Just curious as to if there are any other UUs on this site...all types welcome.

I've just started attending the fellowship here in Raleigh, but I've only met one other NC State student that attends aside from one friend i already knew that went there (tho I've only been twice so far).

[Edited on September 4, 2006 at 5:22 PM. Reason : .]

9/4/2006 5:05:31 PM

so what's that cult all about now?

9/4/2006 5:45:00 PM

I saw one of these guys in the superman cartoon, it was bitching

9/4/2006 5:52:22 PM

its like church for people who are afraid to be christians

9/4/2006 6:02:13 PM

it's more like fellowship for people who don't care to believe in revealed religion

9/4/2006 6:03:13 PM

Abigail Adams
John Adams
John Quincy Adams
Ethan Allen
Chester Bliss Bowles
Harold Hitz Burton
John C. Calhoun
Joseph S. Clark
William S. Cohen
Paul H. Douglas
Emily Taft Douglas
Thomas H. Eliot
Edward Everett
Millard Fillmore
Benjamin Franklin
Horace Greeley
Hannibal Hamlin
Thomas Jefferson
Edward S. Mason
Wade McCree
Maurine Neuberger
Lucius Paige
Thomas Paine
William J. Perry
Paul Revere
Josiah Quincy
Elliot L. Richardson
Leverett Saltonstall
Francis George Shaw
Col. Robert Gould Shaw
Adlai Stevenson
William Howard Taft
Daniel Webster
Arthur Altmeyer
Blanche Ames Ames
Susan B. Anthony
Emily Greene Balch
Roger Baldwin
Paul & Mary Blanshard
Harriot Stanton Blatch
Maria Weston Chapman
Grenville Clark
Anna Shaw Curtis
Clarence Darrow
Dorothea Dix
Martha May Eliot
William Channing Gannett
Samuel G. Howe
Julia Ward Howe
Lydia Ann Jenkins
John Lathrop
Mary White Ovington
Daniel Livermore
Mary Rice Livermore
Josephine Shaw Lowell
James Reeb
George Ripley
Caroline Severance
Henry Solly
Charles Spear
John Murray Spear
Lucy Stone
Kate Gannett Wells
The Weston Sisters
Alfred T. White
Whitney Young

9/4/2006 6:07:37 PM

i'm quite certain the list for christianity is MUCH longer

9/4/2006 6:10:12 PM

Oh shit religion thread, take cover

9/4/2006 6:15:36 PM

heh

9/4/2006 6:21:40 PM

a lot of the people on the list are just diests, nothing more

9/4/2006 6:23:05 PM

dorothea dix

9/4/2006 6:25:34 PM

deists are awesome

i really like thomas paine's The Age of Reason

it's a great read

[Edited on September 4, 2006 at 6:26 PM. Reason : that t makes a big difference]

9/4/2006 6:25:50 PM

Quote :

"i'm quite certain the list for christianity is MUCH longer"

yeah....

The peaceful, "love everyone for who they are", "there is not only one right way", inclusive-style religions tend to have smaller numbers than the war-mongering "love everyone only because they might someday be converted", "there is only one right way", exclusive-style religions. Gee, I wonder why...









UU's see themselves as:

From a survey where UU respondents could pick only one label:
(though some chose more...)
Humanist (46%)
Earth/nature centered (19%)
Theist (13%)
Christian (9.5%)
with mystic, Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu and Muslim in ever-smaller percentages.
...another 13% picked "other."

From a survey where UU respondents could pick more than one label:
Humanist (54%)
Agnostic (33%)
Earth-centered (31%)
Atheist (18%)
Buddhist (16.5%)
Pagan (13.1%)
Christian (13.1%)
…

(http://www.uua.org/news/011205.html)


[Edited on September 4, 2006 at 6:41 PM. Reason : %]

9/4/2006 6:33:33 PM

Quote :

"Soap Box"

9/4/2006 7:27:13 PM

hempster has smoked himself retarded if he thinks thats what christianity teaches

9/4/2006 7:31:46 PM

Uhm...are you serious? You know that they don't believe in heaven or anything, right? My friend is Unitarian and I went to her dad's funeral, most depressing thing ever.

9/4/2006 7:44:26 PM

.

[Edited on September 4, 2006 at 8:37 PM. Reason : .]

9/4/2006 8:35:50 PM

^^here we go again...

there are christian, buddhist, pagan, muslim, jewish, humanist, and agnostic UUs. The point is to encourage personal religious growth as the pilar of one's faith. if it was an inclusive UU funeral, its not suprising that they wouldnt mention that, unless they were specifically Christian UUs. Its great going to a place that doesnt rely on so much dogma and is more deistic and personal, which is what ive decided iswhat i need. i pretty much agree with everything hempster's posted. it appears he's the only person who's actually read anything about the purpose for an inclusive church which doesnt have a concrete belief system for all. anyway i should have expected this. deism is an important beleif amongst many UUs, and Ive personally found such beliefs to encompass more of a "thinking man's religion". If you want to be told exactly what to believe and follow, it isnt for you. i did a lot of reading before i went, and i found it to really be a place where i could think more and develop a more personal faith.

protestants are christians that are to afraid to be catholic. how about that?




