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UU roll call!

post #1 of 27
3/11/12 at 4:04pm
Thread Starter 

I know there have been some threads in the past. I've been attending our local UU church since November and am now in membership classes. There has been a peace and balance in my life that was not there before.

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post #2 of 27
3/13/12 at 11:10am

Hi, it's great to hear from you! I started attending our local UU church in November of 2010 and joined in February of 2011. My family is starting to feel more and more connected to the community in general through our connection to this church.

 

I'm so glad I started learning about UU here at MDC, and I'm really glad I finally took the plunge and started going.

post #3 of 27
3/15/12 at 11:02am

I started attending a UU church nine years ago as a teenager and now attend it with my eldest kid. When my youngest is old enough for Spirit Play, he will likely join us as well.

post #4 of 27
3/24/12 at 3:17pm

I identify mostly with UU, but am currently attending an Episcopal church. Mainly because where I live our UU church is all white and all rich, I just am not down with that. We are a trans-racial foster-adoptive family. While the Episcopal church is decidedly more "Christian", it IS liberal (my gay former co worker attends our church) and our parish is working class, mostly hispanic with a bilingual liturgy and a black priest. 

If we ever move to a bigger city with a more ethnically and class diverse UU congregation I would love to join.

post #5 of 27
3/25/12 at 10:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nicolelynn View Post

I identify mostly with UU, but am currently attending an Episcopal church. Mainly because where I live our UU church is all white and all rich, I just am not down with that. We are a trans-racial foster-adoptive family. While the Episcopal church is decidedly more "Christian", it IS liberal (my gay former co worker attends our church) and our parish is working class, mostly hispanic with a bilingual liturgy and a black priest. 

If we ever move to a bigger city with a more ethnically and class diverse UU congregation I would love to join.



We live in a large urban area with a more diverse UU church in terms of race, but it still skews pretty heavily towards the well-educated and affluent. (Well, they probably wouldn't describe themselves that way, but I would.)

post #6 of 27
3/25/12 at 4:14pm
Thread Starter 

Interesting. I live in a medium sized city - pop 160K in the buckle of the bible belt. Our UU congregation is one of the only non-bar places all couples feel safe to be showing affections. It is mostly white, though. Most of the congregants have masters degrees, minimum. I do feel out of place in that area, having only some college under my belt.

 

More than that, though, our congregation has such a high percentage of people over 60. But not having as many young families has inspired me to get involved as there are only a few of us to plan or help out with things for our age set.

 

I find too, that though a lot of my friends would best align their beliefs with UU, they either stay home or attend a Christian denomination. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe some people want more guidance when it comes to religion?

post #7 of 27
3/25/12 at 5:15pm
I was so excited when I learned about the uu church last summer! I went four times over the summer but felt I did not fit in.. I am a low income single mom of two little boys..one was an infant and the other was three last summer..i take public transportation..after services all the families with children play outside..i tried to interact with the other parents..but no one was receptive.all the members appear to be upper middle class, well educated..i didnt see any single moms..all the kids seemed to have two uber involved parents, which is wonderful but I felt so not welcome.. Which is so sad.. My boys would benefit so much from having a community..i am planning on atte/ding next week
post #8 of 27
3/25/12 at 5:22pm
I was so excited when I learned about the uu church last summer! I went four times over the summer but felt I did not fit in.. I am a low income single mom of two little boys..one was an infant and the other was three last summer..i take public transportation..after services all the families with children play outside..i tried to interact with the other parents..but no one was receptive.all the members appear to be upper middle class, well educated..i didnt see any single moms..all the kids seemed to have two uber involved parents, which is wonderful but I felt so not welcome.. Which is so sad.. My boys would benefit so much from having a community..i am planning on atte/ding next week
post #9 of 27
3/25/12 at 5:51pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SunshineRocket View Post

I was so excited when I learned about the uu church last summer! I went four times over the summer but felt I did not fit in.. I am a low income single mom of two little boys..one was an infant and the other was three last summer..i take public transportation..after services all the families with children play outside..i tried to interact with the other parents..but no one was receptive.all the members appear to be upper middle class, well educated..i didnt see any single moms..all the kids seemed to have two uber involved parents, which is wonderful but I felt so not welcome.. Which is so sad.. My boys would benefit so much from having a community..i am planning on atte/ding next week


I"m sorry that was your experience. I hope it goes better next time.

 

I'm single and poor too. I absolutley understand how that feels awkward sometimes. hug2.gif

post #10 of 27
3/26/12 at 3:59pm

nicolelynn, we actually attended an Episcopal church for a little while before we started going to our local UU church, which we joined a year ago.

 

SunshineRocket, we are very income-challenged, too, and I have found people in both churches to be predominantly white, highly educated, and higher income -- but in our UU church, there are quite a few single parents, too. Our UU church also has a strong desire to be very welcoming to people of all ethnic groups and lifestyles.

 

I think that higher income people are more likely to have the opportunity to become highly educated (or more highly educated people are more likely to have higher incomes) -- and I think that, in general, highly educated people tend to be more open to looking at things from a variety of different angles, and to rethinking their beliefs, and therefore are more likely to seek out spiritual communities that allow people the freedom to do so.

