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<\/a>What is CUUPS?\u00a0 Who is CUUPS?\u00a0 Our website lists five\u00a0purposes<\/a>, but that\u00a0doesn\u2019t answer the question of who we are.\u00a0 Over the past few months we\u2019ve conducted a series of surveys to determine who and what we are.\u00a0 This is a foundational step in creating a new mission and vision for CUUPS \u2013 for deciding not just who we are, but who we want to be.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what we\u2019ve found.<\/p>\nCUUPS exists on three levels.<\/strong><\/h4>\nCUUPS exists at the individual level \u2013 our members, friends, and frequent participants, as well as Pagan-identified UUs and UU-friendly Pagans.<\/p>\n
CUUPS exists at the chapter level \u2013 chapters have their own organization, activities, and relationships with their host congregations.<\/p>\n
CUUPS exists at the Continental level \u2013 our Board of Trustees, which manages our wider programs and maintains a relationship with the UUA.<\/p>\n
Who are our CUUPS members?<\/strong><\/h4>\nWe are active in UU congregations and we support UU principles and causes.<\/p>\n
We have many different Pagan identities, beliefs, and practices.\u00a0 Some are more represented than others (Earth-centered, Pagan, and Witch are the most common labels selected) but none dominate.<\/p>\n
Nature is very important to us, and our most popular spiritual practices involve interacting with Nature.\u00a0 We connect to Nature physically, spiritually, and mystically.<\/p>\n
Like most UUs, we want community but we value individual sovereignty even more.<\/p>\n
We meet most frequently for group rituals.<\/p>\n
We like educational opportunities, but there is no clear consensus on what we should study.<\/p>\n
We have an interest in gods and spirits.\u00a0 About 60% of us see them as independent beings, while 40% see them as metaphors for natural phenomena.<\/p>\n
Who are our chapters?<\/strong><\/h4>\nThe most common thing chapters do is present seasonal rituals, and the most common ritual elements are derived from Wicca.\u00a0 Most chapters also hold social gatherings and classes \/ workshops.<\/p>\n
Most chapters lead one or two Sunday services each year.<\/p>\n
Our average chapter has 16 members, but the majority of the work (planning, organizing, publicizing) is done by only 4 people.\u00a0 This puts our chapters in a precarious situation \u2013 if something happens to even one of those key leaders (moves away, burns out, gets sick) the chapter may not continue.<\/p>\n
There are no clear qualifications for leaders nor do we have formal training for our leaders.<\/p>\n
Our chapters draw about 75% of their members from outside the UU church, but we don\u2019t always do a good job of educating new CUUPS members about Unitarian Universalism and integrating them into our congregations.<\/p>\n
93% of chapters say the relations between the chapter and the host congregation are good.\u00a0 82% of the congregations say the same thing.\u00a0 That\u2019s an 11 point gap in perception.\u00a0 Like all relationships, chapter-congregation relationships require constant maintenance.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t do a lot of advertising or outreach.\u00a0 Only 55% of chapters have a Facebook page, 38% have an e-mail list, and 14% have a standalone website.\u00a0 About half participate in Pagan Pride Days.<\/p>\n
Who is our Board?<\/strong><\/h4>\nThe identities and beliefs of our Boards (we surveyed current and past Board members) are proportional to those of the membership as a whole.\u00a0 About 1\/3 of Board members are UU ministers.<\/p>\n
Our Board members believe their primary responsibilities are sharing best practices and service to the wider Pagan community.\u00a0 However, they actually spent most of their time promoting CUUPS and Paganism within the UUA.<\/p>\n
What are our centers?\u00a0 What do most of us have in common?\u00a0 What can we build on?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n- We support UU values, principles, and causes.<\/li>\n
- We bring a UU approach to Paganism \u2013 we draw from many sources and we oppose any attempt to establish orthodoxy or anything resembling it.<\/li>\n
- We value Nature, our experiences of Nature, and our relationships with Nature.<\/li>\n
- We have an interest in gods and spirits, but we are uncertain \u2013 individually, much less collectively \u2013 what they are and what it means to experience them.<\/li>\n
- We are a gateway to bring Pagans into Unitarian Universalism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
What are our next steps?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNow we need to hear from you.\u00a0 Did we get it right?\u00a0 Did we overlook something important?\u00a0 Did we overemphasize anything?\u00a0\u00a0 Do the five key points described above accurately describe who and what CUUPS is as an organization, on all three levels?<\/p>\n
These five key points will not completely describe any individual CUUPS member or chapter, nor will all of us completely identify with all five centers<\/strong>.\u00a0 Trying to come up with a definition that fits all UU Pagans is an impossible task.<\/p>\nRather, we\u2019re describing UU Paganism as it actually is today.\u00a0 We are drawing no boundaries \u2013 no one is in or out, we\u2019re closer to or farther from the centers.\u00a0 CUUPS is and will remain a non-creedal UU group welcoming all who come in friendship.<\/p>\n
