Pagan UU's

[Nomad of Nowhere]

TeaDidikai

Principles.
Bylaws.

Ah, thank you.

Quote:

Many atheists behave in obnoxious ways. Prejudice isn't a justification after all.

I'm not talking about justification, I'm talking about result; I just said that is was hardly helpful, and yes, I do mean to imply that its negativity might be furthered by a perception that I believe exists among some Christians. If you think I'm wrong about that, tell me so.  

[TatteredAngel]

I was halfway through trying to write a coherent reply to this the other day when life happened. So here goes again.

I've kind of struggled with the idea of UU. I've only known a couple members, and never well enough/long enough to sit and talk about religion. So at this point it's largely a matter of academics as opposed to personal experience.

I think that on face values, I'm fairly close to being UU myself. I may have explored it more, but the sense I got from the local institutions was that it was either heavily entwined with pagan fluff, or still so Christian-flavored that I wasn't likely to mesh. So I stayed back.

I think it's unfortunate though to hear that people are bashing each others' variety of beliefs within UU. That's just not cool. Immoral behavior and tacit approval of it too. It sounds like maybe the problems in some places with overall cohesion of some general principles are leading to badness. Does that seem like it could be one of the reasons? Or am I on the wrong track?  

[TheDisreputableDog]

TeaDidikai

Teague the Druid

I mean there's like only one rule, which is to be good, right?

Actually, there is a series of principles and a host of bylaws.

I would so not be a UU if "be good" was the only "rule." As problematic as inadequate interpretation of the UU principles and their lack of oversight can be, "be good" would be a ridiculous single tenet. What constitutes "being good"? What if people's definitions of what "good" is differ? This is a problem even within religions that spell out the concepts of "good" and "not good" very explicitly. "Be good" without further definition isn't a religion, it's a wankfest. UU is at least one step above that.  

[TheDisreputableDog]

TatteredAngel

I think that on face values, I'm fairly close to being UU myself. I may have explored it more, but the sense I got from the local institutions was that it was either heavily entwined with pagan fluff, or still so Christian-flavored that I wasn't likely to mesh. So I stayed back.

I've been considering going into ministry with UU for that reason, among others. We don't have what could be called an official liturgy so the climate of each individual church and the sources its ministers and RE instructors draw upon are all over the board. Some communities really like the Bible and spend a lot of their time with it; others are ambivalent toward it. Religious Education for the youth is usually run by parents and members of the church, so classes depend on who is available, able, and willing to teach. Some RE classes are found with regularity throughout, such as Our Whole Lives (about sexuality in its many forms), Coming of Age (helping children transition into youth status with the church), and interfaith classes where the kids learn about other religions traditions and visit their places of worship.

TatteredAngel

I think it's unfortunate though to hear that people are bashing each others' variety of beliefs within UU. That's just not cool. Immoral behavior and tacit approval of it too. It sounds like maybe the problems in some places with overall cohesion of some general principles are leading to badness. Does that seem like it could be one of the reasons? Or am I on the wrong track?

When someone enters the religion as an adult, there isn't always a lot of time spent in integrating the person with the church or educating them about the principles. There is at least some attention paid to this in children's RE. There are adult RE classes too but not everyone is interested in them. So the thing about the principles is that they can be a great spiritual guideline but there isn't sufficient organized instruction as how to use them properly, and there's not a lot of structural support for censuring those who use them as an excuse to trample all over other people's religious and ethnic identities.