No resemblance. The U-U Church consists mainly of Christians with hurt feelings. Most of them move on to another church within about three years.
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I think these so-called āchurchesā should all have glass roofs so that come the rapture they can collectively look up and witness themselves all being Left Behind.
I was raised UU and I donāt think my congregation was mostly Christians. (But UU congregations vary in terms of religious demographics and cultural influence; there are plenty that are more heavily Christian in both of those respects.) I also didnāt observe a high turnover rate.
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I was part of the team that put up Sunday Assembly in Boston, and would be glad to tell people here about that experience. Iām also the state director for American Atheists, and donāt mind saying that I donāt see any incompatibility between SA and more adamant expressions of irreligion. We actually have lots of āgodless churchā options in our area ā including Ethical Society, distinctly Humanistic UU congregations, secular synagogues, and loads of skeptic and secular social groups ā so we see SA not as a radically new undertaking as much as a very much aspirational new kid on the block, with every intention of doing things in an open and effective way from the start.
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I call that āpubā.
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Yep. UUs welcome people of all faiths, even atheists, but their services can and do contain references to god although which god in particular varies from week to week. And there is lots of singing - my but those people like to sing and listen to music. That last part doesnāt appeal to me much since I am essentially deaf but I have always enjoyed the UU slant on a humanist approach to everyoneās personal journey through life. Too bad the closest one is 45 minutes away from where I live.
So yes, this idea has been done, but having another group of people out there building a sense of community, supporting each other and doing charitable work is a win for all of us.
I think itās Godfrey.
Thatās a question to pose to each and every institution. Start, say, with the catholic church.
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Thereās just no reason to.
Well, there is, if youāre not a believing / practising Christian. That very God-free advice would be useful to every person on the planet.
I suppose I believed as a child, and those beliefs gently drifted away as an adolescent, and I maintained respect for religious institutions into adulthood, then I became concerned at the wooliness and financial hypocrisy of the Church of England, then I was sickened to the core of my being by the child abuse scandal that destroyed every last shred of validity of the catholic Church.
I get by helping others often, living broadly by the Christian tenets Iāve inherited and learned, but accepting everyone for who they are and working hard for a better life for my family.
When I die, Iām not overly concerned that Iāll miss the bus to Heaven, nor do I feel Iāll be thrown into the pits of Hell. But I will have lived a free-thinking man, with the assured confidence that I made a significant difference.
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āTry not to be a dickā -G. Buddha (paraphrased)
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Like x infinity
(May god forgive me)
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He also felt it was necessary to profit from slave labor, so I tend to take his moral musings with a grain of salt.
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Canāt speak for you, but Iāve never had an atheist ringing at my door wanting to speak about the non-existance of God.
Also, they donāt keeping ringing their ZT%&$&%/$ bell, letting anyone know that they are gathering for service. (And waking out toddler in the process, grrrr.)
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Thereās two Unitarian Universalist congregations in Pasadena. Like someone else said, they do very nearly the same thing. Neighborhood is bigger, Throop is small and has a cool old church building. If you havenāt checked them out, you might consider it.
So, a rave?
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You gotta be completely maladroit to have to go to a church for social reasons. This is just further evidence that atheism IS a belief system, and a lame pseudo-religion at that.
Iām afraid that object may, in essence, constitute a fundamental component in many beloved institutions.
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Itās not well communicated, but all of those numbers are apparently split over two years.
So 240k pounds for a 3 person web team actually sounds pretty reasonable, particularly if theyāre looking for āthe bestā, as they suggest in the video.
And the two founders will be taking a very modest salary. Why would you expect them to give their time for free? How would you expect them to do that?
