[UU only!] Age and Humanism/Theism

[lilithu]

Originally Posted by EverChanging

I wanted to comment about the stained glass window the church keeps tucked away. I don't believe in angels, but I can still appreciate art. I mean, it's art for crying out loud -- it's open to interpretation. Plenty of atheists have an appreciation of religious art and music.

It seems like almost every UU church struggles with this issue to one extent or another. The one in San Francisco has two bible verses engraved on the walls of the sanctuary. Micah 6:8 - "What does the Lord require of thee but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God." And from the Gospel of Thomas - "The Kingdom of God is within you and all around you." And there is a constant struggle between those who want to get rid of them and those who want to keep them.

Granted, if we were building a sanctuary today, I would be against putting those bible verses up because to do so would be too Judeo-Christian-centric. But these were put up when the sanctuary was originally built, ages ago. They are part of a historic building. And for the life of me, I can't think of two biblical verses that are more apt for a UU church. They speak of social justice and humanism and the inherent worth of creation.

Originally Posted by EverChanging

I'm not really sure how people can be so easily offended if they're willing to be a part of a religion that embraces people from all religious traditions and those with no faith as well. I suppose it could be that many people who come to Unitarian Universalism have had negative experiences in traditional religion, and it brings back bad memories.

Yes, a lot of people are fleeing bad experiences. And actually, I've found that part of what we do as a faith community is to help people get over the hurt so that they can see the potential positive aspects of religion again. (Tho I forget this at times and then get annoyed with some UUs for being so anti-religious when they are part of a religion.)

Originally Posted by EverChanging

I've known about Unitarian Universalism for a long time, but it was only very recently that I decided to become a member, which was a big leap. I was very against organized religion for a long time.

As was I. But I also did not see the point of joining a "disorganized" religion. And I think it was the latter that kept me away from UU longer than the fact it was a religion. It wasn't until I understood that just because we don't have creeds and dogmas doesn't mean we don't believe in anything. We believe in social justice. Our religion exists to make the world a better place than it would be without it. That, to me, was totally worth joining and even telling others about.

[uu_sage]

I'm under 30 and religious language is important to me

[applewuud]

I was at a UU wedding in June. The first two minutes of the ceremony were, essentially, a reading about God, from David Korten's The Great Turning. But the words "God" and "Jesus" weren't in the reading. It referred in a humanist-friendly way to a cosmic force behind creation "which has been known by many names".

I don't mind God-talk in the right context. But when "God" and "Jesus" are tossed around in conversation or in ceremonies, they often are a code for "are you one of US?" (meaning, a true believer in orthodox Christianity, one-way, exclusive). Those words are so freighted with negative associations from fundamentalism, they've been polluted for many people. I understand that. But I also believe in the power of mythic symbolism, and groan at the tortured language UUs sometimes feel compelled to use to avoid using/claiming the word "God".

Interestingly, at this wedding, a Baptist/Episcopalian attendee posed the question to me why there was no explicit reference to God in the ceremony. I said it was so non-religious people wouldn't feel excluded. She said, "well, what if the Christians attending feel excluded by there being no reference to God or Jesus?"

[bicker]

Did you reply that it wasn't a Christian wedding?

The reality is that the generic language can indeed by acknowledged by Christians as implying their personal view of God. Their refusal to do so is actually part of the problem, but the wedding itself offered them the opportunity to feel included, and they simply refused it.