religious question

[butterflydreams]

I'm posting this here vs PPS because I want a trans-specific perspective on this.

 

On my recent trip back to my alma mater, I had kind of an unexpected conversation with my professor. The college itself is a Catholic school, and there were a few religious studies courses you had to take while there. The required ones were generic, but I found them to be interesting. So much so that I took several of his other classes throughout my time there as electives (I almost could've minored in religious studies). I don't know that my professor knew I had done that, but we were chatting and somehow he brought up that I might have interest in a Unitarian church.

 

I don't know anything about them, other than that they seem similar to the kinds of religious studies classes I took in college. Classes with heavy emphasis on philosophy, general spiritualism, people like Thoreau, Rumi, that kind of thing. Heck, we even spent a few classes talking about drug-induced spiritual visions. I loved those classes, and I miss that sort of aspect in my life. I grew more as a person from those classes than from anything else I did in college. And I think in a big, important way, that growth paved the way for me being able to transition. Sort of a clearing out of the rigid Protestantism I had been raised with that would've prevented me from transitioning. Even though that part of my upbringing influenced me more than I think people around me realize. I was never comfortable calling myself an atheist because of that. I don't know that I'd say I think there's a "God" per se, but I've long referred to what I call the "Universal Mind" as something I do believe in.

 

So, I guess my question is what the heck is a Unitarian church? Does anyone have any experience with being a part of one? And would I genuinely be accepted there, despite being trans?

[Toothlesss]

4 minutes ago, Hadley167 said:

So, I guess my question is what the heck is a Unitarian church?

http://www.uua.org

 

Thanks to this thread, I'm going to peruse the site.  I have no real life community, and I'm no longer Christian so anything related to Christianity is out the door for me. 

 

I can't answer the rest of your questions because I'm pretty much as inexperienced as you are.  

[Emery.]

Unitarian Church is something between Orthodox and Catholic Church and it functions where I live - Middle Europe because of legal-ish and tranditional-ish reasons. I have no idea what it's doing in America though. Maybe that's a different Unitarian Church. I've got no idea how different Churches view being trans, but in general I'd rather reccomend something like Baptists or some other younger or less mainstream Protestant Church if you want to join in. From what I've heard, because I'm an atheist myself. I think any mainstream religion is painfully rigid, inhuman and reinforces societal nonsense just by the fact of being mainstream. 

[Sally]

The American Unitarian Universalist Churches are accepting to all people, even those who do not think of themselves as being religious but are wanting a semi-spiritual community.  They do not align with any particular religion, and their social views are very liberal/progressive.  I'm  sure you'd feel accepted at a Unitarian Church.  

[butterflydreams]

26 minutes ago, Toothlesss said:

Thanks to this thread, I'm going to peruse the site.  I have no real life community, and I'm no longer Christian so anything related to Christianity is out the door for me. 

That's great! I hope other people will chime in here.

 

23 minutes ago, Emery. said:

I'd rather reccomend something like Baptists or some other younger or less mainstream Protestant Church if you want to join in.

Things must be different here vs Europe, because my cousins are Baptists...and if they knew about me, they'd be praying for me to be saved every day.

[Comrade F&F]

Oh....wow.

 

I didn't know this existed either. I'm gonna go read up on them. Thanks for sharing!

[binary suns]

there's a popular Unitarian church near my area, some of my peers in high school went there. I visited it once for some kind of ceremony for my one friend. idk. seemed fine. on paper, Unitarian sounds appealing, my.. um, spirituality and faith is not mainstream so I lack incentive to go to church, but I've considered Buddhist and Unitarian services recently. I've yet to go to either. 

[Toothlesss]

 Ugh..there's none near me   wait a minute...*looks at map after extending it 250 mile radius instead of just 25* ....  This area is prominently everything Christian, there's even a Catholic church just up the road. There's like, 8-9 churches on the main road alone...yup- the religious South for ya'll..  Great if you're any form of Christian...anything else...good luck.    

 

I'm not a morning person though, so eh...still going to look into it.  Having more real life support (aside from the obvious being my parents)..would be awesome. 

[Emery.]

Yeah it must be different...

[butterflydreams]

7 minutes ago, Toothlesss said:

I'm not a morning person though, so eh...still going to look into it.  Having more real life support (aside from the obvious being my parents)..would be awesome. 

I think they'll probably have other ways to be involved other than just normal sunday service. The queer youth group I'm training to be an adult facilitator for is hosted by the unitarian church (I didn't make this connection when I originally signed up).

