https://x.com/shellenberger/status/1966249089114464484?s=46

I hope next Sunday there will be many UU sermons preaching for nonviolence, without any statements that elected officials in our state and federal governments are fascists, like I’ve heard in recent UU sermons.

I would be interested in any of your thoughts about why UU congregations are generally overwhelmingly white and predominantly old. Anecdotally, I’ve observed this for all the UU congregations in my area and also through the sampling of services I’ve watched in other places in the USA. And from what I’ve read on the Internet, my observations are consistent with the composition of most UU congregations, along with members being relatively well-educated on average. In comparison, I attended a couple of Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in my area in the last couple of years (as part of my last-gasp effort of considering Christianity) and they were growing dramatically, with lots of young people and more racial/ethnic diversity, but below the diversity of the broader area, than the UU congregations. At one of the churches, I had a conversation with a young Hispanic man who was also attending the church for the first time. He volunteered that he was gay and autistic. I also met a young man, also attending for the first time, that volunteered he had Jewish ancestry (and a Jewish name). At the other church, I attended an “Orthodoxy 101” class with a small number of attendees that was attended by a middle-aged black man with a younger black woman who I presumed was his daughter. And judging from the truck that he drove, there was a high probability that he was working class. (I also think he was pretty cool because he laughed at one of my sophomoric jokes during the class, unlike anyone else at the class that I can recall.) Anyway, I would be interested in your thoughts about this phenomenon and what if anything UU has been doing to successfully address this phenomenon. Thank you for your consideration of my questions.

After many years of grappling with theism, I’ve recently acknowledged to myself that I’m an atheist, meaning that I think there is insufficient evidence for believing in the existence of a theistic god (although I find Bernardo Kastrup’s “mind of nature” theory intriguing). I’ve been reluctant to acknowledge my atheism to myself in part because of my fear of nihilism. What has helped me immensely in my religious deconstruction and my current spiritual reconstruction is the book and podcast by Britt Hartley called No Nonsense Spirituality. I’m curious if any of you are familiar with Britt’s work and, if so, what your experience with it has been and whether it has been discussed in your UU congregation.

I’ve researched UU and watched services of local UU congregations and really like most of what I’ve learned and observed, including the UU values and principles, the sense of community, the outreach to provide food to those who can’t afford it and helping those who are learning English, and the welcoming of diversity in religious beliefs and sexual orientation. I’m an atheist who grew up in a family that was loving and religiously and politically conservative. I could voice my disagreement on political issues but agreeing with atheism was off limits as a practical matter out of fear of ostracism in both my family and social circles. My political views are generally centrist so I’m wondering whether or how I could fit in at a UU congregation. I would feel free to identify as an atheist, but would I have to remain silent, or even feign agreement, on political issues out of fear of ostracism? The sermons that I’ve watched at local UU congregations generally include at least vague criticisms of the state (I live in a red state) and federal governments.