Hello all.  I am an atheist, but my son(10 years old) expressed ineterst in going to church.  No way am I taking him to a "mainstream" church. 

I've done some research on UU and like what I see.  What I want to know is what will my child learn at UU?  What can I as an atheist gain from attending UU.

Any advice or personal experiences shared are greatly appreciated.  Cheers!

Hiya, WPS!

If you have more than a single UU church where you live, do try more than one. Those closest to a college or university tend to have more atheist-agnostic-secular humanist members than others oftentimes.

If you're in New England or the Mid-Atlantic region, you might happen onto a church that was either Unitarian or Universalist before the two merged and became the UUA. These churches tend to be more classically theist, so you might not feel that one of them is all that congenial in terms of deity-talk. That isn't a given, however, by any means. Do note that by classically theist I decidedly do NOT mean that you'll be told what you must believe. They're still UU churches and uphold the right of every individual to do hir own search for truth and meaning.

You might want to test the waters by taking a trial membership in the online UU Church of the Larger Fellowship. It's a 3-month membership. You get mailings and some other services such as access to the CLF lending library which is an excellent collection indeed. At the end of that time, you will simply be asked to sign a pledge card and contribute regularly if you wish to become a member but no one will hassle you in the least if you do not. Definitely a "no obligation" trial membership!

Click on "Join" in the toolbar at the top of the homepage at www.clf.uua.org if you'd like to check out the features of the online church. It's great for those living too far from a "real life" UU church to make attendance workable. I belonged for 15 years when I lived 200 miles from the nearest church. I even continued my membership after I discovered that I didn't care for the only UU church in the city I'd recently moved to. A terrific resource!