DallasNews Religion Discusses Why Unitarian Universalism is a Religion

Over at DallasNews Religion, Larry asks how Unitarian Universalists can be a religion if we don’t require all adherents to believe in God. Several folks have responded with some great points.

Asinus Gravis writes, “Belief in a god is not an essential feature for counting as a religion. Classical Buddhism did not believe in a god; certainly Buddha was not regarded as a god of any sort. Still Buddhism is a major world religion…As a matter of fact a great many Unitarians and Universalists believe in a God, whom they take quite seriously.”

JohnFranc adds, “It is a common misconception that Unitarian Universalists don’t believe in anything. UUs believe in many things, like peace, democracy, social justice, and respect for everyone. Most of all, UUs believe in religious freedom - not the freedom to believe anything you want no matter how absurd it might be, but the freedom to believe what you have to believe - what your heart tells you is true.”

I also commented, noting that community and spirituality are central to our congregations, and are part of our seven principles. (The third principle that Unitarian Universalist congregations covenant to affirm and promote is “acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.”)

In practice, congregations live out the commitment to community and spirituality in many ways, including small group ministry, weekly worship, spiritual practice groups, and classes on sacred texts. I should have added pastoral counseling as well, as it is another critical resource for spiritual growth that our congregations provide.

Larry’s question reminded me that many folks don’t really know what is happening in Unitarian Universalist congregations, and how Unitarian Universalist congregations encourage spiritual growth as well as religious freedom.