{"id":2004,"date":"2014-02-16T16:02:31","date_gmt":"2014-02-16T22:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2014-02-13T22:20:21","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T04:20:21","slug":"why-i-am-still-a-unitarian-universalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/02\/why-i-am-still-a-unitarian-universalist.html","title":{"rendered":"Why I Am (Still) a Unitarian Universalist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Denton UU Fellowship<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The header of this blog lists my primary religious identities:\u00a0 Pagan, Druid, and Unitarian Universalist.\u00a0 I told my story of why I am a Pagan, a Druid, and a UU<\/a> when I moved to Patheos early last year.<\/p>\n

Despite having three identities, the vast majority of my writing here is Pagan.\u00a0 Some of it is Druidic, but for me Druidry is a mostly subset of Paganism.\u00a0 Although I frequently write about CUUPS (the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans) I write very little specifically as a Unitarian Universalist.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m still a Unitarian Universalist.<\/p>\n

Like most of Paganism, Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal religion \u2013 the focus is on what you do, not what you believe.\u00a0 By that standard I am definitely a UU:\u00a0 I attend Sunday services, I serve on the Worship Committee (a natural fit with my love of ritual), and I contribute financially.<\/p>\n

I do this because Denton UU has become my spiritual home.\u00a0 When I was looking for a safe place to explore group practice, Denton CUUPS was there.\u00a0 Whenever we\u2019ve wanted to do something \u2013 circles, classes, workshops, concerts \u2013 the answer has always been yes.\u00a0 We have Pagan circles every six or seven weeks, but there are Sunday service every week.\u00a0 These services nourish my soul in ways that are different from honoring the Gods and working magic, but they\u2019re beneficial just the same.\u00a0 I\u2019ve made friends here who follow different Gods or no Gods at all \u2013 we don\u2019t just tolerate each other\u2019s beliefs and practices, we honor them and learn what we can from them.<\/p>\n

I do this because Unitarian Universalism keeps me connected to this world.\u00a0 It reminds me there are immediate needs that religion and religious people need to address.\u00a0 Standing on the Side of Love pushes for marriage equality.\u00a0 My local congregation is working to stop fracking and the environmental damage it brings. \u00a0We contribute to local needs and to major relief efforts.\u00a0 Like most religious organizations, we talk more than we do, but we do more than any other religious organization I\u2019ve been involved with.<\/p>\n

There are Pagan organizations that do this kind of work and do it well.\u00a0 Circle Sanctuary and Solar Cross Temple come quickly to mind.\u00a0 But none of them has a presence in North Texas \u2013 Unitarian Universalism does.<\/p>\n

I do this because Unitarian Universalism supports my values in the wider world:\u00a0 respect for the Earth and the interdependent web of all existence.\u00a0 The inherent worth and dignity \u2013 and sovereignty<\/a> \u2013 of every person.\u00a0 Peace, justice, and freedom.\u00a0 And perhaps most importantly, religious diversity and differing views of the Divine.<\/p>\n

Neither my local congregation nor UUism as a whole consistently and perfectly embody these values \u2013 no human institution does.\u00a0 But we keep doing the work anyway.<\/p>\n

Unitarian Universalism\u2019s strength \u2013 its diversity and its this-world focus \u2013 is also a weakness for those of us who are called to deeper spiritual practice.\u00a0 We either try to assemble a group of like-minded folks within UUism (such as CUUPS) or we have to go elsewhere \u2013 UU minister and Patheos blogger James Ishmael Ford<\/a> is also a Buddhist<\/a> priest in the Soto Zen tradition.\u00a0 This is why most of my blogging is focused on Paganism and not UUism.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
in the pulpit at First Jefferson UU, Fort Worth<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But I\u2019m still a UU.<\/p>\n

A couple weeks ago I walked into the fitness center at work and stepped into a treadmill debate between an Evangelical Christian and an agnostic Jew on the existence of Satan.\u00a0 I made many of the same points I made in this Polytheistic Look at the Devil<\/a> I wrote last year:\u00a0 yes, I believe Satan is real.\u00a0 No, I don\u2019t believe the stories told about him by conservative Christians and Muslims are correct.\u00a0 Much of what is credited to Satan \u00a0is more properly credited to the capacity for evil that lies in all of us \u2013 a capacity many of us prefer to ignore and blame on an Other.<\/p>\n

As I tried to make positive contributions to the conversation, I found myself relying on the language of Unitarian Universalism.\u00a0 I even quoted 19th<\/sup> century Unitarian minister Theodore Parker: \u201cthe arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unitarian Universalism gives me a language to talk to religious conservatives and to people with a limited understanding of religious diversity.\u00a0 I still run into people whose idea of \u201cinterfaith\u201d means Baptists and Catholics and maybe one Jew \u2013 it simply doesn\u2019t occur to them to include Pagans and Buddhists and atheists and others.\u00a0 The liberal Christian roots of Unitarian Universalism provide a framework to bridge the gap between these folks and religions they don\u2019t comprehend.<\/p>\n

Would I still be a UU if there was a Druid grove or a pan-Pagan temple nearby?\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 If the grove or temple had the size and stability to insure it would outlive me?\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0 If it was connected to similar groves and temples around the country?\u00a0 Now we\u2019re moving into speculation that \u2013 as things stand today \u2013 is rather hypothetical.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to belong to a Pagan organization that does (almost) everything Unitarian Universalists do but also teaches deep Pagan practice.\u00a0 I expect some day we\u2019ll have that \u2013 it may even be a future generation of one of the organizations I belong to today.\u00a0 But here in North Texas in 2014, we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

And so I remain a Pagan, a Druid, and<\/em> a Unitarian Universalist.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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