After we settle on our description of who and what we are, we\u2019ll start to discuss who and what we want to be \u2013 and what we\u2019re willing to support with our time and money.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is CUUPS? Over the past few months we\u2019ve conducted a series of surveys to determine who and what we are. We’ve found five key points that describe UU Paganism as it actually is today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":86,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,29,47,17,50,5],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cuups","tag-nature","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-revisioning","tag-unitarian-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/author\/johnbeckett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
We are active in UU congregations and we support UU principles and causes.<\/p>\n
We have many different Pagan identities, beliefs, and practices.\u00a0 Some are more represented than others (Earth-centered, Pagan, and Witch are the most common labels selected) but none dominate.<\/p>\n
Nature is very important to us, and our most popular spiritual practices involve interacting with Nature.\u00a0 We connect to Nature physically, spiritually, and mystically.<\/p>\n
Like most UUs, we want community but we value individual sovereignty even more.<\/p>\n
We meet most frequently for group rituals.<\/p>\n
We like educational opportunities, but there is no clear consensus on what we should study.<\/p>\n
We have an interest in gods and spirits.\u00a0 About 60% of us see them as independent beings, while 40% see them as metaphors for natural phenomena.<\/p>\n
Who are our chapters?<\/strong><\/h4>\nThe most common thing chapters do is present seasonal rituals, and the most common ritual elements are derived from Wicca.\u00a0 Most chapters also hold social gatherings and classes \/ workshops.<\/p>\n
Most chapters lead one or two Sunday services each year.<\/p>\n
Our average chapter has 16 members, but the majority of the work (planning, organizing, publicizing) is done by only 4 people.\u00a0 This puts our chapters in a precarious situation \u2013 if something happens to even one of those key leaders (moves away, burns out, gets sick) the chapter may not continue.<\/p>\n
There are no clear qualifications for leaders nor do we have formal training for our leaders.<\/p>\n
Our chapters draw about 75% of their members from outside the UU church, but we don\u2019t always do a good job of educating new CUUPS members about Unitarian Universalism and integrating them into our congregations.<\/p>\n
93% of chapters say the relations between the chapter and the host congregation are good.\u00a0 82% of the congregations say the same thing.\u00a0 That\u2019s an 11 point gap in perception.\u00a0 Like all relationships, chapter-congregation relationships require constant maintenance.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t do a lot of advertising or outreach.\u00a0 Only 55% of chapters have a Facebook page, 38% have an e-mail list, and 14% have a standalone website.\u00a0 About half participate in Pagan Pride Days.<\/p>\n
Who is our Board?<\/strong><\/h4>\nThe identities and beliefs of our Boards (we surveyed current and past Board members) are proportional to those of the membership as a whole.\u00a0 About 1\/3 of Board members are UU ministers.<\/p>\n
Our Board members believe their primary responsibilities are sharing best practices and service to the wider Pagan community.\u00a0 However, they actually spent most of their time promoting CUUPS and Paganism within the UUA.<\/p>\n
What are our centers?\u00a0 What do most of us have in common?\u00a0 What can we build on?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n- We support UU values, principles, and causes.<\/li>\n
- We bring a UU approach to Paganism \u2013 we draw from many sources and we oppose any attempt to establish orthodoxy or anything resembling it.<\/li>\n
- We value Nature, our experiences of Nature, and our relationships with Nature.<\/li>\n
- We have an interest in gods and spirits, but we are uncertain \u2013 individually, much less collectively \u2013 what they are and what it means to experience them.<\/li>\n
- We are a gateway to bring Pagans into Unitarian Universalism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
What are our next steps?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNow we need to hear from you.\u00a0 Did we get it right?\u00a0 Did we overlook something important?\u00a0 Did we overemphasize anything?\u00a0\u00a0 Do the five key points described above accurately describe who and what CUUPS is as an organization, on all three levels?<\/p>\n
These five key points will not completely describe any individual CUUPS member or chapter, nor will all of us completely identify with all five centers<\/strong>.\u00a0 Trying to come up with a definition that fits all UU Pagans is an impossible task.<\/p>\nRather, we\u2019re describing UU Paganism as it actually is today.\u00a0 We are drawing no boundaries \u2013 no one is in or out, we\u2019re closer to or farther from the centers.\u00a0 CUUPS is and will remain a non-creedal UU group welcoming all who come in friendship.<\/p>\n
