A question for RF UU's (Jesus, ritual, rejecting, Earth)

[Djamila]

I have no pre-planned position or line or attack up my sleeve, I'm just curious.

It seems to me that a lot of our RF UU's are agnostic, or even athiest, as well. Why is that? How can you be either and still be a UU?

[Green Gaia]

Because we have no dogma or doctrine defining God and nothing that says one must believe this way or that way. UUs are free to develop individual concepts of God that are meaningful to us. We are also free to reject the term and concept altogether.

[Hacker]

I've always believed in the U/U principles but since I don't attend the church and I'm not affiliated with any organization associated with this religion, I took it off my profile. But I recently decided to look for a church in my area, my daughter is 4 and a half now, so I think attending a U/U church would be a great idea, this way she will be exposed to various religions, and she could choose for herself.
I believe in God, 99.5%.

[Djamila]

I think I understand. I thought UU was similar to the Bahai Faith, in that it was very open but it was still a "there is a God" faith. UU, I suppose, is a little more open then?

[Hacker]

Originally Posted by Djamila

I think I understand. I thought UU was similar to the Bahai Faith, in that it was very open but it was still a "there is a God" faith. UU, I suppose, is a little more open then?

Yes, there is no creed or dogma, it's basically a group of people with mixed beliefs(even athiests). I think the beauty in these services (at least the one in my area that I looked into) is that during each mass they forcus on a different religion, they even teach stuff from the Koran. So to me, I think it's a good idea to expand one's sprituality instead of just adhering to one specific creed/dogma.

[jacquie4000]

How do you go about finding a UU place of worship?

[Green Gaia]

Originally Posted by Djamila

I think I understand. I thought UU was similar to the Bahai Faith, in that it was very open but it was still a "there is a God" faith. UU, I suppose, is a little more open then?

We have no dogma or doctrine at all. We do have our 7 Priniciples in the bylaws of the UUA, although it should not be cosidered a statement of religious creed.

The Principles of the Unitarian Universalist Association

We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Individual freedom of belief is one of our basic principles, it follows that there will be differing beliefs among us. Found in today's churches are humanism, agnosticism, atheism, theism, liberal Christianity, neo-paganism and earth spiritualism. These beliefs are not mutually exclusive--it's possible to hold more than one. While we are bound by a set of common principles, we leave it to the individual to decide what particular beliefs lead to those principles.

We do have some similarities to the Baha'i Faith, but we are different as well. Both religions are pluralistic and see value and wisdom in most of the world's religions. Where we differ on that is Baha'i's will say that all these religions came from one Divine source, whereas we reject that idea and believe all religions to be man-made, thus rejecting the idea of revealed religion. We do not disparage the wisdom and teachings of these religions though and hold teachers such as Jesus, Buddha, Mohammud, and many other writers and thinkers as important figures, but they were all just men.

So, ask 10 UUs if they believe in a Divine Being and to describe that Being and you're likely to get 10 different answers.

[Green Gaia]

Originally Posted by jacquie4000

How do you go about finding a UU place of worship?

http://www.uua.org/CONG/

[Djamila]

Originally Posted by Tlcmel

Yes, there is no creed or dogma, it's basically a group of people with mixed beliefs(even athiests). I think the beauty in these services (at least the one in my area that I looked into) is that during each mass they forcus on a different religion, they even teach stuff from the Koran. So to me, I think it's a good idea to expand one's sprituality instead of just adhering to one specific creed/dogma.

Okay! So it's kind of like an organized interfaith organization, that even includes those with no faith in the God of the Abrahamic faiths?

Would you consider it a religion, or a religious community?