Reddit Reddit reviews A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

We found 5 Reddit comments about A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism
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5 Reddit comments about A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism:

u/anotheruuredditor · 9 pointsr/UUreddit
u/awsmith777 · 6 pointsr/UUreddit

Yeah, it sounds to me like you are a Unitarian Universalist. Pretty much anybody and everybody who doesn't fit into the limitations of dogmatic Christianity loves Unitarian Universalism.

Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal faith which means that you don't have to adhere to any dogma in order to be a part of a UU community. I won't go through them all but we have seven principles and six sources the most relevant here are: "Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;"
"A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;" from the sources, "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life," and "Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature." ( Read more here if you'd like: UUA: Our UU Principles )
Your interest in yoga, Buddhism, Christianity and pantheism makes it seem like you would fit in really well and love a UU community. Generally, most UU communities will have Buddhists, Christians, atheists, agnostics, pagans and/or pantheists, mystics and more (plus people who consider themselves more than one of those categories) as happy members.

A great book to check out to give you a nice short, concise and interesting introduction is John Buehrens' A Chosen Faith

If you have any other questions let me know.

u/RileyWWarrick · 3 pointsr/excatholic

I've found it to be a good fit for me. It was a long journey to get there. When I first was leaving Catholicism and talking with friends, several people suggested I check out Unitarian Universalism. In those days, I didn't want to go anywhere near any church. Over the years, the UU suggestion came up a few times. When I would take those "what religion am I?" online quiz, I would always get UU. Eventually, I decided to check out the local UU church.

There is a certain amount of familiarity. There's a weekly service that has a similar structure: readings, songs, sermon, etc. UU congregations can differ in their religiosity. The church attend is pretty reluctant to embrace Christianity, but that's okay with me.

What I like about UU'ism is that people come to it from all sorts of backgrounds. At my church there are people who grew up: Catholic, Baptist and various Protestant denominations, Jewish, Buddist, Pagan, Athiest, Agnostic, and more. What helps make it work in one of the UU Principles

> As responsible religious seekers, we recognize that we are privileged to be free, to have resources to pursue life beyond mere survival, to continually search for truth and meaning, to exist beyond bonds of dogma and oppression, and to wrestle freely with truth and meaning as they evolve.

There is no official religious dogma or creeds, people are encouraged to find their own truths and respect other peoples search for truth. It's not a perfect process. There have been people who find their truth in more conservative viewpoints and then get frustrated that other UUs are not supportive of that. If you are a fairly liberal, lefty, progressive, then UU could be a great fit, though there are probably more conservative UU congregations that would embrace those beliefs too.

I found this book to be a helpful introduction to UU'ism.

u/Kazmarov · 2 pointsr/Christianity

During our pledge drive, the woman that ran it got up during service and said "I know few of you believe in god, and even fewer in damnation, but get your goddamn pledges in. Thank you."

I read A Chosen Faith a couple months back, and the UU definition is more about the universal quality of all religions (that they are looking at the same light through different windows) rather than the concept of Hell.

It's basically not a topic of discussion. After a century and a half of theology about salvation and the nature of God, it's a settled topic in UU circles.

u/snafuperman · 2 pointsr/atheism

I truly think it is. I read A Chosen Faith before even attending. They make a point of having no doctrine, but have seven "principles." The principles are simple and promote tolerance, dignity, and acceptance. In some places you might run into some of the "cheesiness" but I just mark that up to others uniqueness. However, you won't find anyone trying to push anything on you or getting in your face w/ the cheesiness. I was raised Southern Baptist. When we started attending a UU congregation, we met a Jew who married a Catholic, a young couple that had been raised Hari Krishna, and a boatload of atheists just looking for somewhere to find a social support network. Also, they have "religious education" that I think you would approve of for your child. They do cover different faith traditions, but only to the point that your child would not be clueless if someone tried to push something on them later in life. I know this was a long response, and UU does not proselytize as a rule, but I have always felt comfortable. The UUA website has a search function so you can find a congregation near you. One further piece of advice though. Find a large to medium sized church if possible (400 members maybe). We've been to a medium sized one and now occasionally make it to a small one. There were simply more opportunities at the larger church.