Unitarian-Universalist- I may join the local UU church. Questions:

What are your experiences and opinons of UU?

Thanks for your thoughts mom cat!

I went to their youth group when I was a teen and my Grandmother is currently a member. In general, I had a great experience and I like the philosophy which at the church I went to was basically humanistic morals and a respect for all religions, with an emphasis on Judeo-Christian. I didn't attend all that much of the regular services, but I don't remember being too bored when I did. We did a lot of the regular church sort of thing like local charity activities as well without (good for me) necessarily being expected to believe in God and/or Jesus.

We were invited to the local UU Thanksgiving dinner when we could not attend my family dinner due to a death in my in-laws family. It was so nice to have a great meal with kind and loving friends.

on New Year's Eve a thousand years ago. I seem to recall the ceremony was heavy on the Kahlil Gibran, light on the standard Christian stuff. I guess it was his hippie special.

He must've done something right. It lasted 15 years, much longer than most of my friends' marriages.

If survival is tied to churchgoing at some point in the future, it'll be UU or Friends for me.

Marriage is a lot of hard work! I'm on my second one myself. On a serious note, marriage is a partnership that both parties must be committed to...it doesn't always work. Thanks for your thoughts.

It great. I'm a Buddhist with Deistic tendencies and my gf is pagan. We were welcomed (not members yet) and offered to attend events and hang out with folks. It's been a month and they are helping me look for a decent job or close to it without asking for anything in return.

The church I go to has several professors and they are helping me get into grad school once I can get a job. Heck, it's a great place to discuss string theory with a lawyer, neurological research with a religious studies professor, and islamic mysticism with a developmental psych professor. And an atheist lay minister to boot.

It's stirring of the spirit and mind. I'd recommend it. http://www.uua.org for more information. If you have questions, ask the local church for info and they will provide it. Most open community I have found that doesn't judge anyone.

It sounds like you've found a wonderful congregation. I'm in a college community with many interesting professors too!

Are they bendable, do you agree with them? Those are questions I would ask myself.

Every faith/philosophy has something they believe is right (which means, perhaps that those who do not share such beliefs are wrong in their view) so take a look over their sites for their mission statements/articles of faith/et al and see if they line up with what you yourself believe and feel.

If nothing else, try it for awhile. I was baptist, pentecostal, lutheran, atheist, agnostic, tibetan buddhist, new ager, and what I now label 'generic open minded' christian.

Try something, if you don't like it you can leave. Maybe...BWAHAHAHAHA :)

This UU church is in a university town. I really like the diversity of the members that I've met. They seem to be kind and open-minded. I like the minister. She's a woman. I grew up with Presbyterian men as church leaders. I like the idea of a woman as a spiritual leader.

You've given me food for thought. Thanks!

I have to say it's the worst church there is... except for every other church I've ever attended. LOL!

OK, I joke, but it's true. It, like all of us, is limited by its place in time. As a denomination we're only 40-something; in many ways we're still trying to define ourselves. We are a post-modern movement in a post-post-modern world.

Do you know about the Principles and Sources? If not, see http://uua.org/aboutuua/principles.html. It says principles and purposes at the top of the web page, but the purposes are really the sources we derived our principles from. I think they speak more about what we're about than the principles because they demonstrate that we are open to many sources of wisdom and inspiration.

I've been UU for about 20 years, and been a member in both small and large congregations. Each were wonderful in their own ways, each were challenging in their own ways. It really depends on what you're looking for. If you have more than one church in the area, you might want to check them all out, the UU experience can vary greatly from church to church.

You might want to check out the UUA FAQ: http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/uufaq.html

If you have any more specific questions, you're welcome to PM me. :hi:

I have read about the Principles and Sources. I found the UU website.
Thanks for the links. I will read and investigate more.

There's just the one UU church here. My good friend is a member and is very involved with the congregation. She's on the ministerial committee. We live in a university town, which is a blue island in a red state (region.)

This appeals to me: "We are a post-modern movement in a post-post-modern world." Thank you so much for replying to my post. :hi:
I am always amazed by my fellow DUers! You are all just great!

a Unitarian I recently returned to the church in a new community I've moved into. This just wasn't what I needed though--here they mostly speak the language of late 1980's psychobabble, with lots of "empowering" and "embracing ourselves." I lived and worked through several wars and worked in the inner city for many years (just another war zone, really). When we all discussed our experiences, I felt like some lady at a Junior League garden party entertaining those who shared her table with stories that ended with someone gettign their head blown off.

Was amused to see a born-agin 'er toting a book on religious cults about--she was teaching a class for her Southern Babtist Sunday School--on the list was mormonism and Unitarians

The best Unitarian Joke:
Unitarians believe in one God. . .at the very most.

above kind of self serving
if there were any church in the world I would count on going to and recieving a crust of spiritual bread it would be the Unitarian Church

Mormonism should be capitalized above--no disrespect.

And thanks for the service. You did what some can't or won't do. I can't so I thank you.

I've been shelled by the ONLY Christian guerrilla army in the world (at least that I know of)--the Lords' (or Lord's??) Resistance Army in Uganda --also Bosnia and Kosovo

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

I see that you live in Beaufort, SC. I love that city! We go to Hunting Island at least once a year (for the past 15 years!) If I had to move, I'd move there! We were down there right before Christmas. I can smell the salt marsh and hear the ocean waves now!

I (landscape architect) and my urban forester colleague, prepared a tree planting plan for Bay Street and an in-town neighborhood a number of years ago! They still have not implemented the plans yet. I hope that they (the city and planning dept) will carry out the planting plan in the future!

when next you are here
just pm
I know I'm not the only Democrat in town but it still feels so lonely here sometimes