Posted on 07/12/2011 7:19:25 AM PDT by Cronos
A recent Sunday service at the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore ended with an apology.
Laurel Mendes, a neo-pagan lay member who led the service, feared that a reference to God in the hymn “Once to Every Soul and Nation” might have upset the humanists in the pews. So, Mendes explained to the congregation that religious doctrine had been duly scrubbed from hymns in the Sunday program.
“I didn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable by reciting something that might be considered a profession of faith,” Mendes, 52, said after the service. “We did say ‘God,’ which you don’t often hear in our most politically correct hymns.”
Welcome to a typical Sunday in the anything-but-typical Unitarian Universalist Association, a liberal religious movement with a proud history of welcoming all seekers of truth — as long as it’s spelled with a lowercase “t.”
Dramatic readings from the biography of 20th-century labor leader John L. Lewis? Sure. An altar crowded with Christian, Buddhist, Islamic and Jewish symbols? Absolutely. God-talk? Umm, well . . .
For 50 years, the UUA has conducted a virtually unprecedented experiment: advancing a religion without doctrine and hoping that welcoming communities and shared political causes, not creeds, will draw people to its pews.
Leaders say its no-religious-questions-asked style positions the UUA to capitalize on liberalizing trends in American religion. But as the UUA turns 50 this year, some members say a “midlife” identity crisis — trying to be all things to everyone — is hampering outreach and hindering growth.
Nearly 4,000 Unitarian Universalists gathered in Charlotte on June 22-26 for the association’s annual assembly, during which they celebrated their golden anniversary. But membership in the UUA dipped in 2011 for the third consecutive year, to 162,800, a loss of about 1,400 members. The number of congregations fell by two, to 1,046.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Woah -- talk about mixed-up...
The Rev. Peter Morales, the UUA’s current president, calls those trends, as well as the exodus of Americans from most Christian denominations, “an amazing opportunity.”How can any group say they are biblical unitarians beats me....
“Millions of people are actively seeking a progressive, nondogmatic spiritual community,” he said. “Our challenge is to be the religious community that embraces those people.”
A religion of societal reprobation.
A religion about nothing? Is this the Seinfeld of religion?
> humanists in the pews
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????
This is exponential cognitive dissonance.
Galloping toward an Ecumenical One-World Religion, day by day.
I'm sure the LAST thing someone at church wants to hear is anything based on...faith. Feh.
I went to a UU wedding once, and asked why there were no Bibles in their "church" - the response was they didn't want to offend anyone.
I told them the LACK of BIBLES in a CHURCH offended ME.
I’ve met people here in Maine who belong to this “religion.”
Calling them moonbats would be the understatement of the year.
But there sure were all kinds of homosexual advocating brochures available along with every possible kind of anti-American literature you could think of.
I asked my buddy what the heck is this "church" stuff all about. He said his wife would faithfully go here each week (as if she were going to a church), and the congregation would sit around trying to impress each other with all kinds of pronouncements and high-falutin' discussions about everything other than GOD! And somehow (silly of me) they got tax exemption as a church!
They could burn a question mark on your lawn.
I still haven't figured out how you can have a "religion" that even atheists can feel comfortable about and still call it a religion. Maybe they're just people who like the post-service coffee and donuts without all that messy belief and judgment stuff.
Two cheers for the UU — anything that directs liberals into using private charity to achieve goals ought to be encouraged, otherwise they’ll just tax us more.
No doubt they'll change that lest they offend IRS.
‘Neo’ means ‘recent’ or ‘new’
So, what was she BEFORE he became a pagan?
How long has she been a ‘neo-pagan’?
How long will she have to call himself a ‘neo-pagan’ before she can be just a ‘pagan’?
So many unanswered questions....
;-)
That's the bottom line. They are not a religion. They are a bunch of leftists who want their meeting hall to have a tax exemption. The only thing holding them together is "progressivism".
You want to be expelled from a Unitarian church as a heretic and blasphemer? Stand up and declare that you are a conservative Republican.
I can tell you from looking at the posters, flags and other things there - its not God they worship - its homosexuality.
My stepfather used to say that UUs believed in everything and nothing.
If you don't hear things in church that make you uncomfortable going to that church isn't doing you any good.
Not a religion. A social and political organization.
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