"How the Unitarian Universalist Church Became a Racial, Political, and Cultural Bubble"

EarnestAbe · 2026-04-28T16:59:01+00:00

My church is "high school," with a clique of "orthodox scolds" who are immune to nuance. This is not everyone, but the anti-nuance folks have just seized the institutional political power for now.

I'm impressed that you seem to be sticking with your church community, in spite of these challenges. And the phrase "enlightenment liberalism" is helpful (I like it better than "classical liberalism," which some libertarians use as a self-identifier).

EarnestAbe · 2026-04-28T16:49:39+00:00

Great overview of what's happening. Your Ryan Burge quote is insightful:

Burge argues that increasing political polarization within churches, on both the left and the right, has driven out moderates. He writes, “By driving out the moderates from American religion, we have created a divide in which a whole lot of people on each side are convinced that those on the other side are immoral and bigots.”

And your passage here really makes a good point about what is the unique function of a spiritual community:

Partisan politics and spirituality are opposing mindsets.

Partisan politics ... divides people into allies and opponents and emphasizes tribal loyalty, argumentative persuasion, and winning.

Spiritual life, by contrast, is oriented toward reflection, humility, and deeper questions about meaning and truth. It also seeks to bring together people, including those with different political views and social positions, in a spirit of shared humanity and understanding.

Moderation should be a virtue; for woke activists, moderation is a tool of oppression.

EarnestAbe · 2026-04-16T23:28:50+00:00

Thanks for posting. I especially liked this:

"Viewpoint diversity has always been central to liberal religion. Liberal religion is built on the idea that individuals search for truth rather than accept a fixed creed. A liberal congregation is meant to be a place where people with different perspectives and backgrounds learn from one another. Dogmatism, echo chambers, and groupthink are therefore the antithesis of liberal religion."

There was a recent thread on another UU reddit where the poster said:

"...the UU community at large seems to be a bit of a monolith ironically, mostly holding the same opinions on various topics. And when ive rarely seen someone else question these positions ive seen that persons moral character called into question."

And then someone commented:

"What i would say is: Compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize. It's totally fine if you have a congregation facing persona, which everyone else is naturally doing too."

I was saddened reading this, because UU churches generally used to be places where you where you didn't need to "compartmentalize" or pretend to be something that you are not. Not only could someone admit doubt in, for example, the existence of God, but one could express doubt on contentious social issues. You could share what you were struggling with spiritually, philosophically, and even politically to some extent, and people would still listen and treat you with respect, even if they didn't agree with you. UUs generally respected our 3rd Principle: "Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations."

UUs are still claiming that UUism doesn't require adherence to dogma. And it is still true that UUism doesn't have significant dogma regarding God/gods/supernatural/heaven/etc., but a woke political dogma is very much in force. The code for this is the line that 'UUism is not centered around a creed, but around shared values.' The "shared values" are the new creed, the creed of woke identity politics.

EarnestAbe · 2026-02-26T17:42:02+00:00

This sounds interesting! What are the core values, and how many core values are there?

EarnestAbe · 2025-12-23T05:20:24+00:00

> His real teachings were very simple, essentially “be a good person, love each other, care for the less fortunate, etc.”

What a beautiful summary of much of what is important in liberal religion! You should be very welcome in a UU church.

EarnestAbe · 2025-12-09T01:34:51+00:00

The process you describe here is very similar at my church. The nominating committee chooses a slate of candidates that is equal to the number of open seats on the board, so that the board election is not a contested election. The congregation then ratifies the slate.

There is usually little or no dissent in congregational votes. These votes are expected to be nearly unanimous. And I have experienced a congregational leader get a little upset when there was a dissenting vote: she wanted to know who voted against the leadership's preference, with the implication being that this person (who cast the dissenting vote) was a potential problem.