After we settle on our description of who and what we are, we\u2019ll start to discuss who and what we want to be \u2013 and what we\u2019re willing to support with our time and money.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is CUUPS? Over the past few months we\u2019ve conducted a series of surveys to determine who and what we are. We’ve found five key points that describe UU Paganism as it actually is today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":86,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,29,47,17,50,5],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cuups","tag-nature","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-revisioning","tag-unitarian-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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The identities and beliefs of our Boards (we surveyed current and past Board members) are proportional to those of the membership as a whole.\u00a0 About 1\/3 of Board members are UU ministers.<\/p>\n
Our Board members believe their primary responsibilities are sharing best practices and service to the wider Pagan community.\u00a0 However, they actually spent most of their time promoting CUUPS and Paganism within the UUA.<\/p>\n
What are our centers?\u00a0 What do most of us have in common?\u00a0 What can we build on?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n- We support UU values, principles, and causes.<\/li>\n
- We bring a UU approach to Paganism \u2013 we draw from many sources and we oppose any attempt to establish orthodoxy or anything resembling it.<\/li>\n
- We value Nature, our experiences of Nature, and our relationships with Nature.<\/li>\n
- We have an interest in gods and spirits, but we are uncertain \u2013 individually, much less collectively \u2013 what they are and what it means to experience them.<\/li>\n
- We are a gateway to bring Pagans into Unitarian Universalism.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
What are our next steps?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNow we need to hear from you.\u00a0 Did we get it right?\u00a0 Did we overlook something important?\u00a0 Did we overemphasize anything?\u00a0\u00a0 Do the five key points described above accurately describe who and what CUUPS is as an organization, on all three levels?<\/p>\n
These five key points will not completely describe any individual CUUPS member or chapter, nor will all of us completely identify with all five centers<\/strong>.\u00a0 Trying to come up with a definition that fits all UU Pagans is an impossible task.<\/p>\nRather, we\u2019re describing UU Paganism as it actually is today.\u00a0 We are drawing no boundaries \u2013 no one is in or out, we\u2019re closer to or farther from the centers.\u00a0 CUUPS is and will remain a non-creedal UU group welcoming all who come in friendship.<\/p>\n
After we settle on our description of who and what we are, we\u2019ll start to discuss who and what we want to be \u2013 and what we\u2019re willing to support with our time and money.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/author\/johnbeckett\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/naturessacredjourney\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
What are our next steps?<\/strong><\/h4>\nNow we need to hear from you.\u00a0 Did we get it right?\u00a0 Did we overlook something important?\u00a0 Did we overemphasize anything?\u00a0\u00a0 Do the five key points described above accurately describe who and what CUUPS is as an organization, on all three levels?<\/p>\n
These five key points will not completely describe any individual CUUPS member or chapter, nor will all of us completely identify with all five centers<\/strong>.\u00a0 Trying to come up with a definition that fits all UU Pagans is an impossible task.<\/p>\nRather, we\u2019re describing UU Paganism as it actually is today.\u00a0 We are drawing no boundaries \u2013 no one is in or out, we\u2019re closer to or farther from the centers.\u00a0 CUUPS is and will remain a non-creedal UU group welcoming all who come in friendship.<\/p>\n
After we settle on our description of who and what we are, we\u2019ll start to discuss who and what we want to be \u2013 and what we\u2019re willing to support with our time and money.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is CUUPS? Over the past few months we\u2019ve conducted a series of surveys to determine who and what we are. We’ve found five key points that describe UU Paganism as it actually is today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":86,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,29,47,17,50,5],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cuups","tag-nature","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-revisioning","tag-unitarian-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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Rather, we\u2019re describing UU Paganism as it actually is today.\u00a0 We are drawing no boundaries \u2013 no one is in or out, we\u2019re closer to or farther from the centers.\u00a0 CUUPS is and will remain a non-creedal UU group welcoming all who come in friendship.<\/p>\n
After we settle on our description of who and what we are, we\u2019ll start to discuss who and what we want to be \u2013 and what we\u2019re willing to support with our time and money.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is CUUPS? Over the past few months we\u2019ve conducted a series of surveys to determine who and what we are. We’ve found five key points that describe UU Paganism as it actually is today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":86,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,29,47,17,50,5],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cuups","tag-nature","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-revisioning","tag-unitarian-universalism"],"yoast_head":"\n