universal unitarian?

Question

I was born Christian, my parent were athiest. I was baptised for my grandmother, she is deeply religious. My aunt taught me and my sister wicca ever since i could speak. After 16 years i strayed and called myself athiest.

Now at age 23 i have a baptised son (grandma again), i feel that i need religion in my life and was searching for something that was right for me. i didnt believe in Christianity, and ive broken nearly all the commandments, wicca is seen as taboo and is not a good religion to tell people you pratice even though i believe in it, i dont really want to.

I found UU very intresting and it seemed to call me, i went to the web site and read about it, and since then it is all i can think about, and ive even called myself UU. The problem is my feance is steadfast athiest and doesnt want me to go to service, what should i do? and just running out and going wont work,

can you practice at home?

Anyone else UU? can you tell me about it?

Thank you

Answer 1

I'm Roman Catholic, not Unitarian Universalist. But I respect them. You can find more information about them at these websites:

http://www.uua.org
http://www.religioustolerance.org/u-u.htm.

And here's a UU FAQ page:

http://www.uua.org/aboutuu/uufaq.html

Marrying someone who disrespects your beliefs is a seriously bad idea. It sounds as if he has no respect for you whatsoever. Is that what you really want for your future?

Answer 2

Wouldn't feance want you to respect her decision on her lack of beliefs? I find this odd, really. I would think someone in the minority would be a bit more understanding of people and their right to believe as they wish... and to attend services if they wish. Instead, this just caught me as the same as some Christians telling their spouses they have to change their religion or ideas based on what they believe.

I'm sure you can practice at home. UU has a wide variety of paths within it, usually taking what they have found as Truth in all of those paths. I have even heard that some Agnostics attend these services as well.

I am not UU, though I did look into it in my area. It seems to be a growing religion, at least in Cincinnati.

Answer 3

I am a UU. It is Unitarian Universalist, despite what Carson Kressly said, not "Universal Unitarian".
(see
http://www.stanuu.org/carson.html
if you are interested.)

Other posters said we don't believe in anything. That is not true. We all have our beliefs; strong ones. We don't believe in lockstep like other religions. Some of us are atheists, some agnostics, some deists. We have Jews, Buddhists and Wiccans in our fellowship. Very few of us are Christians.

http://www.stanuu.org/beliefs.html
has more on that if you are interested. It has better jokes than the UUA site, but the graphics are not as advanced.

To answer your question, you can practice at home. The UUA has a program called "Church of the Larger Fellowship"

http://www.uua.org/clf/re.html

It is primarily for people who live too far from a UU church to go to one. (There are only 2 UU churches in all of Nevada, for instance, and just 4 in Wyoming.)

This gentleman has a list of UU congregations that post sermons:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/Y-SERNET.html


Your fiancee would be welcome in a UU church, especially if he had a talent he was willing to put to use for the church. (If someone liked to do minor repairs on old buildings, for instance, any UU church in the country would welcome him, even if he was 12 feet tall, covered in green scales and worshipped Zeus.)

The Q you didn't ask was should marry a man who wants to stifle your spiritual exploration.

We have a lot of "I go, my spouse doesn't" couples in our church. The Catholics and Methodists have them too. I imagine even the Sikhs and Buddhists have them, especially if there is a good game on TV and the hubby has worked hard all week.

Him staying home is one thing. His demanding you stay home is another. It doesn't seem reasonable to me for him to impose his will on you that way, unless he has other plans for Sunday mornings. If he's looking forward to bringing you breakfast in bed once a week, then serving you in other ways amid the toast crumbs, fine. If not, why should he make you stay home?

Ah well. It is your life and your decision. Other people's problems always seem easy to solve from this end. Best of luck with the CLF. Don't forget to erase your history if you browse their site, or he will get angry with you.

Answer 4

Unitarians don't really believe in anything specific; they just believe in the supernatural in general. You can't effectively be a practicing unitarian without having additional supernatural beliefs about the nature of the universe.

You should think more deeply about what the supernatural is, and why you believe in it.

Don't take up religious beliefs because you feel you need them; that's the wrong reason. It's a sort of intellectual cowardice. Only take them up if you actually believe that they are true.

And tell your fiance that it does not matter whether or not you attend services; your mind is your own. What matters is the minds of your children - they are the ones who must not be indoctrinated in to a religion.

If you honestly believe in wicca, go with that. Be honest with yourself - that's one of the most important things in life. There's no shame in choosing a religion that's considered odd or taboo (I'm an atheist myself). People won't actually treat you any differently on account of your religion, providing you don't act differently. It's your attitude about it that counts, not your private beliefs.

Answer 5

Does he know that you don't have to believe in God to go? It is a very varied religion, but many churches don't require you to believe. Why don't you look into a service in your area and find out what they believe? I think that your fiance will be pleased with UU, as it is a wonderful religion that I have a lot of respect for. Good luck!

Answer 6

I just think it's a shame that you (or anyone else) considers Wicca as taboo. If you really do believe in it, maybe you should give it a chance. The times, they are a-changing, ya know?

I don't know much about UU, but good luck to you in whatever path you choose. I hope your fiance is able to accept whatever you decide. =)

Answer 7

Unitarian Universalist isn't really a religion. It has no set doctrines or beliefs. Atheists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Agnostics, Pagans, Wiccans, and any religion (or lack thereof) can be a UU. Theoretically, you could be a UU and not join a congretation, but most UUs value social interaction.

Answer 8

When I was living abroad I knew a couple who were engaged to be married and had a child together. He is a staunch atheist and she was raised a Sikh, and although she doesn't consider herself very religious, she still goes to the temple every week and brings their little girl. He hates it, but she still goes and brings their daughter. Nonetheless, they are still together and committed to each other, and from what I can tell, quite happy.

I personally think that pressuring someone not to practice any religion is about as fascist as forcing someone to practice one. I also think you guys need to sit down and seriously talk about this and determine, among other things, whether he can live with being in a relationship with someone whose beliefs differ from his, and of course, what the two of you plan on doing if you are going to have children together. If I were you I would settle this as soon as possible, before you get married.

Good luck to you!

Answer 9

If you're looking for advice about what to do, I'd say follow your future spouse. There's something to believe in.

Unitarians are about as weird & wishy washy as a group can get - they'll believe whatever blows in on the wind and they gather a lot of freaks. So, yes... practice that in private... and stay at home or at least join a group of sane people... go bowling.

(((( r u randy? ))))
.

Answer 10

Universal Unitarianism doesn't believe in anything. They think everything is ok and all that counts is your opinion. They are a cult and a false religion to be avoided just like Wicca.

I want to encourage you. I am a pastor and at some point and time I have broken every single one of the cammandments as well. The good news is God's grace is bigger than my sin. My God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross and pay the penalty for my sin. His death and resurrection prove His power to forgive me for all that wrongs I have, am and will ever do. His love is so big that no matter how bad my sin was or is He is willing to forgive me if I come to Him and repent (say I am sorry and turn away from my sin). Accept Jesus as your Savior let Him cleanse and forgive you. Let Him heal you and make you whole. Let His love flow into your life. If your fiance does not come with you and accept Jesus as his savior as well break it of and let God write your love story.