 

And I think we are still a long way from being a nation where there is truly equal opportunity; there are still more whites than people of other races getting the opportunity to pursue higher education and receiving the support and tools to do so. So this may be why it seems like more white people are drawn to religions like UU.

 

 

post #11 of 27
3/27/12 at 7:51pm

I'm glad I found this thread.  I've been dabbling in UU attendance for awhile, but just officially made the plunge (today) and became a member! 

post #12 of 27
4/29/12 at 6:58pm
Thread Starter 

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by A&A View Post

I'm glad I found this thread.  I've been dabbling in UU attendance for awhile, but just officially made the plunge (today) and became a member! 

 

I don't know how I missed this! Congratulations to you!

 

 I officially signed the membership book last Sunday.

post #13 of 27
5/7/12 at 7:48pm

I am a UU, have been for the last 8 years. If I didn't have a UU Fellowship to attend I would be an Episcopalian (which is what I was raised). I love love love my "church" and am UBER UBER involved. I am actually hoping to become a DRE (Director of Religious Exploration) this Fall. Our fellowship does have single moms, but it is relatively small, so the numbers are not too high. The congregation in general is very educated(although I never graduated from colllege and feel comfortable) and solidly middle class, bu there are exceptions to that on both ends of the spectrum. We are working at being a Welcoming Congregation, which is really important, because sad to say UU is not known for thier overt friendliness, but i believe this is changing. My DH does not attend, but is very supportive and usually shows up when food is involved... he was raised strict Catholic and has now NO room in his life for "going to church", and really is basically not interested in religion in any way, he does like the structure it gives my boys though.

I really love the UU Faith, I believe it has a lot going for it. I hope in the future to be known as a welcoming place and I am so sorry if any of you have had a bad experience. This makes me want to try harder than I already to at my Fellowship.

post #14 of 27
6/9/12 at 9:51pm

I love UU! I attend a super tiny congregation of mostly people much older than I am. I would LOVE to be a Director of Religious Education one day. I think that might actually be my current dream job!
 

post #15 of 27
6/21/12 at 1:28pm

I'm a UU, too!  We joined in 2010 and are very involved; I'm becoming the chair of the Membership committee next month and am very interested in reading about your experiences.

 

The first time I walked into the church, I felt like I'd come home  smile.gif

post #16 of 27
7/14/12 at 4:36pm

Ok! Maybe you lovely ladies can help me! :D I've just recently looked into UU and it seems to be what I've been looking for....but I'm not sure. I am Christian, but a bit more, I believe we all have the ability to tap into the magic God gave us. I think we should learn from earth and respect it. That's a very short version but that's the basics. The nearest UU church is 3 hours away so I can't really just go ask questions. So anywho just in general can anyone give me info about this church?

post #17 of 27
7/14/12 at 6:29pm
Thread Starter 

Here's a link to our seven principles.

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

post #18 of 27
7/16/12 at 9:19pm

It seems like christianity with out all the BS and politics? I really do like this, I'd like to look into it a little more, I'm going to order a book off amazon, any suggestions? I'd go to a UU church and just experience it, buuuuut the nearest one is 4-5 hours away :(. But it seems like what I've really been searching for.

post #19 of 27
7/17/12 at 7:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by prairiewolf21 View Post

It seems like christianity with out all the BS and politics? I really do like this, I'd like to look into it a little more, I'm going to order a book off amazon, any suggestions? I'd go to a UU church and just experience it, buuuuut the nearest one is 4-5 hours away :(. But it seems like what I've really been searching for.

Our roots are Christian. The Unitarians disagreed with  the Trinitarians, which is what most of Christianity believes today. Instead of God as three parts, the Unitarians thought that God was one. The Universalists did not think that some would go to heaven and others to hell, but that salvation was available to all. In the 1960s, the two denominations merged.  But I would say that is just our history.

 

Not all UUs identify as Christian. We also have Pagans, Buddhists, Atheists, Humanists, Hindus. (not at all an inclusive list) As a UU, you are not told what to believe. Rather, you are encouraged to see all humanity as being connected, continue to seek truth and  knowledge, to act in a way that allows others to live in peace with justice and compassion.

 

Our  new member class uses this book. http://www.amazon.com/Questions-Non-Members-About-Unitarian-Universalism/dp/0965449734 It's really basic but informative. This one goes further. http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Faith-Introduction-Unitarian-Universalism/dp/0807016179/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342536251&sr=1-1&keywords=unitarian+universalism

post #20 of 27
7/17/12 at 8:29am

It's definitely true that the UU church doesn't tell anyone what to believe -- but there are a couple of beliefs that might indicate UU is not the right fit for a person. I think that if you believe anyone is going to hell for not believing what you believe, or if you have a problem with people who are actively involved in church life living out their gender identity and/or sexuality in ways that deviate from what the Christian Right approves of, then you would not be very happy in a UU congregation.

 

However, it also seems unlikely that such a person would be going to a UU church in the first place.

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