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Underground > Temple >

Unitarianism

02:41 / 01.04.06

I was raised Unitarian/universalist, and I wanted to know if anyone has/would be interested in investigating this religion.

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07:09 / 01.04.06

It's highly likely that many people here are knowledgeable about UU, and would like to engage you in a discussion about issues in the religion. But you're more likely to get a response if you post something a little more detailed. I'd love to read what you have to say. It's my experience that people involved in the Unitarian Universalist Church aren't that interested in pimping their religion the way many other churches seem to do, so I don't feel the need to point out that proselytization, whether for a church or magical order, usually doesn't go over well here.

So what aspects of UU are you interested in discussing?

Daemon est Deus Inversus

12:40 / 01.04.06

All that I know about it is that it was, initially, a reaction against the ultra-Calvinist "Great Awakening" in the New England of the 1830s and 1840s. Also, that it centers on philosophical discussion rather than dogma. I'm not even sure that one could strictly speaking call it Protestant....

20:07 / 01.04.06

Mostly people's take on the general tenants of the religion. Does this open-forum style of worship appeal to anyone, or does it seem too fuzzy and PC? Also, does this actually work as a religion (with no official canon and no prescribed style of worship?

To facilitate answers to these questions, here are a couple of "elevator speeches":

"Unitarian Universalism is a democratic, pluralistic religious community which encourages each individual to develop a personal religious philosophy and which emphasizes social and environmental concerns."

Richard Hewitt
Michael Servetus Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

"In Unitarian Universalist congregations, we gather in community to support our individual spiritual journeys. We trust that openness to one another’s experiences will enhance our understanding of our own links with the divine, with our history, and with one another."

The Rev. Jonalu Johnstone

"Unitarian Universalism means never having to say, 'I’m right, you’re wrong!'"

Jimmy Capp
Unitarian Universalist Church of Jacksonville

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20:47 / 01.04.06

My thoughts:

Generally, I like the idea of a spiritual community which embraces diversity instead of condemning it as heretical or somesuch. I have one concern, however, and that's how frequently the UU preference for taking from other religious traditions whatever resonates with one manifests as exoticising cultural misappropriation.

A UU sermon on the topic.

A Wiccan article on the same.

Daemon est Deus Inversus

21:01 / 01.04.06

There's a nice little satire, though superficial enough, of a Unitarian minister in Updike's "The Witches of Eastwick." His congregation considers him highly eccentric because he insists on wearing a dog collar. If I recall, he hangs primitive paintings by children about his church; and is always talking about diversity. In the end, he takes off with an 18 year-old woman, makes bombs for some revolution or other, I think blows himself and his companion up, and is replaced as minister by his much more practical wife.