"All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love."

Love it. From our former president, a far cry from what we have now.

Heard this quote recently that I very much like. I feel it's pretty relatable to many people who are not just minorities or other religions that are treated with discrimination, but also many LGBTQ people right now as well. Several people have said it over the course of the years evidently, but I guess MLK made it famous from what I can tell.

I very much wish politics would stop centering on efforts to discriminate against transgender individuals and taking away their rights.

Hello, all. I admire the UU "belief" system as a community of people with a diverse range of beliefs coming together to grow spiritually with the same common values in mind. I care about equality, LGBTQ rights, social justice, and what I'd call a kind of interfaith coexistence and compassion towards all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity. For me, this is what I care about in my "spiritual journey" if you could call it that. You could probably call me a Humanist, which seems to be pretty common within Unitarian Universalism.

I've been out of Christianity for about a year and a half now. Unfortunately, due to internal types of traumas that I went through due to my sexuality (I'm bi), I spent quite a long time as an angry atheist who despised religion. Now I would consider myself more of a content agnostic.

I started to try to open my mind however recently since I care deeply about human rights and values. I've had to separate my notions of religion/worship/salvation. As a former Christian, the concept of salvation is no longer of any relevance to me. I'd say growing for me spiritually would simply entail all the things I've listed, as well as my own agnosticism and what I'd call religious or spiritual naturalism which I find super interesting.

I've tried one particular UU church a few times in the past. The one I went to was full of very nice people, but the particular experience wasn't for me. I made an effort to attend a different UU church today via Zoom and I was pleasantly surprised. It was similar, but a little bit more coherent IMO. They also played some really nice secular songs such as All You Need is Love, as opposed to choir-ish music. That surprised me.

Anyways, it sounds like I may have some kind of place within UU/UU Humanist community.

Hello, fellow humans! I have a curious question. So, since the UU faith is a good mish mash of everybody and various faiths/belief systems, I have understand that there are UU members that are also Deists.

I'm just curious, is there anyone here who is a Deist? When did you realize you were, and is there anything in particular that caused you to become a Deist?

Really, I am. I don't really like getting political, as I never know who I might be offending, but I'd assume most here are probably pretty progressive like me.

As a self identified Humanist, the way people are being treated now makes me sick to my stomach. Treating all illegal immigrants as murderers, drug dealers, cartel members and overall like lower class humans in general is a notion I will never agree with. Just because somebody has entered the US illegally, doesn't mean they are any of these things. I'm fairly certain most aren't. I can't speak for all obviously. Some of my best friends are Chaldean, and now legal citizens. I would have never believed in treating them any differently when I first met them because they used to be non-citizens.

And of course, the treatment of transgender people. As someone who is a bi ally of the LGBTQ community, this is also a huge issue for me personally.

Obviously I am in the US. There is a transgender unity rally near me that I'm bummed that I can't attend.

With the recent political administration's new executive orders, as a bisexual, progressive leaning Humanist, this really hurts me and I sort of take it personal.

That said, I wish there was something I could do. I live in a fairly blue state. I wish I could organize a kind of protest, or even something for a show of support for people who are LGBTQ and others who have been affected by the newer political spectrum.

Do UU's get involved with activism like this? Also, is anyone here in Michigan or Southeast Michigan?

Just curious, since Unitarian Universalists are very accepting of people within the LGBTQ community, is there anyone here who identifies as such?

I'm a bisexual, married male. I'm 37 now, but I've known this since I was in my teens. I came out to my wife not too long ago. She has been very accepting of me.

Hello all. Peace and love! You know, I have such a hard time fitting in.

I consider myself a Humanist. However, I don't know what I believe in theological terms. You could probably call me a nonreligious agnostic, in the sense of I don't worship a god, pray or believe in supernaturalism or anything like that. I don't know if there is a god, nor do I think it is possible to know. That said, until then, I don't really worry about it. I guess you could also call me a bit of an apatheist. I am also sometimes akin to a bit of spiritual or religious naturalism.

