The full name of the church we usually refer to as "Unitarian" is the Unitarian-Universalist Association. There may be other organizations that use the term "Unitarian", but the main one, and most well known is the UUA.
The beliefs and practices vary greatly from congregation to congregation and from individual to individual.
The first organized Unitarians in the U.S. were Congregationalist churches in Massachusetts who maintained fellowship with the rest of the Congregationalists while rejecting the Trinitarianism of the majority. Later an independent denomination, the Unitarian Church merged with the Universalist Association.
Attending my first ever UU gathering this morning reminded me of a social services meeting. We said some written prayer while the leader lit a candle, had announcements, and a song. Then representatives from Habitat for Humanity and the local food bank spoke for about 30 minutes, followed by the group holding hands and saying a shalam, and it was over.
Short and sweet. Don't know if I got much out of it though. One of the members chatted with me afterwards and indicated this was not a typical meeting. He said UU helps a person develop spiritually along their own lines, so no strict doctrine is followed.
Re:"Attending my first ever UU gathering this morning reminded me of a social services meeting.....Figure I'll go back next week for a second look."
Depends on what people are looking for. Some would be interested in nothing less than being slain-in-the-spirit rolling on the floor in delirium. Enraptured by being possesed by their Lord. Others, wanting a little less fervor would say that rolling on the floor is wickedness and The Devil's work... that true worship is S.I.T. with all faculties intact and not looking like someone having an epileptic seizure.
Still others are uncomfortable with any kind of talking gibberish no one can understand and say gifts of the spirit (or manifestations if you prefer) died with the Apostles or aren't needed today to convert the heathen or whatever... You ain't doing it in THEIR midst, thank-you-very-much.
And then, you have those who are uncomfortable with Christian ethnocentricism.. the belief that only Christians are saved.. all others consigned to some other nebulous domain after death. They feel uneasy when public prayers are said "in the name of Jesus Christ".
And then you have folks like me, StayedTooLong, who think theists are like little kids who believe in Santa Claus.. only... they NEVER grow up!! The less demanding their religion, the better for the world. No infidels to kill. No lands to conquer for the True Religion.
But realizing how people LOVE to believe and get great satisfaction from invoking the gods, I try to fit in as best I can. I even teach a Sunday School class at a church where people generally don't know the difference between the Gospels and the Epistles.
It's easy to teach... and I probably sound a lot like what you're hearing from the Unitarian Universalists... that being happy and contented is paramount because quite frankly, this life is all we know for sure that we have. So.. be kind to your fellow man. Do for others as you would have them do for you.
I know some folks who attend a UU church. They seem like some really well intentioned folks who find it refreshingly honest not to be brow beat by religious doctrines...
Of course, my position is that if you can't develope an egocentic position of superiority based upon religious dogma, why bother? I mean...how dare them accept people at face value instead of weighing what that person believes against the REAL truth that THEY hold.
...But then again, I'm not sure I understand what "secular religion" is. Is it sorta like non-alcoholic beer?
And then you have folks like me, StayedTooLong, who think theists are like little kids who believe in Santa Claus.. only... they NEVER grow up!!
Are you even remotely attempting to interject the possibility of there being.....(cough*snort)..no....(gulp)!!....Santa? That would be right up there with squashing like a bug James Dean, Janice Joplin, and Otis Redding. How would I ever be able to rant and rave without a cause anymore? Or wail into a microphone with such intensity and feeling, yet let someone so important to me slip away? And then have no place to dock my boat in the bay.
Or maybe even eliminating the God like status of Jesus Christ, Buddha, or Mohammed?
I have found it impossible to believe that Jesus christ is my lord and savior. That somehow God through him, has my entire life planned out, is looking out for me at every corner, and if I but listen, he will tell me what to do in every situation. Maybe I have just not allowed this to happen in my life and shut him out, but am looking in a different direction.
I do believe in some power greater than myself but have not been able to inititate, apprehend, comprehend, master, understand, relate to, or reach out to this being, event, place, time, thought....whatever it is.
The idea of UU not cramming a doctrine or belief down my throat is a place to start I believe.
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Oakspear
The full name of the church we usually refer to as "Unitarian" is the Unitarian-Universalist Association. There may be other organizations that use the term "Unitarian", but the main one, and most well known is the UUA.
The beliefs and practices vary greatly from congregation to congregation and from individual to individual.
The first organized Unitarians in the U.S. were Congregationalist churches in Massachusetts who maintained fellowship with the rest of the Congregationalists while rejecting the Trinitarianism of the majority. Later an independent denomination, the Unitarian Church merged with the Universalist Association.