[Edited on September 4, 2006 at 9:00 PM. Reason : .]

9/4/2006 8:51:11 PM

Quote :

"protestants are christians that are to afraid to be catholic. how about that?"

never thought of it that way. thanks!

9/4/2006 9:00:02 PM

Bttt

2/16/2010 9:21:46 PM

why go to a church that doesn’t believe in anything?

Why not just stay home and read a book or something?

And what do you do there anyway? Do you sing songs or is it like a book club or seminar where you sit in a circle discussing things?

2/16/2010 9:30:52 PM

i don't have a problem with UU's, they seem to be pretty open and liberal, but it is not christianity. uu's deny that christ is god and deny the trinity, these are pretty central to being christian.

2/16/2010 9:32:00 PM

Quote :

"protestants are christians that are to afraid to be catholic. how about that?"

Catholicism is much more liberal that Christianity... so I'm not sure how that comparison works. This is not to mention that some of the basic tenants of Catholicism aren't remotely Christian.

2/16/2010 9:40:59 PM

ibtfkr?

2/16/2010 9:41:04 PM

Quote :

"i don't have a problem with UU's, they seem to be pretty open and liberal, but it is not christianity. "

Well then it's a good thing that the Unitarian Universalist Association doesn't identify itself as Christian. You're confusing Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists.

I had no idea there were people on this site that went to the church on Wade I used to go when I didn't have to work on Sundays. I'll probably start going again once I move back to Raleigh.

Quote :

"And what do you do there anyway? Do you sing songs or is it like a book club or seminar where you sit in a circle discussing things?"

Basically you listen to a service about whatever topic the minister has chosen for the day and some songs are thrown in. It really depends on who the minister of the church is how "religious" it is. I've found that services in NC tend to be more religious than ones I would attend in NY and VT when I was living there, but I wouldn't really consider them religious services. More like a 45 minute lecture on leading a better life. There's also a nice service they do where anyone in the congregation can come up and give thanks/remembrance/whatever to a person/people in their lives. I also enjoy that part of the service.

Then you get to eat bagels and drink coffee after the service is done

They also have interesting class/activities/etc that you can attend outside of Sunday morning service.

Really I view UU as just a way to reflect upon your own life and whether you think you're being a good, responsible human being. It's also a nice way to meet other people that may share your view on life.

[Edited on February 16, 2010 at 9:51 PM. Reason : f]

2/16/2010 9:46:09 PM

Having grown up in a family of Unitarian Universalists, I feel I can safely say that they don't "deny" anything.

There are fundamental beliefs, of course. One of those is the right of people to search for their own meaning and beliefs through religious study. Another fundamental tenant is the importance of democracy in making decisions. So, there is no "higher" religious authority like the pope or even a local minister telling you what to do, and you have to think about what you believe to be right and true rather than letting someone else tell you what is right and true. Many folks don't want to put that much thought into it, but fortunately there are plenty of other religions that offer options where compliance and ritual is most highly valued.

There are people who are elected to lead the UU churches and provide guidance and counsel for those who seek it. There are choirs, rituals, speakers, and discussions. Some of the speakers and discussions deal with issues like local race relations or world politics, topics that are admittedly unusual for church, but other topics are more along the lines of normal church themes. I went to dozens of different types of Christian services growing up with friends and as part of musical performances, and the basic elements of religion are the same in all churches I've attended.

[Edited on February 16, 2010 at 9:50 PM. Reason : .]

2/16/2010 9:47:41 PM

yay thanks guys! i asked for this thread to be bumped. i wanted to get some good discussion going.

i was thinking about trying a UU "church" but i'm not sure. so i wanted to see what people who have experienced them had to say

Quote :

"why go to a church that doesn’t believe in anything? "

but they do believe in stuff....or at least i feel like they do. which is why i'm interested.

2/16/2010 10:03:07 PM

^ that was me being a bit flippant but i do want to know

Quote :

"Why not just stay home and read a book or something? And what do you do there anyway? Do you sing songs or is it like a book club or seminar where you sit in a circle discussing things? "

2/16/2010 10:10:31 PM

I'm pretty sure the Unitarians caused all the problems in this game:



The zombie-alien blood is on your hands.

2/16/2010 10:37:46 PM

Quote :

"i do want to know"

That's already been answered for you if you'd bother to read

2/16/2010 10:41:06 PM

i, too, have considered joining a uu church

2/16/2010 11:02:30 PM

Quote :

"Catholicism is much more liberal that Christianity... so I'm not sure how that comparison works. This is not to mention that some of the basic tenants of Catholicism aren't remotely Christian."

