05-21-2008, 12:44 AM
Too bad they have not found us....many end up in liberal Christian denominations or Reform Judaism.
http://www.peacebang.com/category/ex-uni...ersalists/
"....I marvel at how a denomination that is so proud of its inclusiveness should be so bitter and exclusive to the Christians (or even the theists) in its midst. Yet everybody wants that special Christmas Eve service, and to sing the old carols with the original words. I suppose Jesus, who advocated a radical form of inclusivity based on loving others, is not so radical or his teachings so alarming when he is kept eternally in the manger...."
http://cabaretic.blogspot.com/2007/06/co...arian.html
"...I feel that this post-modern construct--this philosophy of the disenfranchised that we term Unitarian Universalism is a lost cause. We are, at best, a loose confederation of misfits who have rejected traditional religion. I hasten to even call UUism a faith, a move calculated to both prevent an argument and set forth a point. It has some well-meaning postulates, to be sure, but in spite of the hard work of the well-intentioned, UUism is akin more to a social organization rather than a faith tradition. Even we grinningly blasphemous heathens know where the road to hell is paved...
.....To the best of my knowledge we are comprised of odd, eccentric individuals who have never felt a sense of belonging anywhere. To the best of my knowledge we are a tribe of loners and assorted malcontents. The rates of social dysfunction, mental illness, and personality disorders amongst UUs is exceeding high and this is no great surprise to me....
....I am merely the latest to realize that the quantum leap UUism needs cannot accomplished because of its formulation. It is fundamentally flawed and cannot be redeemed by a combination of masterful rhetoric, constant reminders, good intentions, and eloquent prose. If it is to survive as more than a small niche group of often radical leftists, it must take on precepts other than the highly nebulous, highly abstract principles that serve as guilt window dressing full, as Shakespeare noted, of sound and fury, signifying nothing...."
http://www.peacebang.com/2007/07/06/recr...bate-ouch/
"... They are a glum lot entrenched in their social activism to the point of the ridiculous - and much of what they label social activism is simply “recreational debate” which is just a wheel spinning going nowhere..."
http://www.peacebang.com/2007/07/07/comr...eals-youu/
"...Once upon a time (early 1990’s?) the now defunct UU District of Michigan did a study of persons who had left UU churches, in an effort to find out why they left. It was an exercise in taking seriously the experiences of people like CK.
What they found were a few large minorities. Those who left to find something more Christian or Theistic. And those who left to enter a purely secular existence devoid of religious community. Of those who left for other religious bodies, most left for the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Unity Church, and Reform Judaism. Based on that experience the Michigan district experimented with a new church plant that was expressly Unitarian and Universalist in the classical Christian sense of those names. The church still exists in Fenton, MI with some mixed success. Culturally it is somewhat different from other UU churches in the region, and the new district is poorly equipped to deal with its continuing needs.
I have to say, in reference to CK, that many of my experiences in Mid-Western UU churches are simmilar to his. There is a smug confidence that we are the only enlightened folk around, and a sick desire to contrive feelings of persecution that are out of sync with the reality at hand. We also often can’t agree on which religious language to use, so we talk past each other and very little that is spiritually meaningful is said. We have so few shared practices. Unity has meditation, and so do the Quakers. Episcopalians have the rich ritual tradition of the Book of Common Prayer. Reform Judaism continues its task of making Torah relevant to the world today. And we have what? Quite often endless debates about if we can say certain words, if we can perform certain rituals, we have lectures on comparative religion, and loads of talk about government policies. Like CK I’ve often needed more than that. I’ve needed a shared language for meaning-making, and spiritual practices that can be practiced as a community without having to constantly return to square-one debates about if/how a UU is allowed to do that........
....A Quaker colleague of mine said forcefully when he told me why he would never join a UU congregation. “It is a fringe movement, having a fringe conversation, and is proud that it is irrelevant to most of humanity.” A cruel reversal, since one of the hallmarks of liberal theology is a desire to be relevant to today’s human condition."
