Entries from March 2008

March 31, 2008

The Church of the Larger Fellowship is the Largest Congregation in the UUA: The Answer to Today’s Trivia Question

Congratulations to Cilla Roughley, who correctly guessed that the Church of the Larger Fellowship is the largest congregation in the Unitarian Universalist Association. It currently has approximately 3300 members, more than double the largest “physical” congregation.
The Church of the Larger Fellowship is in some ways an extension of the old Post Office Missions. [...]

March 31, 2008

UU Trivia Question of the Day #16

So far we’ve had a lot of questions about the UUA, but not so many about UU churches themselves.  Therefore, Unitarian-Universalist congregations will be the focus of this week’s questions.
In terms of members, what is the largest Unitarian-Universalist congregation?
Extra bonus question: when was this congregation founded?

March 31, 2008

Universalist Quote of the Day #51

“[Rev. Power] says, that the system of faith and doctrine, that I have the honor of defending, is a system of faith that stands opposed to all the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, and is opposed to all other systems.  But, you, who are intelligent and informed on this subject, know this is not the [...]

March 29, 2008

Local Church Mergers Could Point Way to Future of UUism

We’ve been discussing mergers here lately, especially between Unitarians, Universalists, and other denominations.  But there’s another level to this discussion that ought to be acknowledged: local mergers.  From time to time a UU church merges with a church from another congregation, sometimes resulting in novel combinations.  Given the congregational polity of UUism, there’s nothing to [...]

March 28, 2008

Congregationalists and Christians Were Potential U/U Merger Partners: The Answer to Today’s Trivia Question

There have been several good guesses today.  It’s actually hard to declare a winner, since it somewhat depends on how you parse history.  Basically, the two main groups that were considered for merger were the Congregationalists and the Christians.  But it’s all part of how you define things.
For example, SophiaSeeker guesses that the United Church [...]

March 28, 2008

Who Should the Unitarian-Universalists Merge With?

Today’s trivia question asks who the Unitarians and Universalists considered merging with before they ended up combining.  A logical follow-up would be to ask: who do you think the UUs should merge with today, or in the future?
Mergers have been a major story in American religious history, just as schisms have been.  With the marriage [...]

March 28, 2008

UU Trivia Question of the Day #15

It wasn’t inevitable that the Unitarians and the Universalists would get together. There was a long process of flirtation and withdrawal before they actually managed to combine forces in 1961. And this was not the only possible merger, which leads us to today’s question:
What other religious groups had the Unitarians and/or Universalists considered [...]

March 28, 2008

Universalist Quote of the Day #50

“As an author, lecturer, and reformer, [Ralph Waldo Emerson] has made an indelible impression on the minds of men during the last half century.  The foremost thinkers acknowledged their indebtedness to him.  It his earlier days many of his statements indicated pantheistic opinions.  His discourse before the Divinity School in Harvard University in 1838–so clearly [...]

March 27, 2008

The First Responsive Resolution was in 1983: The Answer to Today’s Trivia Question

OK, time for the answer to today’s question.  Kim Hampton guessed that the first Responsive Resolution was in 1968, and that it related to black empowerment.  That’s a very good guess, though it doesn’t happen to be correct.  In 1968 there were two resolutions that related to issues of black empowerment, but neither was of [...]

March 27, 2008

Universalist Quote of the Day #49

“There is one distinctive and benevolent feature in the constitution of Universalist societies–which if not peculiar to the denomination, is probably not generally known–certainly not by other sects.  It is a provision for the poor.  And so faithfully is this pledge redeemed, that very few instances can be found in which destitute Universalists have been [...]