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Stayed Too Long
Attending my first ever UU gathering this morning reminded me of a social services meeting. We said some written prayer while the leader lit a candle, had announcements, and a song. Then representatives from Habitat for Humanity and the local food bank spoke for about 30 minutes, followed by the group holding hands and saying a shalam, and it was over.
Short and sweet. Don't know if I got much out of it though. One of the members chatted with me afterwards and indicated this was not a typical meeting. He said UU helps a person develop spiritually along their own lines, so no strict doctrine is followed.
Figure I'll go back next week for a second look.
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Sudo
Stayed,
Re:"Attending my first ever UU gathering this morning reminded me of a social services meeting.....Figure I'll go back next week for a second look."
Depends on what people are looking for. Some would be interested in nothing less than being slain-in-the-spirit rolling on the floor in delirium. Enraptured by being possesed by their Lord. Others, wanting a little less fervor would say that rolling on the floor is wickedness and The Devil's work... that true worship is S.I.T. with all faculties intact and not looking like someone having an epileptic seizure.
Still others are uncomfortable with any kind of talking gibberish no one can understand and say gifts of the spirit (or manifestations if you prefer) died with the Apostles or aren't needed today to convert the heathen or whatever... You ain't doing it in THEIR midst, thank-you-very-much.
And then, you have those who are uncomfortable with Christian ethnocentricism.. the belief that only Christians are saved.. all others consigned to some other nebulous domain after death. They feel uneasy when public prayers are said "in the name of Jesus Christ".
And then you have folks like me, StayedTooLong, who think theists are like little kids who believe in Santa Claus.. only... they NEVER grow up!! The less demanding their religion, the better for the world. No infidels to kill. No lands to conquer for the True Religion.
But realizing how people LOVE to believe and get great satisfaction from invoking the gods, I try to fit in as best I can. I even teach a Sunday School class at a church where people generally don't know the difference between the Gospels and the Epistles.
It's easy to teach... and I probably sound a lot like what you're hearing from the Unitarian Universalists... that being happy and contented is paramount because quite frankly, this life is all we know for sure that we have. So.. be kind to your fellow man. Do for others as you would have them do for you.
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GrouchoMarxJr
I know some folks who attend a UU church. They seem like some really well intentioned folks who find it refreshingly honest not to be brow beat by religious doctrines...
Of course, my position is that if you can't develope an egocentic position of superiority based upon religious dogma, why bother? I mean...how dare them accept people at face value instead of weighing what that person believes against the REAL truth that THEY hold.
...But then again, I'm not sure I understand what "secular religion" is. Is it sorta like non-alcoholic beer?
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excathedra
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Ham
Heh heh heh.. I think you hit the nail on the head. Of course, remove the alcohol and most will argue that it is no longer beer..
Kind of like me and decaffeinated "coffee".. no such thing..
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Steve!
Yeah, or like putting pineapple on pizza, all of a sudden it's not really pizza anymore, all it is is a pizza-like food.
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Ham
Yep. A "coffee-LIKE" beverage..
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Stayed Too Long
Are you even remotely attempting to interject the possibility of there being.....(cough*snort)..no....(gulp)!!....Santa? That would be right up there with squashing like a bug James Dean, Janice Joplin, and Otis Redding. How would I ever be able to rant and rave without a cause anymore? Or wail into a microphone with such intensity and feeling, yet let someone so important to me slip away? And then have no place to dock my boat in the bay.
Or maybe even eliminating the God like status of Jesus Christ, Buddha, or Mohammed?
I have found it impossible to believe that Jesus christ is my lord and savior. That somehow God through him, has my entire life planned out, is looking out for me at every corner, and if I but listen, he will tell me what to do in every situation. Maybe I have just not allowed this to happen in my life and shut him out, but am looking in a different direction.
I do believe in some power greater than myself but have not been able to inititate, apprehend, comprehend, master, understand, relate to, or reach out to this being, event, place, time, thought....whatever it is.
The idea of UU not cramming a doctrine or belief down my throat is a place to start I believe.
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Stayed Too Long
Sounds like sex without orgasm.
Smoking dope without inhaling.
Shopping with no money.
Laughing when nothing is funny.
Military Intelligence
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Steve!
Jumbo shrimp
United States Postal Service
We're from the government, we're here to help
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Steve!
Oh, you've met my ex-wife?
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dmiller
They must hold a "tail-gate" party before the service in the parking lot, eh Sudo?
;)-->
Sounds like my kinda church.
:D-->
"sloshed with the spirits", rather than "slain" by them.
(Ps -- COFFEE and CAFFEINE both start with "C". Ya just cain't have the first, without the second.)
And -- de*calf*inated is when a cow has an abortion, nothing else.
:P-->
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