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janicelee · Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 12:23 am Post subject: A little about being a UU

I am among other things a Unitarian Universalist, I actually am a little suprised that this forum isn't filled to overflowing since there is very little that UU like more than discussing religion so I'm suprised that they haven't found this site yet.

My own UU experience came about because a young friend wanted to have a place for her daughter to to be exposed to religion without the dogma of many mainline christian faith. When her husband wouldn't go she asked me to go along with her.

I fell in love with the UU's shortly after arrival when several people came up to me and my friend to assure us that a lesbian couple were welcome. I am a lesbian but my friend is hetero, but they made the assumption that two women both fussing over a young child were probably a gay couple. First experience I had ever had in a church where I wasn't half convinced I was going to be burned at the stake immediately after the service.

The one thing that drove me crazy at first was trying to figure out what exactly they believed in. It took me forever to accept that I could pretty much believe anything I damn well wanted and be accepted there as long as I played nice and accepted everyone else. I've tried to explain this aspect of UU's to several people the best I can come up with is that most religions are like buying a blouse in a store you take what they have UU is like going to have a blouse custom made. It isn't a one size fits all religion This is to my mind the greatest strength and the greatest weakness, of the sect. Have come across some people who are former UU's who found they needed something more structured, but on the other hand perhaps the time they spent as a UU allowed them to find what they wanted in a religion and without being exposed to the many different ideas you will find at UU service perhaps they would not have found the proper religion for themselves.

There is probably no typical UU congregation, I know of some that lean slightly towards judeo-christian tradition, know of some that are very humanist, but never heard of one where everyone wasn't welcome. It isn't my congregations but know of some that have had atheists come in to deliver a guest sermon.

A subset of UU's are The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans. Again they are considered welcome members of the UU community. Was invited to join a small group of UU Pagans when I disclosed I was a Witch. Again I have never beenmade to feel less than welcome or anything but a valued member of the congregation because of being a Wiccan.

UU's do tend towards political liberals, in my opinion, but again this is a tendency not a requirement and political conservatives are welcome as long as they are willing to be respectful of other's lifestyles and beliefs, they are treated with respect as well.

I know everything I've said is very general here because UU is kind of general, my specific experiences are just that my experiences but what I do want to get across to people is that it is a very open sort of church, where everyone is welcome to find god or spirituality as they see fit this makes it very hard to talk in absolutes about UU.

At some point I hope to post some further thoughts that may be more specific but I wanted people to have at least some kind of idea about what a Unitarian Universalist is.

Janice
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AvengingAngel · Guest

It seems like the UU's want to be something to everybody.

janicelee · Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:19 am Post subject:

AvengingAngel · Guest

janicelee · Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:49 am Post subject:

quiscalus · Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 8:26 am Post subject:

janicelee, thanks for your great explanation of UU. I do have a question, though, which sort of goes along with Avenging Angel's: If the Unitarian Universalists accept believers and atheists -- in fact, people of every type of belief of lack of -- what's the point of a "Church?" Why have ministers? Why not just be a group that meets to discuss ways to better oneself and the world in general without the semi-clerical trappings?

I hope you don't misunderstand my post; I'm not baiting you. I'm merely trying to understand.

Thanks in advance for your response.

Q
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"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing." -- Melville

DurhamDawg · Sliver STAR Joined: 08 May 2006 Posts: 225

From what I know of UUs, they don't really have too many "semi-clerical trappings."

I think we are so used to churches being narrow and doctrinaire that we don't know what to make of one that isn't. I find the UU's approach to be very refreshing and welcoming. I'm not inclined to attend any church, but if I was, probably the UU church is the only one where I'd feel remotely welcome.

I was raised as a Southern Baptist but for awhile my family experimented with attending different churches, trying to find one that was a better fit than the very conservative SB church we had belonged to, which was becoming more and more conservative at the same time our family was moving in the opposite direction. One of the churches we tried was a UU church, and at my young age (I think I was about 10 at the time), I was very impressed by it. Unfortunately, my parents thought it was a little too far from traditional Christianity for their tastes.

I think the UUs have a lot to offer to folks who aren't interested in a rigid, dogmatic faith but are open to hearing a variety of ideas from a variety of different kinds of people. If there is a group that has the potential to bridge the divides between religions and to encourage harmony and understanding, it's the UUs.

quiscalus · Posted: Thu Jun 14, 2007 8:06 am Post subject:

Thanks, DD. My knowledge of the UUs is based on a website of a particular Unitarian Church, and they had me so confused that I when I saw Janicelee's post I figured I'd ask.

It's a pretty interesting concept.
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"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing." -- Melville

janicelee · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2007 9:25 am Post subject:

ReasoningFilly · Bronze Star Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 178

Now THIS is a pretty cool concept! I love the fact that UU decided to 'build' a congregation, and then fellowship to figure things out. (At least that's MY take on it).

All other religions have tended to be pretty much copy cats of each other, with the sole purpose of picking and choosing what they wanted out of the Bible, and bashing the other religions for not being the same. It's never made much sense to me.

I like what I've read from JaniceLee. I like the fact that they 'communicate' with each other, all are welcome, all inputs are taken to heart, and a means to an end seems to be a possibility.

I'll bet if everyone had this outlook, it would be an incredible array of people who realize that they can agree to dissagree, yet, still have a view or an idea of what is truth.

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Man is certainly stark mad: He cannot make a flea, yet he makes gods by the dozens. - Montaigne