Why join a UU church?

After opting out of church and religion, Jane Roper and her husband have opted back in, joining a UU congregation. She tells why in this essay, recently published in Salon.

Jane's experience mirrors the stories of many who come to our UU churches. If you've been listening to this podcast, you've heard this theme in a number of our conversations: children.

In the spirit of enlisting a village, we parents want resources to help address — not necessarily answer — the questions our children will invariably raise. We want our children grounded in the diversity of religious traditions that grace the world. And we want them to develop the faculties to evaluate these belief systems and fashion their own. In some cases, we may even find it necessary to protect them from being subsumed by fundamentalism.

Thanks to Jane Roper for telling her story. And for bringing her hopes and energy to her local UU church.

A Rose By Any Other Name

Indulge me in a bit of shop talk.

Imagine an entrepreneur pitching a new venture to a VC over lunch in a swanky restaurant.

The concept is a spiritual community, a church.

"What makes this different from all the other churches, all the other religions?" asks the VC.

The attraction for people (value proposition in marketing parlance) is a DIY (do it yourself) theology — meaning the freedom to form your own spiritual beliefs. Add to this a strong and supportive community that welcomes and affirms everyone, and programs that engage the members to make the world better.

"What members? Who's the target market?"

The entrepreneur responds enthusiastically that there's a huge pool to draw from. First, many people in the country don't have a religious affiliation, yet feel the need for meaning and community in their lives. Many others feel constrained by their present church, where asking questions isn't comfortable, at best, grounds for excommunication, at worst. Add those who are marginalized or rejected by their churches, like many in the GLBT community.

The VC gets it. The concept makes sense. It's compelling and could even go viral. That raises areas to probe, like how the support infrastructure scales and the quality of the management team. Can they manage the growth, articulate the message to the market?

"So what is the name? What do you call this spiritual community?"

"Uh, Unitarian Universalism."

"Huh?"

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I serve on the board of a credit union. The credit union was formed in 1958 to provide financial services to the employees of a company. 52 years later, the company has been bought and sold, sliced and diced, and is no longer the raison d'etre for the credit union.

Seeing the pending demise of our target market, several years ago we opened a branch in the center of the city and are refocusing our strategy to serve that community. However the credit union still carries the name of the company.

Earlier this week, the board met with a branding firm to discuss changing the name, creating a new brand — name, logo, theme — that will be relevant to the community we now wish to serve. The creative director of the firm, in pretty strong language, confirmed what we had feared: despite the downtown location with lots of foot traffic, we are losing potential members who not only don't identify with the name, but who feel the name excludes them.

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Many names of religious denominations tie to the origins of their movements, relevant even today to the core of their beliefs. Baptist, Buddhist, Lutheran. Unitarian Universalism, too, reflects the ideas that led to the Unitarian and Universalist movements, although perhaps the name is not as relevant to the theological diversity found in our churches today.

Without disparaging any of the richness and history of our tradition, I wonder how many potential members of our churches don't get beyond the 10 syllables of our name. If we are, indeed, to become the religion of our time, we should understand the image and visceral reaction that our name creates — especially if it is impeding the realization of our vision.

Thoughts?

(Chalice art by Deborah Stille, All Souls UU Church, Shreveport, LA)

Be Spiritual - Episode 17

Fred Shirley's spiritual journey is captivating. For a young man, Christianity provided much-needed answers following a very difficult childhood. His new-found faith led him to the Baptist and Congregational churches, where he and his wife raised their family.

Discovering the UU church, Fred found the freedom to face and explore the religious questions that had appeared in the margins over the years. When he joined the UU church, Fred retained his membership and participation in the Congregational church, which continues to nurture his Christian faith.

Interestingly, it's the UU church that feeds his spirituality. As Fred explains, "I feel the Unitarian Universalist church has been more consistently spiritual than any other church I've ever been in."

Fred also speaks of the values he's trying to embody in living a "good" life and refers to this photo, which he took on the summit of Mt. Washington, as a metaphor for his path to a higher spiritual place.

I hope you enjoy Fred's remarkable and inspiring journey.



This episode runs about 42 minutes. You may listen with the above audio player, download the mp3 file here, or access it via iTunes.

I welcome your feedback, which you may leave by posting a comment below or by sending an e-mail to comments at bespiritual dot info.

The theme music is Floating Souls by Ambrish, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Be Spiritual - Episode 16

Gail Donahue is our guest for Episode 16 of Be Spiritual. Gail was raised Irish Catholic, both religiously and culturally. Ironically, it was the Catholic Church that pointed her to Unitarian Universalism. Today, Gail considers herself a proud atheist with a church — not at all paradoxical for a UU.

During the conversation, you'll hear Gail refer to Cakes for the Queen of Heaven. If you're interested in more information about this curriculum in feminist theology, check this web site.



Episode 16 runs about 37 minutes. You may listen with the above audio player, download the mp3 file here, or access it via iTunes.

I welcome your feedback, which you may leave by posting a comment below or by sending an e-mail to comments at bespiritual dot info.

The theme music is Floating Souls by Ambrish, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

What's a Unitarian Universalist?

One of the challenges we UUs face is answering the question "What’s a Unitarian Universalist?"

Not that we don’t have answers, rather our answers tend to be rather lengthy, laborious, and conditional. Hence, the need for a cogent answer, both for us and the poor questioner — who may have neither time for nor interest in a college lecture!

In this spirit, here are a few elevator speeches that were submitted to the UU World magazine. See if these resonate with you.

You may also wish to draft your own. If so, consider sharing it with the rest of us on the Discussions tab of our Facebook page.

Be Spiritual - Episode 15

Episode 15 features my conversation with Bill Kennedy, a relatively new UU.

Bill seems driven on his spiritual quest – although he’s not really comfortable using the term spiritual. Bill’s path has taken him from the Congregational and Methodist churches of his youth to Judaism and now Unitarian Universalism, where he identifies with Religious Humanism.

Becoming a UU, Bill has found a church that brings him calmness and peace, freedom to explore his many religious questions, and the inspiration to be "better than I am."



Listen to this episode using the above audio player or download the mp3 file here. You may also listen and subscribe to the podcast with iTunes.

I welcome your feedback, which you may leave by posting a comment here or by sending an e-mail to comments at bespiritual dot info.

The theme music is Floating Souls by Ambrish, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Be Spiritual - Episode 14

Episode 14 features Burns Fisher and his path from Congregationalist to atheist, Religious Humanist, and Unitarian Universalist.

Our conversation touches on a couple of interesting topics, worthy of further contemplation and discussion: religious faith compared with faith in science, and whether being liberal spiritually requires one to be liberal politically.

Listen and then share your thoughts by posting a comment on this website or the Be Spiritual Facebook page.



Listen to this episode using the above audio player or download the mp3 file here. You may also listen and subscribe to the podcast with iTunes.

I welcome your feedback, which you may leave by posting a comment here or by sending an e-mail to comments at bespiritual dot info.

The theme music is Floating Souls by Ambrish, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network. The chalice artwork was created by Inga Johannesen, of the UU Church of Chattanooga, Tennessee.