Why Is Unitarian Universalism Declining U*Us?

Someone from Chicago, Illinois, was just asking Google last night. . .

Their Google search for -

Why is unitarian universalism declining

omitted the stereotypical Unitarian question mark, but none-the-less framed their free and responsible Google search of the interconnected web of the internet for the Truth and meaning of *WHY* Unitarian Universalism aka The Tiny Declining Fringe Religion™ is in fact declining.

Their Google search led them to my blog post titled -

Unitarian*Universalism aka The Tiny Declining Fringe Religion™ Is Tinier, Declinier, And Quite Possibly Fringier Than Ever

which ranked Number One in Google search results at the time that they ran that Google search. That TEA blog post led in turn to Donald Skinner's UU World article about the decline and fall of Unitarian Universalism titled -

UUA membership declines for second year

Forgive for saying -

"I told U*Us so"

but I would like to remind U*Us that I warned U*Us over a decade ago that they would decline if they did not clean up their act and deal responsibly with the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry that is all to pervasive within The U*U Movement.

No U*Us?

That anti-religious intolerance and bigotry, or indeed less severe but none-the-less "less than pleasant" aka bothersome anti-religious prejudice or sentiment which makes God believing people in general, and Christians in particular. . . anything but genuinely welcome in U*U "Welcoming Congregations", may not be the *only* reason WHY Unitarian Universalism is in fact "a tiny, declining, fringe religion" but it was, and AFA*I*AC still is. . . a major contributing factor to the decline, and possible fall, of Unitarian Universalism in Canada and the United States of America, to say nothing of other parts of the world like Australia and the United Kingdom aka Great Britain. In fact it would seem that British Unitarians should be added to the endangered species list if what I am hearing about congregational membership statistics from British Unitarian clergy is true. Indeed a free and responsible search for the regrettable Truth and meaning of what some British U*U ministers are saying about declining membership figures would indicate that what Ralph Waldo Emerson once described as corpse-cold Unitarianism is all but officially extinct in Great Britain.

Comments

Katie M. Hayes said…
I am a person who is an eclectic pagan, and I have been staying away from my local UU congregation even though they do have a pagan networking group there. It is run by people who are basically atheists - they do not believe in any Gods or Goddesses as real entities, but in "archetypes" instead. I think this doesn't bode well for a so-called "religious" group, for an atheist/non-believer would not have any conception of any obligations a believer might have towards his/her Holy Powers.

I think this atheism and intolerance towards religious belief in general is not limited to UUs. There is an independent Wiccan organization in my town that is also operated by people who are non-believers/atheists.

Is it the rise of atheist writers like Dorkins and Hitchens, et al, who have encouraged non-believers to be more outspoken about their non-belief than ever before?

I do have to wonder if UU's attempt at being everything to everyone, to be as radically inclusive as possible, has resulted in the path being very watered down and thus nothing to anyone?
Robin Edgar said…
Hi Katie,

Thanks for your comment.

I agree that atheism and intolerance towards religious belief in general is by no means limited to U*Us, but it seems to me that atheist intolerance towards religious belief violates the claimed principles and purposes of The U*U Movement and should not be tolerated by U*Us. Yet such anti-religious intolerance and bigotry quite evidently is condoned by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.

Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, et al, have indeed encouraged non-believers to be more outspoken about their non-belief than ever before but it is one thing to be outspoken about one's own non-belief and quite another to be intolerant of the beliefs of others. Outspoken intolerant atheists were part of the U*U "religious community" long before so-called "New Atheists" like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens became all the rage as it were. . . Their current popularity may well embolden the intolerant atheists that remain within the U*U fold.

If U*Us were as "radically inclusive" as they claim to be they would not have allowed Rev. Ray Drennan and other U*Us to get away with the "murder" of their character assassination of me, nor would they have punished me for complaining about the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry that I was subjected to by Rev. Ray Drennan and too many other U*Us. I none-the-less believe that you have a valid point about the U*U "path being very watered down and thus nothing to anyone."
Katie M. Hayes said…
The very strange part of all this is that the UUA uses the word "religion" all over its homepage. What do they think "religion" even IS??
Katie M. Hayes said…
PS: There are times when even I, pagan that I am, believe it would have been better if Unitarian Universalism had never strayed from its Christian roots (perhaps going more progressive Christian, of course, like organizations like Sojourners has) and those who were outside the Christian fold simply set up their own organizations, instead of trying to glom onto this organization.
Robin Edgar said…
:What do they think "religion" even IS??

Tax exempt. . . :-)