Unitarian universalism?

Solus

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I recently heard about this "church" and it sounds very WOOish, at least from the description of it and what I've read. I'm curious though, if there are any fellow athiests who have visited a unitarian church and what their impressions are. From what I've read I can't see a real athiest attending a "service" at one of these places. I can't stand any type of worship singing, one of the things I hated always hated about church. :)

I'm looking for a community, someplace to belong.A church would be so easy but I'm no hypocrite. So this unitarian church sounds vaguely interesting. A church but no religion, that would be great.
 
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I have an ex-girlfriend who's Unitarian Universalist.

I admittedly only attended one service with her, but my impression is that they're extremely open about who they'll admit; as a result, they have very few if any hard tenets or beliefs that members must abide by. Their goal seems to be to run as inclusive an organization as possible, even if it involves sacrificing any distinct identity. I'm fairly certain that there's not even a requirement to be a theist.

I don't have much direct experience with respect to their woo-ish side; though I've certainly heard and read (here and elsewhere) that they allow it, if not support it.
 
There's a saying in the Unitarian Church, "When you've been to one Unitarian church, you've been to one Unitarian church."

I've been to several, and they are all different. The ones I attended regularly were non-wooish, and there were lots of true atheists. They did have singing, although I don't know if you would call it "worship singing". However, if you didn't listen to the words, it would sound just like all the other church singing. (The words weren't horribly different either, but tended to have names like "We'll Build a Land" and God was rarely if ever mentioned. The choir once sang The Rainbow Connection.)

I attended a few sessions at other UU churches that seemed much more wooish, and from what I've heard, stay away from the Topanga Canyon area church if you don't like Woo. That's just rumour, though.

ETA: The pastor at the first one I attended occasionally said "The G word". He never said "God", he said "The G word". He assured us in our New U class that he had never been the least inclined to believe in God, even a little.
 
Meadmaker said:
ETA: The pastor at the first one I attended occasionally said "The G word". He never said "God", he said "The G word". He assured us in our New U class that he had never been the least inclined to believe in God, even a little.
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I wonder why, in extremely secular UU churches like that, they even bother to call it a church in the first place. I suppose they're just trying to associate themselves with other UUs nationwide.
 
Solus said:
From what I've read I can't see a real athiest attending a "service" at one of these places.
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Yeah, if an athiest goes to a church service, there is no way he can be a real athiest!


Hi, Solus. I am a member of the Unitarian Universalist church and, yes, I am indeed an athiest. I don't know what you've read about UU, but it appears to be very one sided. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it came from either a conservative Christian source or, as you say, a Wooish source.

Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal, heretical, and liberal religion. This means that, among other things, there isn't anything that you are required to believe in order to be a member. The common misconception is to cary this idea to far and come to the conclusion that UU's necessarily believe everything, which simply isn't true.

There are quite a few threads here in R&P on the subject that go into more detail than I have the time for at the moment. Please, feel free to ask me any questions.


eta:
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35693&highlight=Unitarian+Universalist
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7951&highlight=Unitarian+Universalist
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44148&highlight=Unitarian
 
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I go to a UU church. Before the service, they have what they call a "forum" that amounts to a loosely guided discussion of topics philosophical, political, etc. I find it to be worth my time.

Generally, I leave when the service starts. Nobody seems to mind in the least.
 
Meadmaker said:
There's a saying in the Unitarian Church, "When you've been to one Unitarian church, you've been to one Unitarian church."

I've been to several, and they are all different. The ones I attended regularly were non-wooish, and there were lots of true atheists. They did have singing, although I don't know if you would call it "worship singing". However, if you didn't listen to the words, it would sound just like all the other church singing. (The words weren't horribly different either, but tended to have names like "We'll Build a Land" and God was rarely if ever mentioned. The choir once sang The Rainbow Connection.)

I attended a few sessions at other UU churches that seemed much more wooish, and from what I've heard, stay away from the Topanga Canyon area church if you don't like Woo. That's just rumour, though.

ETA: The pastor at the first one I attended occasionally said "The G word". He never said "God", he said "The G word". He assured us in our New U class that he had never been the least inclined to believe in God, even a little.
Click to expand...

That's my experience with UU. The larger churches have subgroupings of like mindeds. UU this and UU that. I think you could find not just UU Pagans but UU Atheists cliques.
The major uniformity among UU's seems to be political. UU's are generally on the liberal end of the spectrum, but also a home to Libertarian's who might side with Conservatives.

Yes, Kermit could easily be a Unitarian Universalist.
 
Hyparxis said:
The major uniformity among UU's seems to be political. UU's are generally on the liberal end of the spectrum, but also a home to Libertarian's who might side with Conservatives.
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I always like to point out that liberal religion is a different usage of the word "liberal" than is usual used in the moder form of the term liberal politics.

