Why Are Unitarian*Universalist Congregations Still 97% White?
Could It Be Because Too Many U*U Welcoming Congregations Are *Still* Far From Genuinely Welcoming To God Believing People Including "People Of Color"?
Here is my response to SC Universalist Steven R's question Why are UU Congregations still so mono-cultured?
Allow me to repeat what I said on Rev. Christine Robinson's iminister blog a while back when she addressed this issue. For the record she responded to this comment by saying -
"Robin's got his finger on one of our major problems."
If U*U congregations really want to become more ethnically diverse and genuinely multicultural they are going to have to try a lot harder to be genuinely welcoming towards God believing people from all kinds of different cultural and religious backgrounds. I have been telling U*Us for years that one of the reasons the U*U movement has so few "people of color" as members is the anti-religious intolerance of the hard-core atheist faction of "Humanist" U*Us that rears its ugly head in too many U*U "churches". It does not take that many such "obnoxious atheists"* to repel any number of potential U*Us either. A small but vocal minority of "obnoxious atheists" can make a large number of God believing people feel far from welcome in *their* U*U "church" if their anti-religious intolerance is ignored and/or effectively condoned by the proverbial "silent majority" of that unwelcoming congregation's members.
Even non-theists who are none-the-less open-minded and tolerant people have been seriously put off U*Uism simply by witnessing the anti-religious intolerance of the "fundamentalist atheist" subset of "Humanist" U*Us when visiting some U*U "churches". I have very reasonable grounds to believe that U*U tolerance and even tacit acceptance and approval of the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of the minority of outspoken "fundamentalist atheists" is a major contributing factor to not only the lack of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity within the U*U religious community but also to the overall lack of interest of the American public in joining U*U "churches". What God believing person wants to go to "church" on Sunday only to have some obnoxious atheist express condescension, and even outright hostility and contempt, for their theistic religious beliefs?
* To quote former UUA president Rev. Dr. John A. Buehrens
end quote
Would that U*Us had responsibly acted upon what UUA President Bill Sinkford once rightly described as my "obviously deep concerns". Had they done so more than a decade ago, when I first shared my concerns with U*Us, I expect that U*Uism would be more multicultural by now, to say nothing of a less tiny and declining "fringe religion" to use UUA Presidential candidate Rev. Peter Morales' words.
Here is my response to SC Universalist Steven R's question Why are UU Congregations still so mono-cultured?
Allow me to repeat what I said on Rev. Christine Robinson's iminister blog a while back when she addressed this issue. For the record she responded to this comment by saying -
"Robin's got his finger on one of our major problems."
If U*U congregations really want to become more ethnically diverse and genuinely multicultural they are going to have to try a lot harder to be genuinely welcoming towards God believing people from all kinds of different cultural and religious backgrounds. I have been telling U*Us for years that one of the reasons the U*U movement has so few "people of color" as members is the anti-religious intolerance of the hard-core atheist faction of "Humanist" U*Us that rears its ugly head in too many U*U "churches". It does not take that many such "obnoxious atheists"* to repel any number of potential U*Us either. A small but vocal minority of "obnoxious atheists" can make a large number of God believing people feel far from welcome in *their* U*U "church" if their anti-religious intolerance is ignored and/or effectively condoned by the proverbial "silent majority" of that unwelcoming congregation's members.
Even non-theists who are none-the-less open-minded and tolerant people have been seriously put off U*Uism simply by witnessing the anti-religious intolerance of the "fundamentalist atheist" subset of "Humanist" U*Us when visiting some U*U "churches". I have very reasonable grounds to believe that U*U tolerance and even tacit acceptance and approval of the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry of the minority of outspoken "fundamentalist atheists" is a major contributing factor to not only the lack of racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity within the U*U religious community but also to the overall lack of interest of the American public in joining U*U "churches". What God believing person wants to go to "church" on Sunday only to have some obnoxious atheist express condescension, and even outright hostility and contempt, for their theistic religious beliefs?
* To quote former UUA president Rev. Dr. John A. Buehrens
end quote
Would that U*Us had responsibly acted upon what UUA President Bill Sinkford once rightly described as my "obviously deep concerns". Had they done so more than a decade ago, when I first shared my concerns with U*Us, I expect that U*Uism would be more multicultural by now, to say nothing of a less tiny and declining "fringe religion" to use UUA Presidential candidate Rev. Peter Morales' words.
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