Yesterday, Kim Hampton asked this question (it’s short and good–read it!):
Why is it, for all of our supposed intellectualism on a wide range of subjects, most Unitarian Universalists show absolutely no curiosity regarding religion itself?
This is true enough. I’d qualify it by adding there are Unitarian Universalists who effectively practice another religion and have some interest in their own. Very few of them have the sort of wide-ranging curiosity about religion she’s talking about.
What I had noticed is that most Unitarian Universalists I’ve met are particularly uninterested in Unitarian Universalism. They aren’t interested in Unitarianism or Universalism, either. I’m not sure this is internalized anti-intellectualism, but that’s my working theory.
From what I’ve been able to discern in my small church, the members seem more interested in mutual support than they are in UUism. I think that a number of them have had bad experiences in their former churches and they are not ready or willing to explore any sort of spirituality; they might fear becoming injured again. In a sense the UU church is probably seen as little more than a social club. Perhaps some people might move beyond that point.
There’s nothing wrong with mutual support. It’s just not enough.