Jomo would like to chime in tangentially, somehow sensing that you folks wouldn’t mind.
I like UU a lot, although I’m not part of it. I just like knowing that it’s out there. My tangential connection to it is that my ex-wife was recently ordained a UU minister. She had been raised UU but drifted from it while in college to explore the wacky world of marijuana, LSD, D&D, and the Golden Dawn. (I met her in the Golden Dawn.) Actually, her dad was a nonobservant Jew and her mom was an outright hardshell Atheist. They raised her Unitarian because they lived in Boston and they thought a child should have a churched upbringing for the social milieu (if not for the actual religion). When I knew them, they too had abandoned UU and they attended the Ethical Society on Sunday mornings. The Ethical Society is apparently something like a church for atheists (presumably they didn’t sing any hymns, though). My first wife & I used to joke that we had rebelled against organized religion by going for freeblowing religion without any organization, while her parents had chosen the organization minus the religion!
When we wanted to get married, we decided to hire the services of a UU minister who would let us make up our own ceremony. We got the Reverend Sylvia Falconer, who said she wanted to “meet with” us before the wedding. She walked in tastefully attired in an elegant but conservative wool suit, her hair smartly pulled back and her striking profile made up just so. We sat at the dining table and planned out the ceremony. She asked my fiancée what religion she was, and she answered “Christian.” The Reverend, nodding, noted “Christian.” She turned to me and asked what religion I was. I said, “I practice Magick.” In response I received a frosty stare. At the wedding the Reverend Sylvia Falconer stood with her feet placed exactly in relation to each other and by this you could tell she was a former fashion model. We read erotic/mystical poems by Aleister Crowley to each other. It was fun.
I was glad to find out many years after our divorce that my ex had returned to the church of her childhood and actually become a minister. I felt proud for her. She was the one who had told me the UU jokes, like the one about the “Ten Suggestions.”
UU has no credo, therefore there’s nothing to renounce.
In the congregations I’ve belonged to, all one had to do to join was to sign the membership book in the presence of another member.
Some might be upset Rush joined, others would think it a great opportunity to have a diverse congregation. I’d be in the latter crowd myself.
While we are credo-less, anyone who joins UU is generally sympathetic to the 7 principles of UU. I can’t see any member condemning those principles being tossed out, but they would be asked what it was they valued about the church that made them stay, if they did have fundamental disagreements with the predominant philosophy. At least I’d be asking those questions.
I was going to say - Rush would be asked to consider “living” the seven principles, but it’s not necessarily required. (For one thing, not all UUs agree on all seven principles. Herding Cats.)
More than a few in my congregation would wonder why Rush wanted to join. The minister would probably talk to him privately about it. I seriously doubt anyone would stand in his way.
a) I think a few people would roar, a few would grumble, a few would relish the chance to discuss and debate with him one-on-one and a few would shrug.
b) No, being politically liberal is not required.
c) No, because I don’t think we have any statutes that provide for rejecting a prospective member. And hopefully no one would suggest it.
Hey y’all. I’m another UU.
I go becouse they are much more interesting than other churches. The sunday AM talks give me my theosophical fix.
The religious education (RE) program is designed not to brain wash (indoctronate sp?) into a specific belief system. Probably not even the big 7, surely not 19th century Unitarianism of Therou.
I shamlessly used the RE program to learn about the next age my kids would be in. Durring this process I was careful not to foist my beliefs on the nippers, even for classes like “the life and times of Jesus”. I taught the high school kids for a year and in deciding if they were or wanted to be UU’s we decided that the big 7 should be something you could mostly follow and agree on. But like most kids they really didn’t want their peers to beleave different. The HS kids self dirrected worship services tended to be mistical and full of feeling.
One last addition to the tread. They are the only group I know who have a class of “Building your own Theology”. That class kinda gives you an idea about the group.
