Unitarian Universalists?

I'm just curious if any other ppl on HF are or were UU? Can any of you share with me your experiences with Unitarian Universalism?
I myself was raised UU but no longer attend a church. I still find myself practicing that faith more than any other, on my own time, though.
Anyone else want to share?

 

well unitarians arn't really universalists because they're still a sect of christianity which isn't either. but as christian sects go, they are, in principal at least, as i have almost no personal experience of them beyond that, a step in the right directions. if they wanted to be truely universalists and still be completely monothiests and of the same sequence as judaism, christianity, islam; they'd be Baha'is. though Baha'u'llah also claimed to have fulfilled budhism, and just about everything else. and i believe he was what he said he was, the same thing as moses, christ and mohammid, and all the rest of them.

the one thing i do question though, is the need for ANYthing to be infallable.

or for that matter the existence of organized belief, glory, hierarchal soverignty, and a number of other things today's so called civilization takes for granted.

unitarians are probably the most redeaming sect of christianity, as are the mathlevi of islam. but i still think budhism makes more sense then any of them, accepting as it does the responsibility to question everything.

phylosophical taoism makes even more sense then the reality of organized budhism, and the keeping of indiginous traditions more sense even then that.

just my own personal take of course.

experiencing one's own personal spirituality makes even more sense then any form of organized belief as far as i can see.

=^^=
.../\...

 

I grew up UU, too, and no longer attend any church.


themnax, UU isn't about unitarianism nor universalism anymore, though it once was both. Try www.uua.org if you really want to educate yourself on the matter.

 

I was also raised a Unitarian though I no longer attend services. Unitarians have been described as "Jews who eat pork" because we don't recognize Jesus as the son of God, but while Jews deny that he was the son of God, we merely question it. In fact, the basis of Unitarianism is to question what we are told, including the existance of God, but to always keep an open mind and to have faith that things will work out.

Was anyone in this thread ever in YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) or its predecessor LRY (Liberal Religious Youth)?

 

I was big on YRUU. Conference freak here. Umm, Newo, if you don't mind my asking, who are you? Cuz, see, I'm from Oregon, was a Chair (or something, it's been a while) of Cascade Connection, member of YAK, planner of conferences, etc. etc. Don't know how old you are, but we might actually know each other!

The cool thing about UUism, I always say, is growing up in that community. I might be biased here because my own mommy is a religious educator, but I think the idea of RE as opposed to regular sunday school is awesome! Instead of growing up and being told "this is how it is, deal with it" you are educated about the religious and philisophical beliefs of various people around the world. You can attend other churches and discuss what you experience. And then, as you grow up, you are more prepared in the real world to form your own "creed" or system of beliefs.
My problem with it is more in the organization. Structured religion just leads to so much hipocrosy (sp?). I just think that's where UUism kinda misses the mark. I've seen far too many UUs completely ignore people's "inherent worth and dignity"...

 

I think you nailed my sentiments, exactly. It was very cool being exposed to so many different belief systems (if presented in a very narrow viewpoint, colored by the upbringing of the person teaching that particular class) and growing up empowered and able to choose for myself what to believe. But UU is just another church, another religious organization, and there is much detracting from it ever becoming what it was originally intended to be.


And we must always consider that no two UU congregations are the same. Even the same congregation goes through many drastic changes over the years. The church here has gone from total open-mindedness and acceptance of all beliefs except Christianity (when I was a kid) to a gay and lesbian social club (when I was a teen, young adult) to an ex-catholics recovery center (now). Now, don't get me wrong, all of those different roles serve an important purpose, but none is exactly what I want in my church. And the pervasive hatred of anything Christian really turns me off in a big way. But that's just the church I know, here where I live. All of them are different.


I don't recall ever hearing about those groups you mention, maybe after my time? We did go to The Mountain in Highlands, NC every year at least once a year.

 

The only problem I've had with UUism since we joined the church is that its greatest strengths are also its greatest weaknesses; for example, because it it is SO open and accepting of all, people never really feel the religion is reaching out to them on a deeply personal level, something many crave when seeking their "path". The lack of any real rules or doctrine make the organization sort of like pouring water onto your countertop as opposed to other religions who have a more structured approach, which is like pouring that same water into a vessel. But in knowing the weaknesses and acknowledging them, I believe it's possible to look to the strengths. Perhaps what I've described is a "weeding out" process, whereby the church-shoppers who show up for a few months then lose interest, never to be seen again, are just not the right folks for UUism to begin with. It saddens me to have lost a few of you posting here as UU brothers & sisters though, we need more folks like you to stick around!

 

I was a friend of a UU congregation in suburban Maryland for about five years. I was aware of their liberal views with regard to spiritual matters and that they tried to be all-inclusive. My problem with UUs is that they seem to embrace philosophies whose spiritual integrity is questionable. I can understand how and why many people have been hurt by christianity. What it is important to understand is that christianity (here I go again) has been manipulated by individuals interested mostly in promoting their own selfish agendas! We must take christianity back from these people. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater!
http://www.christian-universalism.com/
http://www.tentmaker.org/
http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/uc/wuf.html
http://www.americanunitarian.org/