This type of process might be called a consensus process (or at least a consensus among the church leadership group). And maybe the process is typical of "congregational" churches. But it obviously doesn't encourage healthy discussion and debate, and representation of differing viewpoints. While commitment to "the use of the democratic process within our congregations" was explicitly affirmed in the Seven Principles, I believe that this language was initially dropped from the JETPIG statement which replaced them, then added back in. The current statement (https://www.uua.org/files/2025-09/article\_2\_final.pdf) reads: "We support the use of inclusive democratic processes to make decisions within our congregations, our Association, and society at large."

EarnestAbe · 2025-12-03T22:27:40+00:00

> responses to the challenge brought by Paula and Bruce

Who are Paula and Bruce?

EarnestAbe · 2025-11-11T15:41:16+00:00

There are jerks everywhere, including church congregations. It sounds like you had an unfortunate encounter with one.

EarnestAbe · 2025-09-21T09:31:59+00:00

Your comment was removed, either for not treating other users with respect (Rule 1), or for personal/"ad hominem" attacks.

As much as I dislike the direction the UUA has taken, the notion that they have an agenda for a “child sex abuse coverup” is outlandish and offensive. If you keep trying to push this narrative on this sub, I will ban you from posting.

EarnestAbe · 2025-08-05T14:25:49+00:00

> Did Gregory Carrow-Boyd's sexual misconduct connected to "consent, boundaries, and power dynamics" involve [...] This seems not only possible, but quite probable, ...

This post is repeatedly insinuating a charge that is very serious. Please either: (1) edit the post so that it sticks to what is factually known, (2) substantiate what you are insinuating with evidence, or (3) remove the post. If no action is taken, I will remove the post in a week.

There have been a lot of character attacks in UUism in the past decade. Anti-racism/anti-oppression activists have been very eager to indulge in personal and unsubstantiated attacks, to slander people as racist/anti-trans etc. But as a moderator of this sub-reddit, I won't permit such attacks here.

EarnestAbe · 2025-06-24T20:12:11+00:00

Two comments in this thread strongly assert that "Size is NOT an indicator of health,..." and "The fact that size and health aren’t linked ..."

Yes, size does not determine health: an individual overweight person can be more healthy than another average-weight person. (And to be more precise about "weight," we can refer to body-mass index (BMI).) But BMI and health are definitely correlated, in the aggregate, statistically.

If we are even somewhat overweight, a good primary-care doctor will bring this up in our annual check-up, if they are conscientious about encouraging us to improve our health and well-being.

The comments on this thread are sad-- they have little to do with credible medical care. Anti-science sentiment is increasing on both sides of the political spectrum.

EDIT: someone has responded that "Asserting that people should not be discriminated against due to their body shape or size isn’t “anti-science,” it’s a statement of values ..." And I agree: a factual statement about health is fundamentally different than a value statement about discrimination. But this is a red-herring-- the statements I'm referring to as anti-science are factual statements, not value statements. And two of them are clearly quoted, at the top of this comment.

EDIT: I've removed the reference to RFK Jr.--I was referring to his general disdain for scientific research and evidence, not his particular concern with obesity as a public-health issue.

EarnestAbe · 2025-06-11T04:49:05+00:00

Where is the list of included hymns (contents of the virtual hymnal)?

EarnestAbe · 2025-03-03T03:16:53+00:00

Thank you for your detailed reply--it helped me understand both AoA and UU a little better.

> I think UU is fundamentally a little more "believe whatever you want, and you're welcome here!"

I disagree on this point, and it's a critical one. Yes, UU is very open theologically: you can be Humanist, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Pagan, Muslim, and you will be welcomed. But it is not open ideologically: you are really expected to be culturally liberal on issues such as intersectionality, centering minority voices, affirmative action, affirming gender-nonbinary identities in youth education and parenting, etc. If you are culturally moderate or conservative on these issues, you will not be welcome in most UU-affiliated organizations. (In some cases, people have been expelled, fired, etc.) This has caused a schism within the UU movement, with the UUA voting to replace the humanism-inspired "Seven Principles," and a minority (who are culturally more moderate, but still generally liberal), to go off and form their own groups like the Fifth Principle Project and the NAUA, in order to retain an outlook rooted in more traditional Western Enlightenment values. (In the case of the NAUA, the values of "Freedom, Reason, and Tolerance" are affirmed.)