[Toothlesss]

 There's one near uptown of the city...and I searched for LGBT welcoming ones... But it's at least 40 mins to get there..and 10:30am is a 50/50 for me. I'm soo much of a night owl that I fall asleep much later than what people deem as "normal"  

[TheDemi_Urge]

1 hour ago, Sally said:

The American Unitarian Universalist Churches are accepting to all people, even those who do not think of themselves as being religious but are wanting a semi-spiritual community.  They do not align with any particular religion, and their social views are very liberal/progressive.  I'm  sure you'd feel accepted at a Unitarian Church.  

I'd love to join them but I live in the UK where no UU churches exist- untitarian churches seem to exist separately though

[Pramana]

I went to a secular divinity school which has Unitarian Universalist leanings. It's known for being LGBT+ oriented, and at the time a number of students were doing thesis work on LGBT+ issues in religious contexts. I was primarily studying Buddhism/Hinduism, although I did take a few courses on Western religions, in which both the professors and the students leaned towards modernist/postmodernist viewpoints, motivated by a progressive, humane ethic. I also recall one or two students who were writing theses involving psychedelics and religious experiences.

That's all to say that from what I know of Unitarian Universalism, I think they would be welcoming and would fit your interests. Of course, with any denomination, much will depend on the nature of the particular congregation and the personalities you encounter there.

[God of the Forest]

Traditionally in the Christian church it is generally accepted that God comes in three forms (the holy trinity), well the Unitarian Church sees God as one entity as opposed to the father, the son and the holy spirit. It is just one denomination of many in the christian faith...if that answers your question

[butterflydreams]

5 minutes ago, RipleyJ said:

Traditionally in the Christian church it is generally accepted that God comes in three forms (the holy trinity)

Huh, I didn't know that was a generic Christian thing. I always thought that was a very specific Catholic thing (that's always where I saw it popping up).

 

7 minutes ago, RipleyJ said:

well the Unitarian Church sees God as one entity as opposed to the father, the son and the holy spirit. It is just one denomination of many in the christian faith...if that answers your question

hmmm, interesting. Yes, I think it helps make things a bit clearer.

 

20 minutes ago, Pramana said:

Of course, with any denomination, much will depend on the nature of the particular congregation and the personalities you encounter there.

I think this is a big reason why I'd seriously consider it at all. I feel like the location that I'm in right now will be far more conducive to creating much more welcoming congregations than other communities of which I've been a part.

 

I went to a Congregationalist church until I was...maybe 11 or 12. I don't remember feeling put off of religion by that experience, though my dad was very against it. I actually really enjoyed it, and ironically, my earliest trans feelings were related to my experiences in church at that time. Plus I threw up on the minister when I was baptized as a baby...so...you know...

[Cimmerian]

I'm not trans but I've attended a Unitarian church a couple of times and it seemed pretty welcoming community LGBT-wise and they openly advertised that they both support and have trans members. The services were much more spiritual than anything which was a nice change. I'd only recommend finding one with a good sized congregation for the best chances of good discussion with different types of people and various activities or other spiritual meetings outside of the typical Sunday morning schedule.

[Dellakat]

Wow, I went to the website, and it looks pretty cool! I mix Christianity with Buddhism, and I couldn't think of any churches or organizations that did that kind of thing.. But having a place that isn't fixed on one religion would be nice~ I'll definitely have to check it out more~

[butterflydreams]

Hehe, well I'm glad I've at least introduced something new to a few people

 

I think I have a strange but fortuitous back door into the congregation near me, so I'm going to use that as an opportunity to meet at least one person that I know is involved with that church. 

 

Since there seems to be a good amount of interest, if any of this stuff works out, I'll try to report back here.

[ChillaKilla]

@Hadley167 The church my parents (and by extension myself) attend is a Unity church. It's along the same lines of UU- very spiritual and transcendentalist rather than by-the-book religious. We don't even have bibles in the seat backs. The church library has religious texts from many faiths, and there's a heavy emphasis on meditating and practicing connection to the universe as a higher power. If you're looking to reconcile your identity with a faith of some sort, UU and/or Unity get a 10/10. Best of luck!

[Guest]

I've never heard about Unitarian churches untill this thread and i don't believe i've seen any active unitarian churches/communitys near me.It's mostly either catholic, baptist, reformed, protestant and pentecostal here. I hope you'll have a good experience going to that church with the person you know.

[ChillaKilla]

14 hours ago, Emery. said:

Yeah it must be different...

Here, Baptist usually is synonymous with "creationist, fundamentalist wackos", especially when I live (the Bible Belt). Think Westboro Baptist (the "God Hates F*gs" church).