I never had any problems at all, but that’s going to vary by congregation.
Rev. Lovejoy: Or you could try a bowl of this Unitarian ice cream.
Bart: But there’s nothing in it!
Rev. Lovejoy: Exactly.
Sure.
See, I don’t understand that at all. I’m an atheist, and I get support and edification from my friends; I have never had the slightest desire to set foot in a church of any sort except to admire the architecture.
While my friends are all great to hang out with and loads of fun, sometimes I do want the structure and sense of community a church can bring. Without all the Jesus and blood-of-the-lamb stuff. Happy, shiny people, and a sense of belonging to an organization dedicated to being content within yourself. If you can find all of that within your friends, you’re lucky.
Not to be cynical, but could it be for the tax exempt status?
I believe you’ve misinterpreted this observation. It appears to me that Christians oppose superstition not because it conflicts with a lawful, rational universe, but because it implies supernatural powers outside the scope of the bible. In other words, they believe that superstition competes with christianity as an explanation of the universe.
Not everyone is good at making friends. Not all friends are interested in community-building activities and mutual charity work, or even just intellectual discussion and debate. I don’t understand your lack of understanding. 
Somebody in another discussion here linked to a web site devoted to U.U. jokes. One was “Q: What’s the definition of a Unitarian Universalist? A: An atheist with children.”
My wife’s sister and brother-in-law attend a U.U. church. The above definition fits them perfectly. The don’t believe, but, having been raised by men and women of deep faith, the idea of raising their children completely outside of a spiritual community makes them uncomfortable. Perhaps they feel being duped throughout childhood, so long as the ruse is an edifying one, is worth the price of future disillusionment, I don’t know. That said, their church is full of really great folks who they probably would never have had the opportunity to meet were it not for their membership. I don’t think their original motivation was to mingle over coffee and pastries after the service, but I have no doubt at all that’s what keeps them coming back. I’m quite convinced if you got rid of the social and the goodies every Sunday, and just had the service, attendance would plummet.
The way I see it is this. If UU is your thing, go for it. But I’ve always wondered something. (This isn’t to the OP specifically.) It seems a great many UU’s join because they reject any form of organized religion, yet join UU for commaraderie and unity that is one of the cornerstones of religion. I know it’s because of worshipping a God or Messiah, but the overall theme seems to be that they reject any sort of “groupthink” in any form. Yet accept UU for the commaraderie and unity and sense of purpose. Save for an afterlife of some form, sounds like organized religion. Is that reasonably close to the concept? Any clarity would be appreciated.
As far as Buddhism, is it considered by adherents as a religion? From what I understand there is no Central Figure. Rather it seems to be a philosophy. Whereas Buddha isn’t a prophet (as there is no God to be a prophet of) but instead he’s a revered figure in the dicipline. Loosely similar to a psychiatrist studying Freud or Jung. Is that close? Thanks for any answers, and sorry for any seeming hijack.
I can’t speak for all UUs, but most of the ones I’ve known are more anti-dogma than anti-organized religion.
I agree. The term “church” is specific to Christianity. Why not call it a mosque?
Any muslims in UU ?
I’d venture a WAG that it’s simply because the original Unitarians all came from Xtian backgrounds, and the majority of them still do. It’s what we’re familiar and comfortable with. I honestly wouldn’t care what they called it, and in fact the term “church” misled me into assuming it would be more similar to Christianity that it really was.
I can only speak for myself and the UUs I know, but it really isn’t a rejection of organized religion. It’s a rejection of creeds and dogma. What I have in common with these people is the questions I’m asking myself: Is there any higher purpose to life than survival, or even survival-with-cool-toys? How can I be a happy person? How can I be a good person and who defines that morality? What draws me to the UUs, or more correctly, what doesn’t repel me about them, is that they don’t claim to have any answers for me, only support and camaraderie in finding my own.
I can only speak for my Mom and her temple, but it’s a religion to them by even the strictest definition. They pray (to Buddha). They believe the monks have supernatural gifts (nothing too crazy, roughly equivalent to Christian clergy) by dint of their closeness to Buddha or attainment of Buddha nature. Most importantly, Buddhism is to them a matter of faith. A psychiatrist who studies and agrees with Freud or Jung is still open to them being disproven, or to finding something superior. The Buddhists I know are more dogmatic than that. They know what they want to achieve (release from the cycle of reincarnation through achievement of enlightnment), and differ only in how they may choose to pursue it.
If Christianity can co-opt tenets of everything from Judaism to paganism, UUs can call their place of worship a church.
All you’re saying is that Christians believe in some “wacky claims” and not others. You don’t have to believe in every superstition in order to be superstitious.
One of the best things about being atheist is there are no churches.
What makes something a superstition?
Rather than go into the difference between religion and superstition here, I’ll point you to an old thread: What distinguishes religions from standard superstitions? In particular, my own thoughts are given in Post #32 of that thread.
As an atheist who is also a member of a religious organization that is very similar to the Unitarians, i’d say OneCentStamp’s assertion is correct. Having come from a Catholic background myself, i tend to refer to my organization as my church, as do other members (not all of whom share my Christian roots). Some members of our group who come from Christian backgrounds, however, very pointedly choose not to use the term church. For them that term exclusively refers to Christian organizations, and they want to separate themselves as far from that doctrine as possible. Some members of the group come from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, or other backgrounds, and each has their own relationship to the group, that they name in their own way.
One thing that everyone in our group shares is a sense of spiritual seeking. Everyone in the group believes that we are a spiritual community. Some, like me, are still struggling with what the term “spirit” means inside of our skeptical, realist, materialist worldviews.
The etymology of the word “religion”, while a bit controversial, is frequently accepted as deriving from the Latin religare, meaning “to reconnect.” In that meaning of the word, both the Unitarians and my own community are definitely religious organizations, even though we lack shared dogma.
Side note: most of the Buddhists that i know – and i know a lot – consider themselves to be atheists, FWIW.
Thudlow, I agree with most of your post #32 in that thread (I too have always thought the Stevie Wonder song summed it up nicely).
But I would say that an awful lot of superstition coexists peacefully with religious practices, making it rare indeed for religious people to be able to claim that they aren’t practicing any superstition. (I should restrict the scope of this statement to Christianity and America, which is all I’m really familiar with).
E.g., consider debate about public displays of the Ten Commandments. Several of the commandments are things any moral person would agree with, whether they believe in God or not. But I’ve never heard anyone advocate displaying only these commandments – invariably they want all ten.
And the graven-image admonition sure looks like superstition to this atheist.