LOL U*Us
As I mentioned earlier, a new U*U blogger going by the handle Emotional Wench thought that it might be fun to create some U*U graphics inspired by the LOL cats aka LOL kittens meme. I tried my hand at it earlier today. Here are a few of the resulting "artworks". . .
ROTFLMU*UO!
Click on the pics to view the full size versions.
Comments
Thanks for the links to the pics.
Any former member can ask to be removed. A very few members have been removed due to aggravating circumstances (like non-compliance with the 2nd principle or the covenant of behavior), but it's almost always gone through a democratic process of some type & usually the individual has been told they could come back under certain circumstances (generally having to do with behavior toward other people).
Many people attend UU churches who are not members. We call them "friends" and in many churches they are considered equal in all ways except legal business matters.
The UUA considers people members who are members of a congregation or the Church of the Larger Fellowship.
There are about ten times as many people who consider themselves UU than are paid members according to a Pew survey.
And I believe there are many UUs who would be UU if people knew about us and were welcomed properly at their local congregation, which MOST UU congregations do.
That being said, I think that I can legitimately use the word excommunication in the full sense of the word with respect to the Unitarian Church of Montreal. Here is Wikipedia's take on the word excommunication -
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word literally means putting [someone] out of communion. In some churches excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group. Censures and sanctions sometimes follow excommunication; these include banishment, shunning, and shaming, depending on the group's religion, the offense that caused excommunication, or religious community.
I think that I can safely say that I have been permanently deprived of membership in the alleged religious community known as the Unitarian Church of Montreal. So while I have not been excommunicated from the whole U*U religious community I am none-the-less an excommunicated Unitarian in that I have been effectively excommunicated by the Unitarian Church of Montreal. As far as the censures and sanctions that sometimes follow excommunication such as banishment, shunning, and shaming, I have definitely been banished from the Unitarian Church of Montreal, and have been repeatedly shunned and shamed not only by Montreal Unitarians but a goodly number of other U*Us. Am I wrong?
:A very few members have been removed due to aggravating circumstances (like non-compliance with the 2nd principle or the covenant of behavior),
I can think of a few U*U ministers, and plenty of other U*Us. . . who are obviously guilty of willful non-compliance with not only the 2nd principle of U*Uism but all of the other ones.
:but it's almost always gone through a democratic process of some type & usually the individual has been told they could come back under certain circumstances (generally having to do with behavior toward other people).
What you call a "democratic process " others would call "mob rule" or a "kangaroo court". U*Us are past masters at cynically manipulating the "democratic process" to get what they want. Many exclusionary decisions are made by a small handful of people in positions of power and influence and you know this. How "democratic" was the decision to permanently ban me from all UUA sponsored list serves Jouce? How many people voted? Just a few UUA appointed "moderators" ak a censors as far as I can tell. . .
:Many people attend UU churches who are not members. We call them "friends" and in many churches they are considered equal in all ways except legal business matters.
That is totally irrelevant to whether or not I can justifiably refer to myself as an "excommunicated" Unitarian.
:The UUA considers people members who are members of a congregation or the Church of the Larger Fellowship.
I am perfectly aware that I can try to join another U*U congregation Joyce. I came within inches of joining the Unitarian*Universalist church of San Francisco in August 2006 just to make a point or two but was unable to do so because the minister was away an one of the three requirements for becoming a member was to talk with the minister. What were the other two U*Us ask? Make a financial donation and sign the membership book. . . There is only one other U*U "church" on the island of Montreal and it is inconveniently located for me. In any case I expect that I would not be terribly welcome there .
:There are about ten times as many people who consider themselves UU than are paid members according to a Pew survey.
I know that and U*Us might want to give some thought as to why so few people who consider themselves to be UUs want to give so much as a dime to UU "churches" or the UUA. I can think of a few good reasons. . .
:And I believe there are many UUs who would be UU if people knew about us and were welcomed properly at their local congregation, which MOST UU congregations do.
Don't be so sure about that Joyce. Your own statement is somewhat contradictory. I MOST U*U congregations properly welcomed people in general, and those "outsider" UUs in particular, it stands to good old Unitarian reason that they would already have more members. How much would you like to bet that the one of the main reasons that there are ten times as many "unchurched" U*Us as "churched" U*Us is because many of these nominal U*Us have tried their local U*U "churches" and found them to be "wanting" and unwelcoming in various ways? But don't take my word for it Joyce. Take the word of UUA Presidential candidate Rev. Peter Morales or Rev. Kenn Hurto just for starters. . . I have been warning U*Us for years that unless they start being genuinely welcoming to God believing people of all kinds that membership in the U*U "religious community" will not only remain stagnant but will decline. It's not me who is calling U*Uism a "tiny declining fringe religion" it is Rev. Peter Morales. I am just quoting him because I happen to agree with him on that point and some other criticism that he is leveling at the U*U religious community.