But, I am much more interested in the human condition, which is why I'd consider myself a Humanist.

That said, as a Humanist, it really saddens me that so many people divide themselves up into camps essentially. You got Secular Humanists (some but not all) who basically seem to be against religion, and want to change others minds and beliefs, evangelical, Nationalist Christians who are hell bent on making everyone conform to their way of thinking, and everything else in between.

Unitarian Univeralists seem to be the only group that are interested in embracing everybody, believer, non-believer, religious, non-religious, and everybody in between.

That said, how exactly does someone who is a UU and/UU Humanist feel about such things?

Any thoughts?

So is this possible? I'm a Humanist and atheist/Spiritual Naturalist. I like Humanist ideals a lot.

The only problem is there are many Anti-Theists I feel among the Humanist ranks. I feel like in many ways, my belief in acceptance towards all others doesn't match with a lot of "Secular Humanist" notions.

There aren't many UU Churches near me, and the one I attended awhile back was just kind of meh.

Hello, all. First and foremost, I consider myself to be a Humanist. I believe in social justice, compassion and tolerance towards everyone. This is a conclusion I have come to ever since my deconstruction from Christianity/religion a year ago. I'm also bisexual, so this has played a part in my thought process, as I align quite a bit with LGBTQ rights and equality.

In terms of beliefs, my spectrum has been all over the place since I left my "religion." I'd consider myself somewhere in the realm of agnostic, atheist, and spiritual naturalist. The thing that resonates with me quite a bit is "Naturalistic" or Scientific Pantheism. I believe in a spiritual connection to nature. And when I say nature, I don't mean just like outdoors, lakes, birds, trees, etc, but also the natural order of things in the universe. I think everything in the universe is all interconnected. For me, this interconnection is "god," at least metaphorically speaking. This is fine for me personally. If someone believes in a literal deity god, this is also fine to me.

That said, I feel like there is so much hate everywhere. For example, I'm a member of a Pantheism group on FB. This group has strongly become pretty Anti-theist in their views. Even though I am not a fan of religion in certain senses, I still believe in tolerance and respecting others.

Even from other "Humanists," I get this feeling a lot. Particularly those with the "Secular Humanist," moniker. They speak down to others who are god believers or Christians, and even those who believe in anything supernatural or are sometimes anything other than an atheist. There was someone who spoke of how agnostics are wimpy and less because they aren't atheists. This was in a Secular Humanist group.

The amount of hate and intolerance from all sides of the spectrum is sickening to me. From Christians, atheists, god believers that aren't necessarily Christian, and anyone else. Can't we all just play nicely and get along? Ya know, some of that "Coexist" notion? I feel like my mind, despite being a "Humanist" is much more UU in philosophy, though I don't attend any kind of services or church, etc.

I feel like there should be more love and tolerance in the world, and less hate.

Hello, all. I was just curious... Is the UU faith essentially a form of religious Humanism?

I would consider myself a Humanist. I used to consider myself a Secular Humanist. However, in recent times, I have come to embrace a type of Spiritual Naturalism. It seems the "Secular Humanist" movement has a tone that is highly against spirituality or any kind of "god" type beliefs of any kind, almost hinging on Anti-theist.

I, however, would like to refrain from such behaviors and believe in more positivity and tolerance towards others. I don't really believe in anything supernatural for the most part, but recognize there are many who do. I recognize that humanity comes in a diverse range of belief systems. I don't really believe in taking part in worship of any kind personally, but I see that rituals, ceremonies and other things give meaning to a lot of people, even if I don't share the views on my own personally. I also believe in secular values, but more so in the interest of keeping treatment towards others fair and ethical, without favoring a particular religion, not because I am anti-religion or anything like that.

