Is UU Clergy Sexual Misconduct And UUA & MFC Complicity Therein Responsible For Unitarian Universalism Becoming A Tiny Declining Fringe Religion?
The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville Tennessee and its church sub-group that is "working to effect much-needed change in the policies, procedures and attitudes surrounding clergy sexual misconduct" UU Safety Net seem to think so. . .
Here is a telling excerpt from the sermon of a recent Sunday service that the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville devoted to the subject of UU clergy sexual misconduct and the UUA's shameful legacy of negligence towards & complicity therein -
"We can be proud of our congregation -- time and again willing to break the silence surrounding clergy sexual misconduct. While we have less power than the UUA and it’s difficult to move the process along, we also see that many UU congregations suffer from a history similar to ours. And we see that at a time when logically UUism should flourish, in fact our numbers are falling. Although there are other factors, we doubt this is a coincidence."
end quote
So *many* UU congregations *suffer* from a history similar to that of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville Tennessee, and the current leaders of FUUCN doubt that it is a coincidence that membership in what UUA President Rev. Peter Morales himself has acknowledged is a "tiny, declining, fringe religion" is falling. I have heard from other sources that as many as 50% of UU congregations *suffer* from a history that includes UU clergy sexual misconduct of one kind or another, to say nothing of non-sexual forms of UU clergy misconduct that can be very damaging to UU congregations as well.
I have long believed that the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry that is found throughout the so-called UU World is a major contributing factor to the stagnation and decline of Unitarian Universalist membership levels but, if the UUA's past and ongoing negligent and complicit response to UU clergy sexual misconduct is as bad as some UUs say that it is, there can be little doubt that this too is a significant contributing factor to Unitarian Universalist decline.
Here is a telling excerpt from the sermon of a recent Sunday service that the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville devoted to the subject of UU clergy sexual misconduct and the UUA's shameful legacy of negligence towards & complicity therein -
"We can be proud of our congregation -- time and again willing to break the silence surrounding clergy sexual misconduct. While we have less power than the UUA and it’s difficult to move the process along, we also see that many UU congregations suffer from a history similar to ours. And we see that at a time when logically UUism should flourish, in fact our numbers are falling. Although there are other factors, we doubt this is a coincidence."
end quote
So *many* UU congregations *suffer* from a history similar to that of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville Tennessee, and the current leaders of FUUCN doubt that it is a coincidence that membership in what UUA President Rev. Peter Morales himself has acknowledged is a "tiny, declining, fringe religion" is falling. I have heard from other sources that as many as 50% of UU congregations *suffer* from a history that includes UU clergy sexual misconduct of one kind or another, to say nothing of non-sexual forms of UU clergy misconduct that can be very damaging to UU congregations as well.
I have long believed that the anti-religious intolerance and bigotry that is found throughout the so-called UU World is a major contributing factor to the stagnation and decline of Unitarian Universalist membership levels but, if the UUA's past and ongoing negligent and complicit response to UU clergy sexual misconduct is as bad as some UUs say that it is, there can be little doubt that this too is a significant contributing factor to Unitarian Universalist decline.
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