Unitarian Universalism?

[savageorc]

I was dicking around on wikipedia yesterday and I found this:
Unitarian Universalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism)

and then this: http://www.uua.org/

I find their intellectual approach to what can be learned from religion/philosophy and their interest in drawing wisdom from whatever sources/texts they can find to quite intriguing. The whole sort of "roll your own" personal philosophy/religion is also compelling to me.

Has anyone here been involved with the Unitarians? How close is the official line to the reality of the group? Did you actually learn anything? Or it all just a bunch of blowhards or a cultish group? It seems like how well this works is highly dependent on the people involved, no?

Thanks in advance.

[pokerbobo]

Sounds like a bunch of moderates who dont know what to think until someone else tells them what to think. Just my opinion after skimming thru the link.

[savageorc]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like a bunch of moderates who dont know what to think until someone else tells them what to think. Just my opinion after skimming thru the link.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think that is a fair criticism because of this:

"In a survey,[1] Unitarian Universalists in the United States were asked which provided term or set of terms best describe their belief. Many respondents chose more than one term to describe their beliefs. The top choices were:

* Humanist - 54%
* Agnostic - 33%
* Earth-centered - 31%
* Atheist - 18%
* Buddhist - 16.5%
* Christian - 13.1%
* Pagan - 13.1%"

- wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism)

People that self identify across a diverse base of ideology don't sound to me like they want to be told what to think. However, if something in particular gave you that impression, I'd be interested to read your reasoning.

[benjdm]

http://www.firstunitariantoronto.org/uu_humour.htm

"After the secular humanists came along, we said that UUs believe in One God - at Most. Now, what with the 6th Source and the pagans, we say that UUs believe in One God - More or Less."

"Why can't UUs sing very well in choirs?
Because they're always reading ahead to see if they agree with the next verse."

"I know my humor is outrageous when it makes the Unitarians so mad they burn
a question mark on my front lawn." -- Lenny Bruce

Good stuff.

[jogger08152]

I went to a couple of worship sessions (dunno what they call 'em) at the invitation of a friend of mine about ten years ago. I wouldn't characterize what I experienced as cultish. Overall experience at the time was relatively positive.

[Bork]

I was baptized a Unitarian, and went to church from about age 5-16.

The official line is exactly what they are. I learned some things.. For example, there was a very cool sex-ed course I took from the church. I also think I got to third base for the first time at some church retreat.

I think it is pretty much the opposite of cultish.

The worship sessions were pretty much, story telling and singing, both of which I could have done without. It is a good social and philosophical environment however. Maybe I should go back.

[PairTheBoard]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like a bunch of moderates who dont know what to think until someone else tells them what to think. Just my opinion after skimming thru the link.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like just the opposite to me. One of the few denominations that doesn't tell you what to think.

From the Link:
[ QUOTE ]
Unitarian Universalists are unlikely to assert that theirs is the "only" or even the "best" way possible to discern meaning or theological truths. There is even a popular adult UU course called "Building Your Own Theology".

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like one of the few Denominations where Sklansky might feel right at home.


PairTheBoard

[latefordinner]

I attend UU services pretty regularly - different UU congregations can "feel" very different because the makeup of different congregations is so different (except for being white, liberal, and middle-class/wealthy - most have a high percentage of those /images/graemlins/smile.gif ) eg; some have lots of secular humanists, atheists and agnostics while some have hardly any and identify more strongly with the heretical christian roots of UU - regardless all are completly non-creedal in terms of not having to express any faith in any specific beliefs to identify as UU and there is no need to proselytize

If you think it would be valuable for you to gather with a group of people regularly for spiritual reasons (in a ceremonial sense) then by all means attend a few services - most also have lots of discussion groups throughout the week on everything from bible study to buddhism to atheism and morality to politics so if you are looking for generally intelligent and nice people to talk about some of these issues with it is good for that too