I’d kinda like to visit the one here but......I’m not a morning person. Especially on the weekend.

When my son's father died, his friend's mother, minister of the local UUC wrote a heartfelt, non-religious memorial service for him, especially geared to helping my son have a sense of community. It was a beautiful thing to do. There are really decent people in every faith and all the spaces in-between.

I did very briefly attend the UU church in Richmond, KY. I live in the very Christian/very earth-hippie-spiritual-but-not-religious town to the south of it, and was seeking like-minded sorts, and I'd been told that I might find them at UU. I did meet a few nonbelievers and Buddhists there but nobody I really clicked with. But I kept giving it a shot.

I'd been told repeatedly by folks there that it wasn't a church but rather a "fellowship." But with the responsive readings, the hymns, the whole physical setup, I figured if it walked like a duck, etc. etc. Sure, you got to discuss the sermon afterwards, but it was still a sermon. And then I wondered about what they really believe if there were hardcore atheists, Buddhists, and Christians of different stripes there. In the end, I had to ask myself what the fuck an atheist was doing in a church (even if they call it something different) anyway, and so I stopped going as suddenly as I started.

While I was an Anglican priest, I was having doubts and tried to turn to the Universalist Unitarian Church. They didn't want anything to do with me because I was a priest. So now as an atheist, I have nothing to do with them.

I am no fan of the Universalist Church.

To quote Tracie Harris from episode 740 of the “Atheist Experience” “ . . . Does it (Unitarian Church) foster and cater to liberal religion, Yes I think it absolutely does. Now is that a problem? well, They're not looking at it like you (the caller) are looking at it. Yes that a problem because liberal religion buffers criticism of more fundamental religions and more extreme religions and so it does cause a bit of a problem especially if the liberal group is is standing up to buffer up criticism like openly if they are saying you should not criticize people for the beliefs if this is what they are teaching they really are teaching you something that keeps you from being able to hammer the more dangerous sects of religion that need hammering um so I do think they can be a problem. And I understand the problem you're describing and I've written about it as well and I agree that the liberal branches of religion do buffer extreme religions and they also prop it up because the problems with the extreme religions is they believe in authoritarian deity that is telling them to do these things and what's happening is when you have a liberal belier that believe in that deity but they believe it tells you to do different things and so when they are both operating on faith, there is no mechanism for one to demonstrate the other is wrong. So they are saying basically I have faith my god my god is telling me to do these nice things and you have this other guy over here saying I have faith my god is telling me to do these horrible things and I don't see how I can criticize the guy whose god is telling him to do horrible things when person over here is telling me it is perfectly fine to believe in this god, to believe in this god's authority and do whatever he says. But I just believe he says to do good things, Then how do I criticize the guy who says I believe it's evil things. You can't tell me how you know god has told you to do anything you just have faith so yes it does buffer it and it does create a big problem I agree.”

You lost me at church.