by Good Girl or Bad Girl? 23 Replies latest jw friends
I'm just wondering if anyone has looked into this faith or church or religion or whatever you might call it? It seems like a positive community, but I have also read things about it that seem borderline scary to vulnerable people who are looking to fit in somewhere...
I'm not looking for a religion to convert to or anything like that. I'm just exploring and trying to educate myself on what is out there. I really only know what I learned from the Witnesses.
Is that the same as Biblical Unitarians?
Jeff
My best friend is choir director at the local U.U. here. I'm not part of it (I'm not ready to be part of 'anything' at this point), but I know I've seen her grow exponentially over the last few years since she's gotten more involved in her dual passion--music/ spirituality.
They accept all members/ gender and sexual orientations. But--like any group, they WILL reflect the local populace from which they are formed (just as JW's do, just as ANY organized group of individuals will). They will also have their mini-cliques, just as any group would--Christians, pagans, atheists/ agnostics, etc. They are a heterogenous group in that respect...but like anywhere else, those who draw closest to one another will be those most like-minded. Kind of like on JWD, even. Pretty open-minded and variety-oriented, in my opinion--which I always...I'm just not so much of a joiner these days.
But my friend...she has taken off !! More power to her.....................
Hey GG/BG, I have gone to a few different UU churches here in Milwaukee. Pretty cool people and I have a couple UU friends. Very mixed beliefs but in general VERY open-minded and accepting. I even went through the introduction classes at two of these churches. A good book to get about them is: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalisim - A Chosen Faith by Buehrens and Church
Website: http://www.uua.org/
I recommend going there to get a feel. No obligation although they may pass a basket (throw a buck in if you want). Just going there is educational because they have speakers and subjects on all different religions.
They accept all spiritual beliefs, and even accept lack of belief. I've thought about going to a church for community, but UU is really the only church I could go to w/o feeling like a hypocrite. I have a good friend who found god there just as I was losing himherit.
I'm so put off by any supernatural talk, however, that I would probably just end up rolling my eyes most of the time, so I'm probably better off staying away from even the UU church.
I think the most fascinating thing about UU is how much history the religion has... it's not a new age thing in the least. Whadaya know, turns out not all old-time religion was fundy and hard-assed.
Very mixed beliefs but in general VERY open-minded and accepting.
I'm no expert but that was my experience with the UU church here. Pretty much you can make up your own god as long as it's only One power. I only went once.
BFD
You sound like me, Sixofnine! I'd love to find a community of some kind of spirituality, but even the mildest "godtalk" and I can feel myself starting to cringe.
I've been to a couple of UUs in different cities and I noticed one thing immediately. They are totally different in different places. The one I went to in DeMoines Washington was kind of fun, the pastor was kind of a twink, but likeable all the same, but they had a choir and they kept it moving along. Then when I moved to Oregon I went to the one in Hillsboro. It was like a Methodist service, very dry, very serious, no humor, and BOOOORRRIIIIIINGGGG. I kid you not I could not hardly stay awake. There is no way in hell I will go to a boring place, if I wanted to go to one I'd go back to the witnesses, at least I would keep those elders on their toes, me being an uppidy woman and all. JUST KIDDING!
I've heard the one in downtown Portland is quite a bit better, may check that out someday.
What others have said is true, they don't spend all their time talking about god at ALL, in fact more time is actually spent on talking about using your spirituality for good, such as volunteering, etc. Athiests and agnostics are very welcome from what I have seen, and of course they are very welcoming to us in the GLBT community.
All in all a good group of people, but if you are looking for a christian church you will not like it.
Sherry
There was a personality quiz about religious and spiritual beliefs at http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html The results for many former Witnesses show they relate most closely to Universal Unitarianism, a group that are not concerned with absolute truth and are non judgmental of a persons individual beliefs (http://www.uua.org/). Though started from Christianity they are accepting of all faiths. Closely related is the Perennial Philosophy; an understanding that the ideal of all religion is the same. In general all religion shares a similar core mythology, share ritual, spiritual experience and point to worship of the creator. The core of most religion is a supreme creative God Almighty. This concept is very different than the Watchtower concept of a single organization promoting an absolute truth, but realistic once it is understood that a persons religion is determined by culture more than absolute truth.
Religion is largely about having a social group with a common interest. It seems that UUA is for people that want to hang out with people with spiritual interest, but recognise that no one really knows the answers to the big questions.
