I am a brand new UU, but I think I have some answers to your question.

There are many factors as to why UU isn't more "popular."  The biggest, I think, is UU's lack of any formal creeds.  It is very difficult to for a devout Christian to sit next to a devout atheist in the same church service.  It is much easier for that Christian to find a liberal denomination with like-minded peers.  Tolerance is hard to master-- even I have little pangs of disagreement when a pagan or an agnostic say something that I disagree with.  But I always remind myself that the mysteries of the universe are too great for us to fathom, and that perhaps the atheist, the pagan, and the Christian are all seeing different sides of the same coin.

Nov 5, 2010 -- 11:25AM, ayearhasgone wrote:

I am a brand new UU, but I think I have some answers to your question.

There are many factors as to why UU isn't more "popular."  The biggest, I think, is UU's lack of any formal creeds.

To some extent, I agree. Many people find it easier and simpler to be told what they are to believe. Forging one's own belief path is somewhat more challenging and takes a good deal more effort, more effort I suspect than most wish to expend.

More significant, IMO, is that UU's are so commonly opposed to any action that might be seen as proselytizing. Too often, that results in a lack of promotion of the faith when it would be simply an expression of satisfaction with having found such a liberal one. Thus, few people outside it know what Unitarian Universalism involves or indeed have ever heard of it.

It is very difficult to for a devout Christian to sit next to a devout atheist in the same church service.  It is much easier for that Christian to find a liberal denomination with like-minded peers.

I'm not so sure I agree with this. I rarely knew what others in my UU churches believed, or if I did, it was certainly no great exercise for me to sit next to someone with whose beliefs I disagreed. But we are all different and what was not a challenge for me could easily be one for another.

Being told to my face during a coffeetime conversation that certain beliefs which I held (likely unknown to the person expressing disdain for them) were unsuitable for a UU was much harder for me to take. I usually excused myself for more coffee or sometimes said with a smile as lightly and gently as I could manage, "And how do you know those are not my beliefs?"

Tolerance is hard to master-- even I have little pangs of disagreement when a pagan or an agnostic say something that I disagree with.

It is admirable that you are aware of your shortcomings where tolerance is concerned.

But I always remind myself that the mysteries of the universe are too great for us to fathom, and that perhaps the atheist, the pagan, and the Christian are all seeing different sides of the same coin.

A wise philosophy, IMO. I wish more people in general subscribed to this one.