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advocates for the rights of women and minorities throughout the world.
Environmentalism is also an area of special interest to many UU's. Many are avid environmentalists, and strongly support organizations devoted to the preservation and protection of our environment. This concern for the earth is mirrored in one of the UU Statement of Principles2 which says that UU's "Respect the interdependent web of existence...."
I believe that the UU collective of congregations fulfills The Urantia Book projection that "Someday religionists will get together and actually effect co-operation on the basis of unity of ideals and purposes rather than attempting to do so on the basis of psychological opinions and theological beliefs. Goals rather than creeds should unify religionists." (1091)
Because of their lack of dogma and their openness, the UU congregations attract a wide variety of people. I was not aware of just how diverse UU's are until I conducted a survey of our congregation during one of our summer services. This informal survey revealed the following breakdown: Atheist, 15%; Agnostic 21%; Theist 10%; Christian 15%; Deist 7%; Other 19%; Pagan 13%.
It is only because tolerance is an important principle of UU-ism that such a diverse group of people can function together in relative harmony. While this does allow harmony, it also means that proselytizing for a particular theological point of view is not well received. The minister or presenter at a UU Sunday service must take care to treat issues (especially theological concepts) in a balanced fashion, or at least admit that what is presented is only their understanding or belief about the issue.
Even though people in the Urantia community are connected by the teachings of The Urantia Book, this community nevertheless constitutes a very diverse group of people. Any Urantian religious organization will face some of the same issues UU congregations face. Not everyone accepts all the teachings of The Urantia Book, so what will be the role of the book in any such religious organization? Will we welcome skeptics into our fellowship?
I think the authors of the book were trying to give us guidance about any religious organization when they wrote, "When a member of a social religious group has complied with the requirements of such a group, he should be encouraged to enjoy religious liberty in the full expression of his own personal interpretation of the truths of religious belief and the facts of religious experience. The security of a religious group depends on spiritual unity, not on theological uniformity. A religious group should be able to enjoy the liberty of freethinking without having to become 'freethinkers.' There is great hope for any church that worships the living God, validates the brotherhood of man, and dares to remove all creedal pressure from its members." (1135)
While many UU's do not "worship the living God," they certainly do validate the "brotherhood of man" and do not place any "creedal pressure" on members.
Ritual
UU congregations may use some of the traditional rituals, but they have also developed a few rituals that are appropriate to the character of UU congregations. One ritual that I believe is unique to UU-ism in its embodiment is the time during the Sunday service for candles of concern or celebration. People of the congregation come forward to light candles and tell of either joyous events they wish to celebrate or concern about some problem in their family, in their community or in the world. This may be the closest thing to group prayer in which UU's participate.
Other rituals are modifications of Christian ones. For instance, instead of a bread and wine communion, a UU congregation may have a water- or bread-sharing communion which takes on a different meaning than the "body and blood" concepts of traditional Christianity.
The flower communion is a relatively new tradition. One form of this ritual consists of each person in the congregation taking a flower from a selection at the front of the church and, if possible, giving it to someone in the congregation who has touched his or her life. The flower ritual originated during W.W.II. It was inaugurated by a Unitarian minister (the founder of the Czechoslovakian Unitarian church) who wanted to modify the form and meaning of the traditional communion ceremony so that people of all faiths could partake of it.
Another ritual of UU services is a time for feedback during the Sunday morning service from the congregation about the subject presented by the speaker. This gives people a chance to voice either assenting or opposing points of view, and may motivate the speaker to defend or clarify his or her assertions.
The holiday celebrations in many UU churches differ considerably from those in Christian churches. In the case of Easter for example, since UU's don't generally believe in the doctrine of the Atonement and the resurrection of Jesus, the sermon topic may be related to the cycle of life that renews itself every spring and/or finding renewal within ourselves. A flower communion may be a part of this service. Other adaptations UU's use are changing the words of familiar Christian songs to make them more acceptable, excluding songs from their hymnals that are out of character with UU thought, or including non-traditional songs
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