I have been doing some informal research- informal in that is not a controlled university study, but still serious- for some years now, and I would greatly appreciate the input from the UU blogging community. I will explain after there has been time for a useful number of results.
This is a poll of how you came to UU. If you are old enough to have joined one of the individual “U”s, consider it UU for the purposes of the poll. If none of the categories I’ve supplied exactly fit your situation, go with the one closest and explain in your comment.
A. I still practice the faith I was raised in as well as UU.
B. I had left my childhood church long before I found UU.
C. I left the church I was raised in for UU.
D. UU *IS* the church I was raised in.
New: For those answering "E"; yes, I should have included a separate entry for "I wasn't raised with a specific church"- but since I didn't in the previous places I have conducted this poll, I will consider it a subset of "B" for the sake of consistency, as I had "unchurched" in mind anyway.
23 comments:
I'm a "D."
E. I was not raised in a religious tradition. I joined a Unitarian Universalist congregation as a young adult.
B. I left Mormonism when I was 19 and started attending a UU church when I was 21. I've been a UU for almost 16 years now.
I'm somewhere between B and C. Given that I was raised UCC, it wasn't that far a walk. Started attending UU when I was 22; joined when I was 24.
Answer: C. I was raised a Baptist preacher's kid and married into UUism. When we divorced, I got custody of the church.
I'm a "D."
I'm an E, such as Shelby, above.
B. Left the Presbys at 18, became a UU at 21.
CC
I'm a C - I left the United Methodists as they began their rightward (politically and theologically) trek around 1970 - I joined the UUs in around 1978 or so (I have the papers around here somewhere).
Not quite sure what you mean by 'A". (putting aside that I live my faith, not just practice it -smiley here-)-- am I the member of two denominations? do i still believe some (all?) of the things I did of the faith tradition I was raised in?
steven r
D. Again, sort of. My mother sort of rotated my twin brother and me through all of the mainstream Protestant Sunday schools in the semi-enlightened hope that we would then be “free” to choose our own path. I stopped going when I was sixteen or so—I announced I would “rather mow the lawn”—because I was reading a lot of history at the time and had come to the conclusion that organized religion was mostly an excuse for killing people. Later, while considering C.O. status during the Vietnam War, I flirted with the Episcopalians but quickly found out that most were not like the progressive priests at college or the heroic Bishop of Milwaukee, who was leading Civil Rights demonstrations at the time (I embarrassed that I can’t remember his name.) Took a turn at snarling atheism in my anarchist/Wobbly days—Ni Dio! Ni Patron! I literally pissed on some churches—I was then a practicing drunk. Started a family and began to feel the need for some sort of spiritual expression. Married a strong Catholic, admired some of the social justice teachings, the Catholic Worker, and Berrigan Brothers but could not choke down the Nicene Creed. Finally found and joined my local UU church at the age of 41 because it was a refuge for almost all of the progressive people in a very conservative county. It did give me support and an outlet for my urge to activism, but it also encouraged—much to my surprise—a genuine and continuing spiritual journey that is still under 17 years later. I couldn’t be happier.
E. I was not raised in any religious tradition and came to Unitarian Universalism as an adult.
Somewhere between B and C. I didn't leave my childhood church for UUism, but I hadn't left it for long when I did go UU.
I love Ms. Kitty's answer...that is too funny.
I am more closely related to B and Shelby Meyerhoff's E. I wasn't raised with any church affiliation, and I joined the local UU Congregation 2.5 years ago at age 42.
D. Is there such thing as a home-schooled UU? My parents were avid Unitarians earlier in their life, with my older siblings. I think they suffered terminal church-burnout by the time I came along. But I did get some UU church exposure.
E. None of the above. I was not raised in any religious tradition (except for secular celebration of holidays like Christmas and Easter) and came to UUism as an adult.
SC Universalist- what I meant by "A" was do you either attend both services, or still follow all the precepts and practices of your earlier church while attending a UU congregation. My congregation had a member who was also a member of a Methjodist church, and he attended both services.
I'm somewhere between B and C.
I was raised "generic Protestant" (military brat attending Air Force Protestant services and Sunday School plus attending local United Methodist congregation with my high school friends).
During my college years I became a "dogmatic Agnostic" (not only did I say I didn't know, I was also willing to say the same for others as well). I was then (and still am) a proponent of Methodological Naturalism with an occasional slide into Metaphysical Naturalism.
Unitarian Universalism was a compromise between a totally secular wedding and a traditional religious wedding for us when we got married in 1981.
When I joined the Air Force, I gave Unitarian Universalism as my religious preference in my paperwork and for my dog tags.
When my first child was born in 1987, I joined my first UU congregation and became a living example of the "what is a UU?" joke -- an Agnostic with kids.
"E" & "B" -- My parents did not raise me in a church. I was baptized in a Southern Baptist one as a teen. Found UU as an adult with young children.
(Patrick - are you thinking of the late Father James Groppi?)
I'm a "B".
B. I left Mormonism at 21 and started attending UU church at 29.
D here.
My parents joined shortly after the merger, when I was quite young.
I was raised unchurched. Joined a UU church about 12 years ago at age 32.
F. Was not raised in a church..attended two different UUA churches for about 10 years...left the UUA church due to its intolerance of conservatives...now belong to no church but am active on the AUC site....I prefer a Unitarianism that includes God but without organizational politics.
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