All faiths are welcome, small group of 4000+ members, for religious discussions and general chats.
Official Discord: https://discord.gg/theology
Partner website chat: thechat.cafe/theology/
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All faiths are welcome, small group of 4000+ members, for religious discussions and general chats.
Official Discord: https://discord.gg/theology
Partner website chat: thechat.cafe/theology/
Or how does a UU church deal with members who choose not to get vaccinated?
I’m a foster parent and I’ve noticed there are very few UU foster parents compared to other local churches and their involvement in foster care. My minister explained it to me that UUs are more focused on tackling the systematic problems that cause foster care to be necessary, rather than the end result of children needing safe homes to live in.
I’m wondering if there are any UU foster parents here, or if you know of any UU Foster Care groups or ministries? It’s starting to feel pretty lonely over here.
I tried making a foster care Ministry in my own church, but there just wasn’t any interest from other congregants, and there’s been little practical support from my local congregation.
When I read about the support foster parents get in other local churches (meal trains, babysitting, baby showers, mentoring, tutoring, driving, help around the house, etc) I admit to feeling jealous or wistful. But I’m not interested in joining a Christian church, and I actively want the kids in our care to experience my congregations RE and Owl programs.
I’d really just love to talk some foster parents who are UU. I don’t know anyone else who’s a foster parent, and it would be nice to talk to other people who have similar interests, struggles, and life experiences.
As you can see, I wrote about my experiences within Islam as a convert in my history. I still believe in One God. I still think Muhammad was a Prophet and that Jesus was the Messiah. I just don't think Islam itself is good for my future. Do I have a place within UU?
Are there any online UU different religions discussion groups? I'm not entirely sure if this even is a thing, but the congregation where I'm at in the world isn't very interested in the discussion of it very much and focuses way more on secular humanism (which is great for sure). I just want to talk with others more about our spiritual journeys, topics in different religions, etc. Is this something that exists?
Hello all! I have been greatly heartened by the last time I posted here regarding spiritual issues. When I post on Christian subs, it is kind of...conservative most of the time. God is big!
To clarify, I identify as UU and believe all Gods are one. However, my therapist is Christian and so when I speak to her, I use God for the ease of communication. I learned about the Christian idea of discernment from a Christian minister with UU experience - essentially if you feel calm and at peace, that would be discernment. Unease = not.
(I understand that all these are big ideas, I am simplifying so I don't write an entire novel here. I have been UU for about 15 years now.)
I am at an in-between space in my life where I need to make clear choices about certain things, including careers and choice of residence. Understandably these are not easy to make! I have done some good work with a UU spiritual director - in our conversations, a certain career choice felt "right" and gave me great peace of mind.
While working on this with my therapist before (this was before the UU director) she once asked me "what does God want you to do?" While God has occasionally answered with thunder and trumpets before (most of my many spiritual experiences have been numinous in nature) I felt peace in contemplation.
Putting the two and two together, I was wondering if God was answering because discernment = peace with a certain decision?
I am well aware that the spirit cannot be fully comprehended with the mind, yet we all have minds, which is how I am writing this. Since I am not part of any congregation at the moment, I thought I would ask here. I am continuing to pray on it.
Thank you to everyone that suggested I go. I did email them and got two responses saying to wear my mask and that I was welcome to come.
It’s a very small group of people that are a little older. They don’t have a minister so they take turns doing the service. Todays was on the history of Valentine’s Day and love. It was so wonderful.
It was everything I wanted it to be and I will be going back!
Don’t know if this is the right place to post this, but it honestly felt like the only place I could, as well as potentially fitting with UU’s philosophy of respecting all belief systems, and besides the idea is in my head and I just feel the need to write it out. Forgive me if I am wrong in posting this here.
So, as the titles says, it’s no secret that atheism (or perhaps more accurately anti-theism) absolutely dominates the spiritual conversation on Reddit. r/atheism is a big sub, anti-religious subs seem to outnumber the straightforwardly religious ones (they are certainly pushed further by the site’s search and algorithms), subs like r/religion — ostensibly devoted to discussion about religion — are instead devoted almost entirely to atheists criticizing and trying poke holes in it (the same “gotcha!”/mic drop atheist talking points like “why does god let babies have cancer?” are repeated ad nauseam) and many of the larger religious subs regularly have zealous atheists storming in to hijack the conversation. Even non-religious subs occasionally have them barge in to tear down others’s religion (mention Catholicism in any way and chance of sparks flying increases exponentially). Atheists are upvoted and rewarded constantly for their opinions, to an almost suspicious degree.
And yet they are the minority; Reddit atheists continuously claim their lack of belief is rising, but even a cursory reading of the data shows this is untrue and can only be claimed through blatant skewing of information to support such a narrative; namely lumping atheism in with three other demographics — secular, irreligious, and agnostic people — and acting like this combined grouping all represents atheists… when they actually form the smallest demographic in that grouping, being vastly outnumbered by people who are theistic, agnostic, and/or influenced by religious principles but do not participate in any organized religion — e.g., people who identify as Christian but do not regularly attend church, people who express general spirituality but do not ascribe to any specific group, people who simply haven’t decided they believe, etc..