That said, I feel like my views are very similar to the UU/religious Humanist aspect. I'd argue on paper, that my belief system sort of encompasses many things, mostly being Humanism, Scientific Pantheism, which is a form of Spiritual Naturalism, agnosticism, and technically atheism.

Perhaps my own "form" of Humanism, whatever it is, need not any alignment or labels. Any thoughts?

Hello all. I've identified as a Humanist for quite a while now. The more and more I go in depth with my journey of my own self discovery and learning, the more I find about how I lean towards certain things and then sometimes my views change slightly.

In terms of beliefs, I'm technically an agnostic atheist on paper. However, I think I'm a bit more of a kind of Pantheist or Spiritual Naturalist in some regards. I feel a type of spirituality within nature and considering the cosmos, and interconnectedness of all things with universe. I don't really believe in anything supernatural however like gods, demons, heaven or hell.

Now, I had considered myself a Secular Humanist along my pathway to discovery as well. However, I've recently almost sort of became disillusioned with this line of thought, as it seems a lot of people who are Secular Humanists are more interested in bashing others who are religious or believe in (a) god, which I am not. It seems spirituality in general, or anything with "Theist," in it is automatically frowned upon or arrogantly discarded.

I see purpose in people believing in things, rituals and spirituality, having community in church, and faith to some people, even if I can't get on board with all this personally. Everything isn't for everybody. I try to be more open-minded and believe in peaceful coexistence with everyone, regardless of what beliefs you have, as long as they aren't harmful or a kind of discrimination. The only thing I really disagree with is religion being brought into politics, and aggressive proselytizing.

That kind of makes me wonder, since I know religious Humanism is also a thing, is the UU philosophy more so this type of Humanism if that is the case? I don't really desire to be a part of any "religion," in any technical sense, but I think my belief in Humanism is a bit of a combination of religious Humanism (like UU) and Secular Humanism aspects. Ironically enough, from what I've read, religious Humanism is apparently considered a non-theistic stance as well?

I left Christianity a year ago and never looked back. I've gone through so many different beliefs/disbeliefs since I've left my religion that its crazy. I basically just consider myself an agnostic now with a humanistic attitude regarding a lot of things. I sometimes have a slight leaning towards what I would kind of consider "lite Deism," in of the fact that I'm not a believer in any kind of personal god. My view is somewhat complicated, as some might call me an atheist, but I refute this claim on the basis that I don't necessarily believe that any god or higher power doesn't exist, I just simply don't believe it is possible to know for sure, but I highly believe most religions are made up, even if a god does exist in some form or capacity. That said, that is my own personal thought process and "belief." I guess you could kinda call me an agnostic, a humanist and sort of a deist all at the same time. I'm also highly interested in different forms of Pantheism, and Panentheism. I find them fascinating.

That said, I've found embracing different beliefs of Humanism has given me more purpose after leaving my religion. My family and I live our lives secular, but... That doesn't mean I think people of organized religion are stupid or delusional. I really only have a problem other people's beliefs when someone starts proselytizing. This includes other non-believers as well. Some people can be just as unpleasant with their unbelief as some people can be with their religious beliefs, and this I have certainly seen from some people I've seen claiming to be a "Humanist."

I agree that respecting others and showing others acceptance, compassion, kindness, love and respect, regardless of their race, sex, gender, sexuality or religion is something that I fundamentally believe. I am wondering if my attitude might be closer more towards a form of Unitarian Universalism though? Learning to respect and care about others, regardless of who they are or where they come from, and discovering your own truths for me is why I am thinking I may potentially align more with UU. For example, one truth I have discovered for myself is I don't worry about what happens after I die, since I really don't believe it can be known what happens after death, if anything even happens at all. So for me, why worry about it? This is my truth however. My truth may not be the same as your truth or someone else.

Any thoughts? Also, do you have to attend church services to be considered a UU?

Hello all. I am just curious to what UU's actually believe?

I consider myself a Secular Humanist, so it sounds like in that regard, it rolls with how I feel.