Comment by Derek — July 8, 2007 #
http://www.peacebang.com/category/ex-uni...ersalists/
"....I marvel at how a denomination that is so proud of its inclusiveness should be so bitter and exclusive to the Christians (or even the theists) in its midst. Yet everybody wants that special Christmas Eve service, and to sing the old carols with the original words. I suppose Jesus, who advocated a radical form of inclusivity based on loving others, is not so radical or his teachings so alarming when he is kept eternally in the manger...."
http://cabaretic.blogspot.com/2007/06/co...arian.html
"...I feel that this post-modern construct--this philosophy of the disenfranchised that we term Unitarian Universalism is a lost cause. We are, at best, a loose confederation of misfits who have rejected traditional religion. I hasten to even call UUism a faith, a move calculated to both prevent an argument and set forth a point. It has some well-meaning postulates, to be sure, but in spite of the hard work of the well-intentioned, UUism is akin more to a social organization rather than a faith tradition. Even we grinningly blasphemous heathens know where the road to hell is paved...
.....To the best of my knowledge we are comprised of odd, eccentric individuals who have never felt a sense of belonging anywhere. To the best of my knowledge we are a tribe of loners and assorted malcontents. The rates of social dysfunction, mental illness, and personality disorders amongst UUs is exceeding high and this is no great surprise to me....
....I am merely the latest to realize that the quantum leap UUism needs cannot accomplished because of its formulation. It is fundamentally flawed and cannot be redeemed by a combination of masterful rhetoric, constant reminders, good intentions, and eloquent prose. If it is to survive as more than a small niche group of often radical leftists, it must take on precepts other than the highly nebulous, highly abstract principles that serve as guilt window dressing full, as Shakespeare noted, of sound and fury, signifying nothing...."
http://www.peacebang.com/2007/07/06/recr...bate-ouch/
"... They are a glum lot entrenched in their social activism to the point of the ridiculous - and much of what they label social activism is simply “recreational debate” which is just a wheel spinning going nowhere..."
http://www.peacebang.com/2007/07/07/comr...eals-youu/
"...Once upon a time (early 1990’s?) the now defunct UU District of Michigan did a study of persons who had left UU churches, in an effort to find out why they left. It was an exercise in taking seriously the experiences of people like CK.
What they found were a few large minorities. Those who left to find something more Christian or Theistic. And those who left to enter a purely secular existence devoid of religious community. Of those who left for other religious bodies, most left for the Episcopal Church, United Church of Christ, Unity Church, and Reform Judaism. Based on that experience the Michigan district experimented with a new church plant that was expressly Unitarian and Universalist in the classical Christian sense of those names. The church still exists in Fenton, MI with some mixed success. Culturally it is somewhat different from other UU churches in the region, and the new district is poorly equipped to deal with its continuing needs.
I have to say, in reference to CK, that many of my experiences in Mid-Western UU churches are simmilar to his. There is a smug confidence that we are the only enlightened folk around, and a sick desire to contrive feelings of persecution that are out of sync with the reality at hand. We also often can’t agree on which religious language to use, so we talk past each other and very little that is spiritually meaningful is said. We have so few shared practices. Unity has meditation, and so do the Quakers. Episcopalians have the rich ritual tradition of the Book of Common Prayer. Reform Judaism continues its task of making Torah relevant to the world today. And we have what? Quite often endless debates about if we can say certain words, if we can perform certain rituals, we have lectures on comparative religion, and loads of talk about government policies. Like CK I’ve often needed more than that. I’ve needed a shared language for meaning-making, and spiritual practices that can be practiced as a community without having to constantly return to square-one debates about if/how a UU is allowed to do that........
....A Quaker colleague of mine said forcefully when he told me why he would never join a UU congregation. “It is a fringe movement, having a fringe conversation, and is proud that it is irrelevant to most of humanity.” A cruel reversal, since one of the hallmarks of liberal theology is a desire to be relevant to today’s human condition."
Comment by Derek — July 8, 2007 #