At any rate, I just don't "get" UUism, and the synopsis of a UU service a few posts up doesn't sell me on it any more. I mean, if you feel like you get something out of it, go for it I guess, but I'd personally rather have the extra sleep. I can figure out on my own whether or not I'm living my life the way I should.

2/16/2010 11:07:08 PM

Quote :

"Basically you listen to a service about whatever topic the minister has chosen for the day and some songs are thrown in. It really depends on who the minister of the church is how "religious" it is. I've found that services in NC tend to be more religious than ones I would attend in NY and VT when I was living there, but I wouldn't really consider them religious services. More like a 45 minute lecture on leading a better life. There's also a nice service they do where anyone in the congregation can come up and give thanks/remembrance/whatever to a person/people in their lives. I also enjoy that part of the service. "

seems weird... what songs do they sing?

And how do they decide on who's a UU minister?

2/16/2010 11:08:37 PM

They have their own hymn book. To be honest though the songs kind of suck so I prefer services that don't use them. The UU congregation I used to go to in NY never used them.

To become a UU minister you have to go through training and become accredited by the UU Ministers' Association: http://www.uuma.org/ You can't just go online and get ordained like that one church

Quote :

"I mean, if you feel like you get something out of it, go for it I guess, but I'd personally rather have the extra sleep. I can figure out on my own whether or not I'm living my life the way I should."

That's the nice thing about UU. If you want to be there, great! If you don't want to be there, great! It doesn't really make a difference in their eyes. I like going to the services because usually the discussions are thought-provoking. Although the church in Raleigh had a boring ass minister back in the early 2000s which was a large part of the reason I stopped going. I've heard the person they have now is much better.

2/16/2010 11:29:23 PM

are they tax exempt and do they take collections? I know nothing about this

2/17/2010 12:05:06 AM

I have a friend who is UU who I respect deeply.



that being said, I find the quasi-universal acceptance of "all-faiths" to be nearly as ridiculous as those faiths who exclude those who believe different.

2/17/2010 12:34:43 AM

I think it's far more ridiculous.

Well, maybe not more ridiculous than exclusion of people with different beliefs, but certainly more ridiculous than rejection of a set of beliefs that are fundamentally incompatible with your own.


Ironically, I still take a UU-ish position of "if it's your thing, knock yourself out". Unitarian Universalists don't tend to hurt anything else, and I don't think that UUism is going to screw you all up like some of these self-help psychotherapy cults.

I do personally think it's stupid and pointless, though.


[Edited on February 17, 2010 at 12:46 AM. Reason : ]

2/17/2010 12:36:54 AM

Quote :

"it's more like fellowship for people who don't care to believe in revealed religion"

That seems like the best explanation for going to church I've seen in a while. Makes a lot more sense to me than those who go to church because they have faith that whatever religion happens to be dominant in their geographic region or household is the one true religion.

Although I still would lean towards going to volunteer with a non-profit you care about. You can make friends, have fellowship, and do good work by supporting a cause directly without a church collection plate acting as a middleman.

2/17/2010 1:14:38 AM

plus, you get a free day pass to disney world!

2/17/2010 1:26:39 AM

I'm not exactly the poster child for attendance in my own denomination, but I admit to being confused about why you would ever get up early on a weekend and hand money to people just to kind of hang out and get advice.

If you need life guidance or counseling, there are trained professionals who can help you for money at reasonable hours during the week.

Sure, I get up early on weekends (not often enough) and hand money to them for advice, but it's because I think their advice, specifically, is more helpful than advice that could be sought elsewhere. That may make me very, very stupid, but if I'm blowing my sleep and cash on it at least it's something I don't think I could get elsewhere, with more sleep for less money.

Much as I hate to agree with Supplanter, if you don't actually believe in specific religious tenets you would do better for the world (and possibly yourself) just volunteering somewhere.

2/17/2010 1:51:47 AM

^^ lol

^ Who has said anything about getting up early? I always went to the 12pm service when I did go

Like I said, it's not so much about someone saying, "Okay you should do ABC right now!" like some sort of self-help seminar. It's more:

Quote :

"Some of the speakers and discussions deal with issues like local race relations or world politics, topics that are admittedly unusual for church, but other topics are more along the lines of normal church themes."

I view it as a weekly opportunity to just reflect upon myself and the world around me in a semi-structured environment and I can meet some cool people in the process. As far as paying, I was always one of those deadbeats that never donated money, but I was also a poor high school/college student

I guess it's just one of those cases of don't knock it until you've experienced it. It's obviously not for everyone, or even most people. I wouldn't think to tell people that going to their Catholic/Baptist/Muslim/whatever service is an utter waste of time if I haven't tried it out myself.

