Tell me about Unitarian Universalism

[activistamamacita]

Can anyone give some personal thoughts, good or bad, about this? DH and I strive to live within the Buddhist philosophy and plan to guide dd along this path, if she chooses, but our only local sangha only has a children's service once in a while. I am feeling the need for my family to be part of a spiritual community, and I think this might be what I am looking for. I have looked at the website and read a bunch about it, but I am looking for opinions from you wise mommas.

I really appreciate any feedback

[artgoddess]

I think that attending a UU church and Buddhism can go very well together. A very active member of my congregation who lay lead some services was a practicing Buddhist. (I'm sure he still is, he and his family moved far away) Being part of my UU community is a very important in our family. I love raising my children with an entire group of other people who love them and let them know that they will be there for them if ever they need help. They are young now, but when they are teens, I'll really love that they'll have the foundation.

Adele starts a great seasonal UU thread http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1175151
You may get some more specific questions answered there.

[javilu]

i only went to a UU service once (it's just not my cup of tea), but something that really stood out to me was the kids (we accidentally went to the kids portion of the service as well as the regular service). they seemed really happy and comfortable there, and were an integral part of the community, as far as i could tell. i think it would be a great place to bring children.

[Lovin' It]

I'm not a UU expert, but I have visited 3 different UU churches. I found that they were pretty different from eachother in regards to how comfortable I felt. I know that there are Buddhists that attend the church I go to. My suggestion is that you visit one and/or check out their websites, I think that's the only way you'll know if the one in your area is right for you.

[Llyra]

We are active members of a UU congregation, and I can say very definitely that our church would be a place where somebody who follows a Buddhist philosophy would be very comfortable. In a majority, even. Each church is fairly independent however so there is quite a lot of variation. What ties us together as UUs is not a creed or set of beliefs, but a set of shared values-- the 7 principles. We have members who call themselves Christian, Jewish, Pagan, Buddhist, Humanist, believers in evolutionary spirituality, and quite a few other variations, too.

Give it a try. DH and I hesitated a long, long time before we finally got up the courage to walk into our church one week, and we were so so glad we did, and wish we had sooner. It was been such a wonderful thing for our family. Everybody was very welcoming, in a comfortable kind of way. We were helped to feel right at home, and made to understand that everybody was glad we'd came, but not in any kind of weird way-- just friendly, you know?

Try it. The worst that can happen is you aren't comfortable or find something that you don't like, and you haven't lost anything at all.

[Adele_Mommy]

I am a member of a Unitarian Universalist church and I love it. It is a wonderful way to be a part of a spiritual community, particularly for children.

I am not Buddhist myself, and in all honesty I don't find myself particularly drawn to Buddhist teachings, but that kind of puts me in the minority at my church. We have a weekly mediation group and our minister frequently incorporates readings and teachings by Pema Chodron into our services.

As previous posters have said, UU churches vary a lot. This article from UU World talks about Buddhism in Unitarian Universalism and even lists by name several UU ministers who are also recognized Buddhist mediation teachers.

Definitely doesn't hurt to give your local UU church a try! Good luck!

[ziggy]

I recently joined my congregation - I joined relatively quickly after first going to the church, only because the congregation is small and they don't offer new membership classes very often (this is the first one in over a year, from what I understand).

I love it. I love it so much. I was kind of determined to hate all religion, but I went once because they were having a candlelight vigil after losing marriage equality (I live in Maine) and, well, I've been back every single sunday. Our congregation is really little and kind fo elderly, but there's usually 2 or 3 kids there, and they are totally accepted in the community. Oftentimes they will be a little noisy during service, but people don't seem to mind. Last sunday a new family came and they had four kids, which more than doubled our RE program for the week.

[Mother Cake]

I would just like to reiterate what a pp said about UU churches/congregations being different from one another. Each church is independent in deciding how they do their services, what their main focus is, how children are taught, etc. There are guiding principles that are the same for all UU churches, you can read the list here. But how these principles are implemented is different from congretation to congregation.

If you are lucky, there will be more than one UU congregation in your area, and you can find the one that suits you and your family best. When I moved away from my first UU congregation, I had to try two local churches before I found the right one for me.

[mntnmom]

IME, even UU congregations that don't have small children try to be kid friendly. While DH was deployed I have had 60 yr old men take my rambunctious boys out to the foyer to play so I could sit in the service.
Every one is different. So if you are lucky enough to have more than one congregation in your area, check them out! I've met UU Christians, UU Buddhists and UU Jews.

[kcstar]

DH and I have been attending UU churches for ten years now, and were regular attendees at three different congregations. We were members of our church in Houston for about five or six years before we moved here.

Our church in Houston had a weekly Buddhist meditation group that met weekly on Sunday evenings. One of the covenant groups practiced Nichiren Buddhism.

We're UU Pagans, but we have friends who are UU Buddhist, and UU Christian. Our first pediatrician was UU Hindu. Most of the UUs I have met who started life Jewish didn't seem to practice Judaism much anymore.

[activistamamacita]

Thank you all so much for your input. I have decided to attend the service this weekend and check it out. Dh, unfortunately won't be able to attend with me due to prior commitments, but has promised to join us when he can. I am very excited and I have very good feelings about it. So now I guess I'll just have to pop on over to the UU thread!

[Callimom]

I wanted to chime in that the Spiritual Development staff at our UU congregation are both Buddhist and/or budding Buddhists. One hosts a weekly yoga program and meditation (all faiths welcome). We have services revolved around Buddhism a few times a year.

My kids love the program and feeling connected to a community and I like to have that time and space in our weekly schedule.

Karen