My family and I belong to the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland. We struggled for many years to find a church that shared our beliefs in being open minded, tolerant and creative, and are very happy to have found one so close to home. At first I was a little taken back by the thought of going to church based on my past experiences. It’s not that I do not believe in a higher power; I just never felt comfortable with any church I went to in the past.
Unitarian and Universalism (UU) is a liberal religion and the services are always intellectually stimulating and insightful. What I think I like the most are the various Cleveland musicians that perform at every service. The creative ambiance is an uplifting and freeing experience to which I look forward every week. Much like Apple and the Macintosh, UU is the religion for the rest of us. Click here to learn what UUs believe.
Here is a reading from the UU Hymn book to give you a sense of what the services are like:
A Network of Mutuality
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
There are some things in our social system to which all of us out to be maladjusted.
Hatred and bitterness can never cure the disease of fear, only love can do that.
We must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.
The foundation of such a method is love.
Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our proclamations of peace and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war.
One day we must come to see that peace is no only merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.
We shall hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.
Martin Luther King.
If you feel the need to join a spiritual community for whatever reason, check out a UU church near you.
And, just remember … where else can you find a congregation full of ATHEISTS who have a SERIOUS problem with their own MININSTER because she [[gasp]] believes in GOD?? 🙂
I see that Axinar has passed through here. U*Us really should pay attention to that line about injustice anywhere being a threat to justice everywhere. U*Us are guilty of perpetrating and perpetuating a fair number of internal injustices and abuses. In fact Axinar hints at the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry that may be found practiced my militant atheists in many U*U “churches”. I have been exposing and denouncing various U*U injustices and abuses for over a decade now but U*Us are extemely stubborn in their obstinate resolve to pretend that they have done no wrong. . .
Well, this post certainly proved that you can not get away with referencing religion in a light hearted way. Robin, I am really sorry to hear your experience with UUs. For the record, I am not a UU; I just go to a UU church. That said, my expeience has been nothing but a good one and very much the opposite of what you described. Is it perfect? Obviously not; it’s man made afterall.