USA Today: "Unitarian Faith Growing Nationwide"

[E_Pluribus_Unitarian]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/01/unitarian-faith-growing-stronger-nationwide/1607243/

Nice! As my username suggests, I have long been deeply committed to the premise of freedom-driven religion...not just of freedom "of" religion but freedom "within" religion as well. I fervently believe, as Thomas Jefferson did, that a "faith of the free" is a natural complement to a "land of the free". I believe in having the freedom to think for yourself, to ask your own questions, to express your own honest doubts, to seek the truth along your own path at your own pace...all of that is vital to my religious beliefs...but I also believe that religion is ultimately a community endeavor, about sharing and striving together to build a more peaceful, more civil and respectful world. That's why I've been a devout UU since my 20s. We are not a proselytizing tradition, but neither should we hide our light under a bushel basket either. We welcome all who truly love freedom to join us in this progressive, science-friendly, non-dogmatic, honest and humbly imperfect quest for the true, the good and holy.

I agree that we're just really getting started. I'm seeing the same kind of growth, by the way. My little "Faith of the Free" page* just a few days ago passed the 1,000 mark and I continue to see growing interest in a radically different approach to religion -- by whatever name -- in which freedom and personal honesty and integrity are taken seriously.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unitarian-Universalism-Faith-of-the-Free/83274552762

[JustAnotherGen]

1. ;-)

Another one - take a peek at my response here . . .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1441310

I call it - the Overwhelming Need To Make Sense and Use Logic. We do that - and we also tend to opt for kindness towards all human beings over rotten behavior.

[cleanhippie]

2. Hard to find fault with the 7 UU principles.

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

http://www.uua.org/beliefs/principles/

That is what has kept me, an atheist, going back to my local UU Fellowship (where most of the congregation are non-believers). It's not dogma, it's not faith, it is compassion and common sense. And that is something I can support.

[cilla4progress]

3. Uni here too!

Great news!! Thanks!

[deutsey]

4. I'm a UU...this is encouraging to hear

I've heard over the past few years that UUism was stagnating in terms of national membership.

[Oregonian]

5. Next Stop...atheism

That's what I think of when I think of the Unis.

[deutsey]

7. Next stop? There are quite a few atheists

and humanists in the UU fellowship I attend. There are also Christians (not the majority), Buddhists, Jews, etcs, and none of the aboves, as well as bi/gay/lesbian/straight and people of different races (although predominantly white).

As you can imagine, this kind of plurality can cut both ways as both a positive and a negative.

[Oregonian]

8. I wouldn't define someone looking for "spiritual" fulfilliment

As a true atheist, honestly. Sounds to me like a Christian or religious holdout, still looking for something supernatural "out there."

True materialists wouldn't bother with it, IMO.

[deutsey]

9. Not the ones I know

Some remind me of that thing where Richard Feynman was saying science didn't detract from the beauty of the world/cosmos for him...it actually enhanced it. Yet he was an atheist as well.

There are many levels of meaning to "spirituality".

[Oregonian]

10. And all of them are euphymisms for something explainable by science

And therefore not "spirit" in nature. A minor annoyance to me, but I get that people want to be part of a group, and hold onto some sort of support system.

[deutsey]

13. As usual, these types of conversations end up with people talking past each other

It's easy to do when we use words so loaded down with eons of baggage like "spirituality."

For me, spirituality isn't about a bunch of mumbo jumbo "What the Bleep Do We Know" stuff. I use the word becuase its Latin origin (spiritus=breath) means something essential and vital to being alive. There's the material aspect of that, but there's also the levels of meaning we need to sustain that vitality.

That plays into my efforts at meditation (simple sitting meditation in which I follow my breath), in my efforts to make sense of who/what I am in this vast cosmos through science, as well as in my appreciation of the poetic, metaphorical attempts some scriptures have made to find meaning in all of this.

I'm not a Vulcan by nature, so yeah, I do dig the poetry and metaphor of "non-scientific" literature from throughout the ages (I just finished doing a group study of the Bhagavad Gita, for instance).

But I also gave a lay sermon recently called (intentionally playing with the word "theology&quot : My Spaced Out Theology, in which I reflected on how human meaning has always been shaped by how we understand the universe, going from the ancient desert dwellers who thought the earth was a flat disk and that an angry God was hovering above us beyond the sky, through the Greeks, Copernicus, and Newton to where we are now with quantum physics (again, not in the "What the Bleep Do We Know" woo woo understanding of quantum mechanics, but just how it contributes to understandng this thing called life).

Using a passage from Clarke's "2001", I also related how what we're learning from the Hubble telescope and Voyager and Curiosity don't negate a sense of meaning and awe and even belonging...it deepens it for me.

Sorry to lecture. I just wanted to clarify what I meant (and I think the atheists I know mean) by things like spirituality.

[LiberalEsto]

12. And pagans nt

[deutsey]

14. Yes...thank you...

That's what happens when I write off the cuff and don't slow down to think.

[cbayer]

6. Not surprised that UU is appealing to the increasing numbers of *nones*.

It has always held some appeal to me and, should I desire to become involved in a church, I would probably look for a UU church.

Glad that you have found that which suits you and nourishes you.

[LiberalEsto]

11. k&r from another UU!

UUs don't go around knocking on doors or otherwise proselytizing. That's one of the many things I like about Unitarian-Universalism.