[Edited on February 17, 2010 at 2:05 AM. Reason : for the record, Catholic services always put me to sleep lol]

2/17/2010 2:03:40 AM

I thought about checking out UU a few years ago, but then I just stopped doing the religion thing all together. I'd still be interested in going to just to see what it's all about though.

Quote :

"Catholicism is much more liberal that Christianity... so I'm not sure how that comparison works. This is not to mention that some of the basic tenants of Catholicism aren't remotely Christian."

ahahahahahaha.... ok, this is the lounge so I'll leave this retarded comment alone.

Quote :

"for the record, Catholic services always put me to sleep lol"

with all the standing/sitting/kneeling/moving around, how could you possibly fall asleep?! haha

2/17/2010 7:53:34 AM

Oh trust me as a kid it was pretty easy But my great-grandmother would always give me a proper shove when she figured out I wasn't paying attention at all.

2/17/2010 8:00:01 AM

I attended a UU...uhhhh...sermon last year for my wife. She was looking for a church that was more liberal and understanding.

First there was a bell, then they had a guest singer and they sang from a hymn book, which was really weird since there was no mention of God or anything, just church sounding songs with happy messages.

Then they complained about not being able to keep up their attendance numbers for a bit. Then they had open mike session where people got to come up and say something. Most were sad and complaining about how much their life sucked. It seriously felt like the support group scenes from Fight Club.

More singing dumb songs. As we made our exit, one of the church members stopped us to work on us coming back next time.

My conclusion for my very strange Sunday morning excursion: WTF is the point? Without the dogma, why the establishment? I think

Quote :

"its like church for people who are afraid to be christians"

is very accurate. I bet most of em are ex-christians that still feel the need to connect with other people on Sunday morning.

2/17/2010 9:00:15 AM

i think its more social support than a profession of beliefs.

2/17/2010 9:07:32 AM

Quote :

"Well then it's a good thing that the Unitarian Universalist Association doesn't identify itself as Christian. You're confusing Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists."

just a few posts above mine someone was talking about christian unitarian universalists

Quote :

"Another fundamental tenant is the importance of democracy in making decisions. So, there is no "higher" religious authority like the pope or even a local minister telling you what to do, and you have to think about what you believe to be right and true rather than letting someone else tell you what is right and true."

this is how many other religions work, people make fun of presbyterians because they have to form groups and vote on everything.

2/17/2010 10:31:48 AM

All religions are stupid.

2/17/2010 10:36:14 AM

wolfpackgrrr said:

Quote :

"Well then it's a good thing that the Unitarian Universalist Association doesn't identify itself as Christian. You're confusing Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists."

Brian: Are you the Judean People's Front?
Reg: Fuck off!
Brian: What?
Reg: Judean People's Front! We're The People's Front of Judea! Judean People's Front, God!
Rogers: Blighters....
Brian: Can I...join your group?
Reg: No, piss off!
Brian: I didn't want to sell this stuff, it's only a job! I hate the Romans as much as anybody!
All in PFJ except Brian: Shh! Shh! Shh! Shh! Shh!
Brian: Oh.
Judith: Are you sure?
Brian: Oh, dead sure. I hate the Romans already.
Reg: Listen! If you wanted to join the PFJ, you'd have to have really hate the Romans.
Brian: I do!
Reg: Oh, yeah, how much?
Brian: A lot!
Reg: Right, you're in. Listen, the only people we hate more than the Romans are the fucking Judean People's Front.
All in PFJ except Brian: Yeah!
Judith: Splitters!
Rogers: And the Judean Popular People's Front!
All in PFJ except Brian: Yeah! Splitters!
Loretta: And the People's Front of Judea!
All in PFJ except Brian: Yeah! Splitters!
Reg: What?
Loretta: The People's Front of Judea. Splitters!
Reg: We are the People's Front of Judea!
Loretta: Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
Reg: People's Front! God....
Rogers: Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
Reg: He's over there.
All in PFJ except Brian: Splitter!

2/17/2010 10:38:01 AM

LISTEN YOU FUCKING FAGGOT COLLEGE KID

2/17/2010 10:38:44 AM

Quote :

"is very accurate. I bet most of em are ex-christians that still feel the need to connect with other people on Sunday morning. "

this is also what i was thinking. because in exploring the church here in gboro - a) its a "church" and b) theres a "reverend" and c) the structure seems much the same as a christian church. plus they state outright that they focus on the judeo christian relationship to UU.

like in my mind the concept sounds like something i'd be interested in (unitarian universalist) but then when i read stuff like i've read on the UU church of greensboro website i'm turned off. just the fact that it is called a church.

i dunno. i'm interested on the one hand but on the other hand it just seems like church to me without the labels. which i know isn't what it proclaims to be. that is why in theory it sounds good but i just don't know if in practice it would be the same.

2/17/2010 10:43:06 AM