I guess it’s for the sake of having a good conversation about the key issue that is separating the UU’s from what we commonly call Christianity, that issue being the deity of Jesus Christ.
That issue is also one between most of us and the Religious Society of Friends (a.k.a. Quakers) which makes this an interesting topic as it’s now got an even wider scope.
Quakers tend to be more ‘religious’ than UUs. They were frankly mystical at the start (hence the name) and were/are theists and followers of the social gospel of Jesus, which they still are. Most Quakers attend Meetings, dominated by silence and witness. They refer to the “Light” and “that of God” at Meeting–when they talk. There are both Quakers and UUs that follow Jesus as a great prophet, teacher and spiritual leader, and I think those UUs who* focus* on Jesus have groups within UU churches–there are always a lot of groups and committees, ditto the Quakers–and also talk to each other online. In addition to Quaker Meetings, there are a few Quaker churches, especially in the midwest, where they sing hymns, have a Quaker minister and maybe a sermon (I have never attended one of these).
I don’t know if viewers are aware of this, but in the contest of the Quaker Meetings, there aren’t any ministers. (Confusing: both the congregation and its services are referred to as meeting–usually the congregation is a Meeting, and the service is a meeting). Elected members of the Meeting run the Meeting, but all the members are expected to donate their time and involvement in a serious way.
There are ‘birthright’ Quakers (their term) and UUs, but many are refugees from other denominations, for UU in proportion to the percentage in the general population, thus a lot of former Catholics, mainstream Protestants and quite a few Jews, the latter perhaps more than the general population.
UU has a strong presence in international charity, but the Quakers’ presence is remarkable, considering their numbers and the fact that most Quakers aren’t rich–in the American Friends Service Committee. The Quakers have founded many outstanding colleges such as Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Earlham, Wm. Penn, Friends University, Whittier, George Fox, Guilford Colleges, Johns Hopkins and Cornell Universities, and Germantown Friends and Delaware Friends, outstanding prep schools. They founded and maintain an outstanding groups of fully accredited retirement homes in the east and Middle Atlantic states known as the Kendal Corporation.
…all by a denomination with a US 2007 membership of about 86,830 members!–the size of some RC dioceses.
) aren’t obsessive, faddish and are certainly not exclusive or esoteric–indeed, they have been criticized for being too inclusive.
