I have always heard that you have to be wary of Unitarians, especially in the south, they might burn a question mark in your yard. 
We walk the fine line between confusion and indecision.
Pshaw. It’s a BROAD line with all shades of gray you can imagine.
If there’s anything most of us (not all, certainly) agree on it’s that, well, who knows?
Oops. We like the pot lucks. We’re usually all together on that one.
Wow, this is a very useful thread for me, thanks! Should we end up with the boys full-time, and they want to go to church, this is where we’re going. 
Basic UU principles here, which serve us rather than a credo. It’s not necessary to believe these things to be UU, but most UUs are onboard with it.
There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
Any word on whether the UUs—or anyone else, for that matter—give a shit?
We pull from many traditions. We do a traditional Christmas Carol sing every Christmas season. The choir has sung in Hebrew and Latin. Its also sung John Lennon’s Imagine. We sing Amazing Grace, the kid’s choir does a rousing “The Cat Came Back.” A lot of traditional 19th century hymns were written by Unitarians, so we sometimes use those. On Music Sunday a few years ago, some members of the congregation did “Back in Black.” We have a lot of folk musicians, so we hear a lot of folk, and we have a few very talented classical musicians - pianists, voice, other instruments - so we hear that. Whatever fits the sermon.
On Summer Services - there are a few reasons.
Unitarian Churches are often small - some are lay lead year round. Summer hits and suddenly two people show up for the service - if that happens, why bother? (If you look at the UUC website at congregations, you’ll find a lot of them with under 50 people). Ours goes from two services to one. We are a pretty big congregation and are moving from one minister to two.
Preaching is hard work and Unitarians tend to demand a lot of intellectual effort from their ministers. On top of the sermon preparation there is all the other work a minster needs to do - be involved with church management, comfort the sick, counseling, social justice work. Lay led services let the minister catch her breath. Maybe get through that pile of books that will inspire and help create next years sermons. Summers are still lay lead, which gives our minister a mini sabbatical from preparing sermons.
UUs like to hear themselves talk. Lay lead services give them a chance to hear themselves speak.
(Oh, another reason SOME atheists might want to be UU…its a way to say closeted. For atheists without kids, this often isn’t a big deal, but for atheists raising kids, sometimes they want their kids to have a non-shocking answer to “where do you go to church?” )
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Do you have debates/discussions about various topics?
What are the demographics like?
We don’t during service…but there are plenty of discussion circles, pot lucks, books clubs, etcs. to talk about. And UU churches tend to be run by committee. You have a finance committee, and a worship committee, and a religious education committee, and of course a board - more reason to talk.
UU demographics. Overwhelmingly liberal - true. White, upper middle class - and disappointed about it (there are congregations where this is not true or less true, but the congregation as a whole is white and upper middle class). Educated. Mostly East Coast and mostly urban/ suburban. A little less than half claim to be Humanist (although that doesn’t mean Atheist). Mostly, but not all former Christians (or still Christian). Lots of mixed marriages (Jew marries Christian, what do we do with the kids…Christian marries atheist, what do we do with the kids).
Wasn’t it a millionaire who said “Imagine no possessions”?
– Elvis Costello
[Moderator Note]If you want a religious argument, take it to Great Debates.[/Moderator Note]
Having been UU off and on, and having recently gotten involved in the choir at the local Episcopal church due to knowing most of the members anyway from another choir, I must say that the Episcopals are just as down with my total religious confusion as the UUs would be. The priest didn’t even blink yesterday when I told him I honestly don’t know what I believe and frankly have huge doubts about some of the more fundamental Christian stuff but am oddly enjoying myself on Sunday mornings anyway.
The combination of music and ritual is like religious crack to me. I love them both. And now he knows it, dammit.
