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> Having the Church community while growing up was great. But the fact that admission to this community required total philosophical adherence is just bizarre.

> Having the Church community while growing up was great. But the fact that admission to this community required total philosophical adherence is just bizarre. If you're not talking about the capital "C" church (which I interpret as the Catholic Church), then, it doesn't, really. You can be a Unitarian Universalist and believe in just about anything you want. Their entire philosophy is almost literally "be excellent to each other." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism#Belief,_covenant,_and_scripture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism#Belief,...

the-alchemist 6y ago
There's pockets of us UUs all over! Is someone asks me whether I got to a church, I have to ask, "Wait, what's your definition of a church?" Some of us Unitarians would prefer to drop the whole "Church" name entirely and call ourselves "Communities." - Yes, you can believe whatever you want. Everyone is just genuinely curious about your journey. "My father was Jewish, my mother was Catholic, and I'm Wiccan now." is something that people legitimately say all the time, and never in jest. - We "believe", if that's even the right word, that no one has it all figured out. There's great wisdom in all the world's traditions--and some nonsense too. Let's talk about it with respect. - The way we teach sex ed is top-notch, educationally and psychologically. It's called "Our Whole Lives" because we know, from a vast empirical literature as well as our own personal stories that human sexuality is a complex, life-long activity. Our sex ed teacher is usually a guy called Mike. Mike is gay, and everyone agrees he is the best one to teach that class, for a variety of reasons. - We encourage our kids to explore their own spirituality, in a "make your own religion" activity. We ask the kids themselves whether they think there is a god or not (or gods), and help them however we can. - We vote whether our minister stays or goes.

the-alchemist 6y ago

There's pockets of us UUs all over! Is someone asks me whether I got to a church, I have to ask, "Wait, what's your definition of a church?" Some of us Unitarians would prefer to drop the whole "Church" name entirely and call ourselves "Communities." - Yes, you can believe whatever you want. Everyone is just genuinely curious about your journey. "My father was Jewish, my mother was Catholic, and I'm Wiccan now." is something that people legitimately say all the time, and never in jest. - We "believe", if that's even the right word, that no one has it all figured out. There's great wisdom in all the world's traditions--and some nonsense too. Let's talk about it with respect. - The way we teach sex ed is top-notch, educationally and psychologically. It's called "Our Whole Lives" because we know, from a vast empirical literature as well as our own personal stories that human sexuality is a complex, life-long activity. Our sex ed teacher is usually a guy called Mike. Mike is gay, and everyone agrees he is the best one to teach that class, for a variety of reasons. - We encourage our kids to explore their own spirituality, in a "make your own religion" activity. We ask the kids themselves whether they think there is a god or not (or gods), and help them however we can. - We vote whether our minister stays or goes.