The idea that religious belief is “dying” or “declining” is farcical clickbait; it is true and provable that attendance of churches and such is declining in much of the developed world, but church attendance does not equal faith; many people these days believe in higher powers and the supernatural and simply do not see organizations like churches or such as necessary to express or hold that faith. I myself am among them. I believe strongly in God and the afterlife, but see churches as mere places of teaching/advice/shelter rather then some necessary aspect of believing. No matter which way you slice it, atheism is a small minority, with the overwhelming majority of people identifying with some sort of faith; religion may be becoming more personal, but it is going nowhere soon.
So why do atheists so utterly dominate Reddit? And could the site culture in anyway change to foster more equal religious discussion on Reddit? Clearly these angry, intolerant atheists are a vocal minority and social media does not represent the whole (I have not known many atheists in real life — proving the point about them being a minority — but those I did know were good, normal people who respected others), but I have not encountered this problem with actual religious groups online; the extremists are there, but do not dominate as with atheists.
To be clear; this is not to suggest that atheism is any less valid a belief then any other. Such an idea would be contrary to the ideals of this movement. I am simply seeking to start conversation about the possibility of improving online discourse (if that’s possible; as an internet veteran, I have generally leaned more into simply ignoring The DiscourseTM due to its lack of value).
I have a lot of anxiety and I’m wondering if it’s really ok to just show up on Sunday? Should I email or call before the first time I go? I don’t know how active it is or what’s expected of me. I’m sure I’m over thinking this lol.
I watch a service from the town over online so I have a little bit of knowledge. But I really want to go to a service in person. I don’t know what I’m really looking for. Maybe some reassurance or stories from your first time at a service?
I've just discovered uu and am looking for online support as there is no uu churches in my areas.
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Let's look back at some memorable moments and interesting insights from last year.
Your top 10 posts:
Lately, I have been a spiritual wanderer sort to speak attempting to find a place that best fits my understanding of spirituality, ethics, morals, etc.
For while (since 2016), I’ve been as involved as I can with many religious communities attempting to find what fit the best.
Admittedly, I was reluctant to embrace the UU church. Not because it was a bad option, quite the contrary actually, but because I felt for some reason my beliefs already existed in full in some crevice of a pre-established religion with it’s own book or doctrine detailing a comprehensive theology, etc.
To my dismay that doesn’t seem to be the case. Atleast not in a mainstream sense.
I come from a Mahayana Buddhist background. The Dharmic religions always seemed to have made the most sense to me but I’ve always appreciated Abrahamic religions as well. I still have a great interest in them.
I also am very much interested in the occult and esoteric world concepts. I also have a background in New Ageism and upon recently learning it’s esoteric ties I enjoy their ideas very much.
Ultimately, because I haven’t made a decision I lack what I really want in a religion which is a sense of community to share and discuss beliefs with people but also put into practice in a very real and tangible way of helping people.
It does concern me how UU doesn’t have a holy text, rituals, etc but that’s only because that’s what I often associate a religious body to have. However, I guess in this case it’s a good thing because it alleviates the church from being dogmatic.
Our nuclear family is mixed faith. I was raised Catholic, still consider myself Catholic, but I am also a perennialist, who respects and loves to study the truth at the core of all faiths.
Would it be frowned upon to take my family to a UUC, while I continue to go to church from time to time at my Catholic parish as well?
I grew up in a UU church and now learning about the Outdoor Service Guides! r/outdoorserviceguides it seems that that organization’s values line up great with how I understand UU. I’m thinking that having organized activities not centered on churchiness would be fun and help make UU more popular/accessible. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks!
I'm currently reading "Testimony: The Transformative Power of Unitarian Universalism" edited by Meg Riley. It is a great book! I've found it to be so encouraging to my faith. My family officially joined our local UU Church last Sunday after about a year of virtually attending. I'm so glad we have finally found a place to belong.
I'd love to hear your story! What brought you to Unitarian Universalism? How has it changed your life over the years?
It's a very rare occurrence, but I have seen it both in my life and others. I initially made posts regarding this in the Christian subs, but the replies were overly monotheistic in nature (if you worship more than one God you're going to have a bad time, etc)
I discuss God a lot with people in general and my therapist in particular (who is Christian, but knows I am UU) God/Higher Power/Divinity etc has made His/Her/Their presence made known in my life in many ways, but NGL this has been a really bad year for me so far, so I am praying for myself and loved ones a lot. (I pray everyday and have for about 2 decades now)
I have had questions directly answered before, and also...not. I feel I have a generally good relationship with The Great Big Thing, and obviously He/She/They are not some kind of cosmic slot machine you put prayer coins into and expect a big payoff...that would be very disrespectful. But yet I continue to pray and have faith because...we're all on this Big Blue Boat together, and bound by something greater than all of us.
How was your service today? Did you have an Ingathering service? If so, what did that look like?