Many religions - both liberal and conservative - really don’t mind having non-believers or agnostics around - unless parties are uncomfortable. For some, its the first step in conversion, for others, its just “we are happy you found a home and friends, even if you don’t share our faith.” UCCs, Reform Jews, Methodists, some (and I can never remember which version of) Lutherans, and Quakers are usually pretty good bets for liberal atheists as well - not universally, but if you don’t have a UU church, don’t feel comfortable with your UU church, or are just looking for more liturgy than your average UU church has - they aren’t bad places to start checking. (Though Quakers often have LESS liturgy than UUs).
I’m “Catholic by Birth” and while I’m not Catholic by faith and haven’t been for a long time, there is something very comforting in a Catholic service - sort of like Mom’s meat loaf.
Quakers are really interesting people but I doubt there are more than a handful within a thousand miles. There’s not a large variety of churches and whatnot up here, these are small towns, and I know the closest UUs are 150 miles away.
My mom told me she enjoys the more liturgical stuff as well; her mom is UCC and while we’re in full agreement with them on so many things, the actual services drive her a bit batty.
I wasn’t looking to deal with religion, I thought I’d just do my own thing, then my friends are all like, “Come sing with us on a Sunday, it’s fun!” and here I am a few weeks later. Life is so weird sometimes.
Yes yes that’s all well and good. But can you meet women there? I’m actually in a place right now where I have come to realize I have no social hobbies, few friends and no means of meeting anyone outside of these electrons we call the Internet. I’ve tried going to MeetUps but those people are boring and never held my interest. I’ve never believed in God because it makes as much sense as Santa, and other churches I’ve gone to are full of old people and turgid sermons (and those miserable psalms, they’re so depressing). I’ve always thought of church as a social club with really weird rules in order to join, maybe I should check out a UU church.
OK I’ll put out a Craigslist ad for someone to take me because I’m too chicken to go to a new place alone.
Another atheist UU chiming in. `
I’m fortunate enough to live in a large city with several UU churches from which to choose and attend my local church pretty regularly. I did try several churches in my area and found that atheists or agnostics really are not all that welcome in that they do expect you to convert after a ‘proper’ amount of time.
I guess a good question is why would an atheist go to church? I certainly don’t attend to worship God, but I do feel the need to have an active ethical and/or moral community in which to belong. My UU church serves this need.
My UU has about 250-350 families and is very busy. This is just the right size for me- not too big, not too small.
We have dinner groups, book clubs, and active arts (theater, music, crafts and games), mental health, political (Foreign Policy Discussion Group! Love it!), family, community service and alternative religious (Buddhist, pagan, etc) community groups. I got my volunteer job at the food bank through the community service group. I rarely attend the more religious groups and have never had any pressure at all to convert or commit to anything, belief-wise, which is good as I’m really comfortable with my beliefs and/or lack thereof. There are many in our church with very strong religious feelings and who come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds, but even they are reluctant to try to sell you on their particular interpretation. I do enjoy hearing of their experiences and point of view, though. I guess that’s the difference for me- we have a variety of beliefs and strengths of belief, and everyone is cool with where you are in them.
I prefer the Wednesday night dinner/vespers service because it has dinner and lack hymns (I hate to sing, especially religious hymns) but do often attend the regular Sunday service which is a pretty typical Sunday style church service except that they don’t spend a lot of time reading Bible quotes or telling you what God said.
Extremely atheist UU checking in here. I’ve been a member of three congregations, and have always felt welcome as an atheist (except for when we had an interim minister for a while who was a real douchebag, but that happens). Most UUs would prefer “agnostic”, but it’s kinda puhtaytoe/puhtahtoe.
UUs tend to be pretty upper-middle class, so they take a lot of long vacations during the summer, during which they collect vials of water. In September, we all get together and share what we did during the summer and pour our water into a common vessel. It’s called “water communion”, and it’s usually one of the most-attended services of the year.
I’m in choir at the moment. Next Sunday, we’re singing this.
I think you meant that in jest, but I’ve hooked up more at church than anywhere else in the last three years.