Hat Tip to Jason at the Wild Hunt Blog, whose original post can be seen here.
The marriage between the Unitarian Universalist Church and its affiliated UU Pagan branch has just entered that most difficult of all stages-the post honeymoon stage. When this stage hits, its effects can be unsettling. No longer is every spoken word or action the epitome of wisdom or cuteness. Things that were previously hidden, or ignored, start to raise their ugly heads. Reality starts to take precedence over illusion. Suddenly, each partner notices the other actually shits and pisses just like other humans and animals-and it does not smell like roses, either.
When this occurs, there are different possible consequences. The two partners either settle into an uncomfortable period of adjustment and acceptance, or they eventually end the relationship-or in a great many cases, one partner exerts authority and says, “enough is enough.” There might be room for compromise in some instances, but some things are simply intolerable.
This would seem to be the case with the UUA Church regarding the tendency of some pagan faiths to engage in the practice of polyamory. Although the Unitarian Universalist Association is known as a tolerant and progressive religious organization, it seems that this aspect of pagan philosophy might be too much even for them. Luckily-and by the way-polyamory is not a widespread practice among pagans in general. In fact, it is more a fringe element-much like a good many hairy legged female Dianics that secretly would probably love to bring back the practice of castrating males in honor of Cybele.
Like in most marriages, this is nothing more, probably, than the most obvious manifestation of what is most likely a more profound, underlying reality-the two are not really the match made in heaven they thought they were. Moreover, the mainstream UUA adherents might be protesting too much.
The UUA is, in a spiritual sense, itself a polyamory organization aiming to become an umbrella for all the worlds’ religions-at least the more liberal and tolerant ones, those that feel themselves progressive enough to participate in such an exclusively inclusive clan.
To the UUA, there is no difference in religions, other than in the outer trappings. Therefore, you have UUA Pagans, UUA Christians, UUA Buddhists, and UUA Hindus. Somewhere along the way, while these groups were affiliating, they simultaneously began segregating, much like you might see black and white students willingly and happily segregated in the lunchroom in the middle of an “integrated” school.
The recent UUA declaration to reign in some of these independent affiliates is, in my opinion, geared more toward addressing this issue, and the potential for schisms and divisions that it portends. Otherwise, there might be the danger of a real split, and the organization imploding through the force of its more mainstream members rushing on their collective ways out the door. It was meant originally, after all, to be one body, one organization, with members that worshipped as one, in tolerance and acceptance of their individual differences. The independent affiliate program was something meant, in addition to drawing new members, to foster tolerance, understanding, and unity between all the members and affiliate branches. Somewhere along the way, I guess they discovered that a good many of these independent affiliates would just as soon remain-well, independent. As well as, perhaps, a bit too unique, as in the case of the polyamory pagans. Tolerance, I guess, only goes so far after all.
Many if not most religious organizations advise their followers that, when they attend their services, they should leave their individual political beliefs outside the door. That doesn't seem to be the problem here, as Unitarians are officially and outwardly liberal, and pretty activist at that. So that is not their problem.
Instead, it would seem in their case that they might well be the only religion in the world whose adherents might well be advised to leave their religious beliefs outside the door.
6 comments:
Your piece perhaps inadvertently makes it sound as if the UUA specifically rejected poly pagans. More accurately, it terminated the independent affiliate status of Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness ("UUPA"), which is not at all a pagan organization, though many of its members are indeed pagan.
Also, in the interest of context, UUPA is not the only Independent Affiliate whose status was terminated. It seems that the UUA cut a wide swath from the sum total of its Independent Affiliates, ostensibly in an effort to retain those more closely aligned with UU principles while making the IA program more manageable. Some have speculated that this is a cover for an underlying intention to separate the UUA from the issue of polyamory, which, no suprise, has proven to be quite controversial. Some within UUPA have confirmed with trusted sources within the UUA that this is not the case.
Anita-Thanks for the clarification. I had assumed from the limited reading I done that the polyamorys were a pagan branch affiliate. I stand corrected.
Also, as I pointed out, I think as much as anything had to do with the status of Independent Affiliates in general as remaining perhaps too segregated from each other, with the potential of forming permanent clichs (sp?), and later for outright schism.
The Polyamory branch was probably not the only concern, just perhaps the most obvious example of what could turn into a public relations problem, both within and without the UUA.
Kind of similar to if the Baptist and Methodists decided to form one Church, but after doing so they each one remained separate from the other in all but name. As long as they continued on that route they would never become a truly unified church, just an organization that maybe shared certain ideals and projects, and funding, but with no true spiritual unity that generally binds a church.
In my opinion, I think that some of the higher-ups of the UUA saw this potential, and realized it should be addressed in some way before the various independent affiliates lost sight of the true mission of the organization-whatever that is.
Thanks for visiting and commenting. Drop by anytime.
Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness has never been an Independent Affiliate of the UUA.
UUPA has never applied to the UUA to become and Independent Affiliate.
"Instead, it would seem in their case that they might well be the only religion in the world whose adherents might well be advised to leave their religious beliefs outside the door."
Most ironic isn't it? But there us actually a fair bit of truth to that sardonic statement, especially with respect to "Humanist" (read atheist) dominated U*U "churches" that are far from Welcoming Congregations to God believing people.
Thanks so much for this great article. Another writer here stands up for the right to be creative.
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