Non-religous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"We do most of the major holidays of some of the religions (all secular things) - we do Christmas at his parents, we do a non-religious gift exchange at my parents. We do the bunny holiday (as my daughter is now calling it). "

We get it OP.You do all of the fun stuff and none of the work.

Thank you, Sister Mary Grumps.

[Anonymous]

Naive (not ignorant) Catholic poster again…

I don't care if anyone thinks less of me for my lack of Quaker knowledge. I do believe being Catholic and not growing up on the East Coast had something to do with it. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that the school system had many liberal non-Catholic teachers. I purposefully chose an out-of-state college in order to broaden my horizons.

I am open minded and liberal on social and religious issues, which has led me away from the Catholic Church. Mostly I feel lost regarding religion. I have no desire to become a religious zealot or commit my entire life to religion. I live morally, I teach my kids about God, Jesus and Mary (again important to Catholics). I have found this thread to be very interesting and thought provoking.

I’m very thankful to the OP and the Quaker posters for enhancing my knowledge. Tonight, I felt the presence of the spirit while sitting on my front porch, watching my kids play, the birds sing and smelling the freshly fallen rain. To me that moment of life and appreciation was more fulfilling than a pray group or Sundays in church. I guess it’s just hard for me to reconcile my formal religious beliefs, with my life & free spirit? I feel like my out here figuring things out on my own with a family looking to me for guidance. I probably should have figured this out in my 20s, but I had other goals at that time.

Anyways, sorry for the ramblings, but thanks for the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Naive (not ignorant) Catholic poster again…

I don't care if anyone thinks less of me for my lack of Quaker knowledge. I do believe being Catholic and not growing up on the East Coast had something to do with it. It wasn't until my senior year of high school that the school system had many liberal non-Catholic teachers. I purposefully chose an out-of-state college in order to broaden my horizons.

I am open minded and liberal on social and religious issues, which has led me away from the Catholic Church. Mostly I feel lost regarding religion. I have no desire to become a religious zealot or commit my entire life to religion. I live morally, I teach my kids about God, Jesus and Mary (again important to Catholics). I have found this thread to be very interesting and thought provoking.

I’m very thankful to the OP and the Quaker posters for enhancing my knowledge. Tonight, I felt the presence of the spirit while sitting on my front porch, watching my kids play, the birds sing and smelling the freshly fallen rain. To me that moment of life and appreciation was more fulfilling than a pray group or Sundays in church. I guess it’s just hard for me to reconcile my formal religious beliefs, with my life & free spirit? I feel like my out here figuring things out on my own with a family looking to me for guidance. I probably should have figured this out in my 20s, but I had other goals at that time.

Anyways, sorry for the ramblings, but thanks for the thread.

Not OP - and not really wanting to hijack - but isn't it amaing when the spirit can come upon you? I was looking at my children's shoes today, and just flt this sense of awe. And then watching the clouds rush by during this heck of a storm, gave me another sense of wonder and awe (and a little fear, too, if truth be told...)

[Anonymous]

Unitarian. We see amazing things as well.

[Anonymous]

Like you, I also started thinking more about religion when I had my children. Having children changed me a great deal, actually! I thought I was an adult before, but now I realize that I was just a grown child. You watch them grow, and that is amazing. You try to guide them into being good people. I find church a good way to have opportunities to discuss with him issues involving poverty, health, kindness, etc. I find he listens to me better if the issue came up in another way (for example, Sunday school) than if I bring it up. It is better when he brings it to me. He listens more. It also helps him realize that these are not just opinions I have; many people think about spiritual/moral issues. If you don't go to church, it is hard for him to see the moral side of his neighbors. Our society is very secular (which I like), but this can make a child not realize that, though they may not discuss it in school or on the play ground, that most people think hard about moral/spiritual issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unitarian. We see amazing things as well.

I am 00:09 - and UU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unitarian. We see amazing things as well.

I am 00:09 - and UU.

Another UU here. Joining a UU congregation liberated me to actually feel spiritual again for the first time in 20 years. The dogmatic nature of organized religion was such a turn off for me, that I completely turned away from God. I am so much happier now that I have a relationship with HER again

[Anonymous]

If you have a sort-of catholic background then go Lutheran. The catholic church has a dark history and if you are not that religious it is good to stay away from.
Lutheran is almost-catholic, but very moderate

By the way, Jehovas Witnesses and the Amish are pacifists too. Not that I admire either one of them for that

[Anonymous]

Here are the UU principles and a statement on sources. As you can see, it's pretty open and non-dogmatic. While UUs are generally anti-war, the denomination does not have a strict pacifist stance like the Quakers do.


http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.


Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
These principles and sources of faith are the backbone of our religious community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear you. Different background- raised ultra catholic, but also participated in Jewish holidays. My mom is ultra catholic, but original social- justice bent, not social- conservative.
As an adult, I did a lot of soul searching trying to find my own way. Looked at most religions, but the catholic liturgy still called me. I identify as episcopal now, just because there are aspects of catholic politics I can't reconcile with.
My husband was raised non-catholic, like yours.
We don't go to church often, but went on Easter. I dont like being the Christmas & Easter Christians, but as Easter approached I lacked a way to explain the holiday to my children. I don't want Easter to just be about candy & a bunny.
Good luck discovering what calls you.

What about a celebration of spring? That's what we are doing with our children because, really, that's where the bunny and eggs etc. come from anyway. You can certainly celebrate Christmas and Easter in a non-religious way. I'm not saying you should if you don't want to, just saying you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"We do most of the major holidays of some of the religions (all secular things) - we do Christmas at his parents, we do a non-religious gift exchange at my parents. We do the bunny holiday (as my daughter is now calling it). "

We get it OP.You do all of the fun stuff and none of the work.

Sounds like you're not doing the work. Or at least not getting the message. Golden Rule, anyone?

This doesn't even make sense. Isn't the golden rule "treat others as you wish to be treated"? Sounds to me that you can be atheist and still follow that rule, no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The number of people who are saying Quaker really surprise me. If you've ever been around genuinely practicing, staunch Quakers who believe in their faith, they are INTENSELY Christian people. This is not just some hippy-dippy zen buddhist way of life.

Not OP but this is what I got:

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Theravada Buddhism (81%)
3. Liberal Quakers (80%)

So I think it depends on what kind of Quaker your talking about!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are the UU principles and a statement on sources. As you can see, it's pretty open and non-dogmatic. While UUs are generally anti-war, the denomination does not have a strict pacifist stance like the Quakers do.


http://www.uua.org/visitors/6798.shtml

There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.


Unitarian Universalism (UU) draws from many sources:

Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
Spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.
These principles and sources of faith are the backbone of our religious community.

UUs stance on war is generally a bit more nuanced than just being anti-war. UU theology generally has subscribed to the Just War theory - which states that some wars can meet certain criteria of philosophical, political and social justices and be fought, although there is certainly a non-violent, pacifist contingent. It is an issue, however, that the congregations, especially in this time of many wars, are struggling with. For instance, see the below:

http://www.meadville.edu/journal/LL_JLR_v8_n1_Rasor.pdf

[Anonymous]

One dumb comment and one dumb question.

I'm fascinated by the number of UU responses to some of these religion threads. To my knowledge, the only person that I know IRL who is UU is DH's ex. Not a bad thing or any sort of judgement, it's just interesting to me that I'm noticing how many appear to be on DCUM.

Is Unitarian the same as Unitarian Universalist? If so, maybe I do know a few more than I thought, but still not a ton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:come on OP! take the quiz and tell us what you get! We are curious!

OP here - took the test -

1. Reform Judaism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (94%)
3. Unitarian Universalism (87%)