Almost ALL Unitarian Universalist Congregations Are Reactive To Christianity & "God Talk"

But don't take *my* word for it U*Us.

Take the word of Rev. Matt Tittle, minister of Central Unitarian Church in Paramus, New Jersey, as Tweeted to his Twitter account earlier today. . .

"Almost every UU congregation is reactive to Christianity, God talk, etc. Why?"

Comments

Katherine said…
They are reactive to it because most of them believe certain things:

1: Christianity is responsible for all the "bad things" that have happened in this world, like the horrible way the European settlers treated the Native people here in the Americas, once the Europeans got here. The fact that European Christianity was a big factor in ending human sacrifice here in the Americas (see the Aztecs) is conveniently ignored.

2: For a huge percentage of UUs, ANY talk of "religion" (which also means use of words like "liturgy" and "church" and "prayer" and "sermon" and "minister" etc etc) is considered unenlightened, primitive, stone-age, superstitious, etc etc. So in order to be "truly enlightened" you cannot have any of that R-word stuff.

3: I think lots of UUs assume that most mainstream Christians are biblical literalists. This is, of course, NOT the case, but I think they believe it anyway.

If I think of a few more points, I'll make them in another comment. My train of thought just became a runaway.
Robin Edgar said…
Well said Katherine,

I am well acquainted with UU words and actions that support your contentions here. Rev. Ray Drennan, who labeled Creation Day as "our cult", my revelatory religious experience as "your psychotic experience", and arrogantly dismissed my monotheistic religious beliefs as being nothing but "silliness and fantasy", once preached from the pulpit of the Unitarian Church of Montreal that God is "a non-existent being" and that belief in God "seems primitive". . . Above and beyond this, he publicly trashed former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau's state funeral in The Gazette because in his "fundamentalist atheist" secular Humanist world-view Pierre Trudeau's state funeral should not have been a Roman Catholic rite. I expect however that the anti-Catholic "bad attitude" of Rev. Raymond Drennan's "Orangeman" Presbytarian religious heritage played a role in his ironically titled 'Wrong Message' Op/Ed in The Gazette.

Needless to say this is only my recounting one particular UU minister's intolerant and abusive behavior but Rev. Ray Drennan is by no means the only UU minister to hold such questionable views that make a mockery of the claimed principles and purposes of Unitarian Universalism. And then UUs wonder why "The U*U Movement" is such a "tiny, declining, fringe religion". . .
Matt Leary said…
This is very saddening to me. There is something I want to say here and I'm not sure what it is. So I'll just delve into it and ask all to forgive my rambling. I am definitely a product of the social and political conditions of my time, fully feeling the pull between traditional religion, contemporary spirituality, and secular humanism. At times it threatens to tear me apart. I have yet to attend a Unitarian Universalist congregation. However, the writings and social activism of UUs have provided me a lot of food for thought and comfort in the past 8 months. So, seeing these proofs of religious intolerance within UUism is disheartening. I will say that I have been guilty of not being entirely kind and respectful towards Christian persuasions the past several years. Not that I have been outright disrespectful, because that is just not who I am. However, being an androphillic male ("gay") and having strong ideas different than those of my evangelical family members have brought me into direct opposition with orthodox and even mainstream Christianity. I once read the Bible every day and went to Church every Sunday and assisted with youth group. However, all my negative experiences and being pushed further away from who I am cemented a strong distaste for all things Christian within me. At the same time, I was pulled to it because of my upbringing, because of my family, because of the familiarity and proximity. It is all around me, after all. I don't want to be a part of it again. But I do want to be able to see a cross or a church without getting sad or angry. What I do recognize is that these are my issues. That I am being intolerant. That I need to work that out because there are thousands if not hundreds of thousands or even millions of practicing Christians who accept me for who I am, who are wholly accepting and open and truly loving. It's not fair for me to hold such a far-reaching a grudge because of my own negative experiences. It was UUism that made me realize I needed (and gave me) an established faith that allowed for my individuality and my love of world religion but tied me to my Christian roots while put an emphasis on diversity-oriented and community-centered ethics. That's what attracted me to Unitarian Universalism. And now I've gotten to what I really wanted to say. What I keep coming back to my in my UU readings is that sentiment of being more tolerant of those we perceive as intolerant (because maybe they're not) and the overall sentiment of challenging one's self to be better, more accepting, or open than ever before. Of daring to live up to the 7 UU principles, not just as pretty words or nice ideas but as daily guides to attitude, behavior, and action. To call someone's belief silly or primitive (as if that's a bad thing) or their spiritual experience psychotic is a clear violation of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th principles. Not to mention a denial of the stated sources of inspiration within UUism. However, I also need to not to vilify people who commit these violations. We all have our own stories. I still have a hope for a future where we will mostly work to integrate each other's stories instead of judging them to be worthless. I will work to make UUism my faith, as one which challenges me to accept some things I may be uncomfortable with; because it is part of someone else's story. And that makes it immensely valuable.
Robin Edgar said…
Thanks for your heartfelt and forthright testimony Matt. Perhaps the biggest problem with UUism today is that SO few UUs, including UU clergy & UUA leaders, even bother to try to genuinely "live up to the 7 UU principles, not just as pretty words or nice ideas but as daily guides to attitude, behavior, and action." This blog would not exist if UUs made a serious effort to honor and uphold the Seven Principles of UUism and other claimed ideals of UUism.