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Unitarian Universalism

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Unitarian Universalism Empty Unitarian Universalism

Post  White Rabbit Fri Jun 18, 2010 4:25 am

Hi Guys,

I caught the tread on Liberal Christianity but thought this was different enough to start a new thread on. I heard an episode a while ago and where you mentioned Unitarian Universalism. I actually go to a Unitarian Church (UK version of the US Unitarian Universalists, identical non-creed). I was wondering what you thought of this organisation. It seems the beliefs of this group vary from philosophical naturalism (like myself and many others in my church) to Ultra-liberal Christianity (again evident in the church I go to).

I have a strong bias towards seeing the organisation as overwhelmingly positive in allowing for critical inquiry without falling into the usual tribalism that tends to underpin much of the Theist/Atheist argument (yourselves not really included).

As for enabling extremists while I can't speak for all churches I know ours frequently speak out against taking the bible as anything but literature written by men (albeit one with considerable historical, philosophical and cultural weight). We also rail against the absence of reason and social Justice. We do this to a much greater than our local Atheist groups (whom we're trying to take under wing as much as possible where we share common goals). More importantly we actively as a group try to act in a positive direction running social programs in much the same way many churches do. This is something that is particularly rare amongst the Atheist groups in the area (for reasons that truly baffle me).

Anyway, it'd be good to get an alternative perspective on it. Are we taking the best from religion and reason or are there drawbacks?

White Rabbit

White Rabbit

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Join date : 2010-06-18

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Unitarian Universalism Empty UU's

Post  trnc.mtthws Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:13 pm

White Rabbit - I attend a UU church in Michigan. It sounds very similar to your church. There are several reasons I decided to go this route. Mainly, it provides a bridge between my beliefs and my wife's beliefs. I'm agnostic but not out about it. My wife knows I don't buy into the Christian supernatural stuff, but that I still "believe" in a "god". By being a UU, I can get away from the irrational stuff, yet still show that I am open to spirituality and that I'm open to an initial mover. My "god" is nothing like hers, but UU allows us to have at least some common terminology with respect to spirituality. This compromise is a little uncomfortable for both of us, but without it, I'm not sure where we'd be. I'd prefer to publically dump the supernatural mumbo-jumbo all together, and I think eventually I will. But she is not ready to hear that reality yet. I can understand her position, she was indoctrinated Catholic, poor girl. But she gave that up in her teens for what I thought was a "none" attitude towards religion. Then after we had kids, something snapped and she started going evangelical on me. That's when I found UU and I started there. Once I joined the UU church, she realized I was not kidding about not buying the supernatural stuff. She started to see that the evangelical church was way too crazy even for her, so she has dumped them and is currently looking for something a little less fundamentalist in nature. UU won't do for her at this time, because she is not comfortable with the atheist component of it. But she's made a lot of progress in coming around and I credit part of that to the fact that I went UU. I think if I would have just not gone to any church at all, her fundamentalist beliefs would have grown even stronger. So, for me, the UU church has helped me to stay sane and helped our marriage survive and helped her to see that there are other options out there. It's been a long road and will continue to have its challenges. For those who say UU is just as bad as any other religion, I have to disagree. Sometimes, you have to work your way out of religion slowly, and UU provides a nice stepping stone.

trnc.mtthws

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Join date : 2009-12-14

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Post  Lausten Wed Oct 20, 2010 3:54 pm

Hope you believe there is no such thing as a "stupid" question. I am in a similar situation with an ex-Catholic/now liberal Christian spouse. I can say pretty much whatever I want about Jesus, but if I start questioning the extistence of fields of healing energy or some such, things get dicey. My question is, is the official stance of UU more like deism? You mention a prime mover. I'm looking for something that views all scriptures as narratives.
Lausten
Lausten

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Location : Minnesota

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Unitarian Universalism Empty UU's are Creedless

Post  trnc.mtthws Wed Oct 20, 2010 4:11 pm

UU's are without any particular creed or dogma. The basic principle (actually there are 7 official ones) is that we can all learn from and respect eachother. Some UU's are "Christians" (though not many), some are deists, some are naturalists, some are humanists (probablly most), some are atheists or agnostics, there are a wide range of beliefs. Basically, we try to learn from all sources. Sounds like what you are looking for. Check out the UUA website http://www.uua.org/

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