Essentially, it means anti-authoritarian.
 
I've considered going to the UU church in my town. It is the biggest and oldest church in town (it's on the town green so it's really central to the town). I've considered going because I lack that sense of community and support. I feel very alone where I am. I notice that there are a lot of groups and support groups that are focused on specific things - gay groups, ethnic groups, divorce groups, single-parent groups, groups of people who are suffering from a certain disease, but there don't seem to be groups for average Joes. I'm pretty much white bread so it would be odd to join an ethnic group, I'm not divorced, I don't have kids, and I don't have a disease. There just doesn't seem to be any group for me - so UU looks interesting to me because it's just a group of people who enjoy being with each other and thinking about philosophical things. It seem more about connecting with your fellow humans and less about anything religious. I like their stance and I like their inclusiveness.

I haven't gone yet because I detest getting up early on Sunday mornings. :D
 
Upchurch said:
Yeah, if an athiest goes to a church service, there is no way he can be a real athiest!


Hi, Solus. I am a member of the Unitarian Universalist church and, yes, I am indeed an athiest. I don't know what you've read about UU, but it appears to be very one sided. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it came from either a conservative Christian source or, as you say, a Wooish source.

Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal, heretical, and liberal religion. This means that, among other things, there isn't anything that you are required to believe in order to be a member. The common misconception is to cary this idea to far and come to the conclusion that UU's necessarily believe everything, which simply isn't true.

There are quite a few threads here in R&P on the subject that go into more detail than I have the time for at the moment. Please, feel free to ask me any questions.


eta:
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35693&highlight=Unitarian+Universalist
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7951&highlight=Unitarian+Universalist
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44148&highlight=Unitarian
Click to expand...

Wow, fast responses! Ok, now I'm bit more openminded about the idea of at least visiting one of these churches. I'll definately give it some serious consideration. Thanks for the replies.

One question:

I've always disliked the church service. What I want is to merely meet some people. So a question then? Would a church like this be a good place to do it?
Stupid question I know but that's my primary goal, to make some friends.
 
Solus said:
One question:

I've always disliked the church service. What I want is to merely meet some people. So a question then? Would a church like this be a good place to do it?
Stupid question I know but that's my primary goal, to make some friends.
Click to expand...

I'm an atheist in the same boat as Solus, so I'd be interested in the answer as well.
 
Solus said:
One question:

I've always disliked the church service. What I want is to merely meet some people. So a question then? Would a church like this be a good place to do it?
Stupid question I know but that's my primary goal, to make some friends.
Click to expand...
One question, hundreds of answers.

I forget the technical term, but UU churches are run at the congregational level. This means that if Church A decides they are all about the Peganism, that is what they do. If Church B decides they are all about the Christianity, that is what they do.

My mid-western Missouri UU church, for example, is heavily influenced by your generic Protestant worship service. The structure, and even the music, is nerely identical to the Disciples of Christ church I grew up in. The difference, and what keeps me coming back, is the content of the message, which is vastly different. The "sermon" (I consider it more of a philosophy lecture) is just as likely to pull from Buddist, Muslim, and Jewish texts as it is from the Christian Bible. And it is just as likely as all of them put together to pull from individuals like Robert Frost.

More than likely, if you decide you really want to find yourself a UU church, you're going to have to shop around to find one that fits your needs. I like the intellectual exploration of society, morality, and religion that my church provides me. There is also a great deal in the way of social interaction, but that is secondary, in my book.

So, to (not) answer your question, I can't tell you what to expect because no two UU churches are the same. All I can tell you is that if you don't like one, move on to the next one because I can almost assure it will be different.

And now, the obligatory UU jokes
 
Upchurch said:
Yeah, if an athiest goes to a church service, there is no way he can be a real athiest!]
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So he's an atheist open to the idea of there is a God but He's not someone you can know personally?

From what Iv'e heard of the UU churches they all have messed up doctrines and beliefs. Seems more they should call it a New Agers place to meet rather than a church in my opinion.
 
kurious_kathy said:
So he's an atheist open to the idea of there is a God but He's not someone you can know personally?

From what Iv'e heard of the UU churches they all have messed up doctrines and beliefs. Seems more they should call it a New Agers place to meet rather than a church in my opinion.
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You didn't read anything else Upchurch wrote, did you?
 
kurious_kathy said:
So he's an atheist open to the idea of there is a God but He's not someone you can know personally?

From what Iv'e heard of the UU churches they all have messed up doctrines and beliefs. Seems more they should call it a New Agers place to meet rather than a church in my opinion.
Click to expand...

You have a very bigotted opinion.
 
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