying eight different styles of shirts all with a cute little pig friend on the front. Text reads:
“Got JETPIG? All JETPIG styles reduced through Sunday, August 4th with code JETPIG824”)