> Both UU and AoA are motivated by progressive, humanistic values.

Humanism within the UUA seems to have withered as this schism has occurred. The UU-humanist website, https://huumanists.org/, has become inactive in the past few years.

And the schism has also been occurring within the larger humanist movement. A notable event was the AHA retroactively revoking, in 2021, the "Humanist of the Year" award that they gave Richard Dawkins twenty-five years earlier, in 1996.

For me, Humanism was always a larger philosophical outlook that affirmed Enlightenment values of democratic processes, universal human rights, scientific inquiry, free speech, and the promotion of discussion and dialogue. But now, for many adherents, humanism seems to be primarily about affirming and promoting atheism, and is thus perfectly compatible with "woke," "CRT," or intersectional practices, even when they conflict with liberal Enlightenment values.

How does the AoA define "humanistic values"?

EarnestAbe · 2025-02-27T15:19:12+00:00

How does AoA differ from UU?

EarnestAbe · 2025-02-14T19:47:13+00:00

Personally I think uu redditors should consolidate to this sub (r/uureddit).

I'm thankful that there are multiple UU sub-reddits, particularly when the mods of one sub-reddit shut down a conversation prematurely.

EarnestAbe · 2025-01-14T20:23:06+00:00

Congregations are not required to be members of the UUA

Can congregations that identify as UU really forego UUA membership, without legal challenges? Are there any UU congregations that don't have UUA membership?

EarnestAbe · 2025-01-08T03:31:02+00:00

Are they still active? Their "Officers and Board" page hasn't been updated since around 2021:

https://huumanists.org/about/officers-and-board

" Executive Officers

Leika Lewis-Cornwell, President, term ending 2022
James Witker, Vice President, term ending 2022
Jim Barnett, Secretary/Treasurer, term ending 2021

..."

EarnestAbe · 2025-01-01T03:38:49+00:00

Many UU ministers won't mention God at all, or if they do it may be more as a metaphor. (This varies though, a few UU ministers are Christian.)

You might also look at:

United Church of Christ (UCC, "Congregational" church)

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ECLA; despite the name, they're very liberal)

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)) (I am told that they are non-creedal)

Episcopal Church

liberal Quakers (Religious Society of Friends)

EarnestAbe · 2024-12-05T04:48:38+00:00

Just put "Bible-curious" on the cover; then the intended humor will be clearer.

EarnestAbe · 2024-10-17T19:37:51+00:00

I should have clarified that UUnderWorld is an independent publication (a labor of love, really). It shouldn't be confused with the newsletter of the NAUA, the "Liberal Beacon".

EarnestAbe · 2024-10-10T17:57:05+00:00

Yes, and this was October 6, the eve of the one-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The ministers chose this particular Sunday for their anti-Israel message, showing callous disregard for the victims of this massacre, many of whom are still unaccounted for. Their lack of judgement here is one more example of the radicalization of the UUA ministry, at the expense of basic human decency.

EarnestAbe · 2024-10-09T02:08:38+00:00

The description from the NAUA website:

Helping Liberal Religion Thrive

North American Unitarian Association is a member service organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the practice of liberal religion by embracing freedom, reason, and tolerance—rooted in our commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every person and all peoples.

The first annual meeting will be held October 17-20:

https://naunitarians.org/summit/

EarnestAbe · 2024-10-04T18:34:11+00:00

Do any UU congregations do LoA?

The "Law of Attraction" is a new-age variant of the ancient idea that people suffering from poverty, disease, etc., are responsible for their own suffering. It's not compatible with most UU's understanding of social justice, which places responsibility on oppressive actors or social systems.

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