Mormon-Unitarians

After listening to a Daughters of Mormonism podcast a few weeks ago on Unitarian Universalism and their beliefs, Tim and I decided to attend a local congregation of UUs to enhance our Sabbath Day worship. Though I had never attended a Unitarian church before, I vaguely knew about Unitarians as one of my best friends in high school grew up in that church, and her parents were these awesome hippie-granolie parents that you just don't find in the south. After doing a little research in addition to podcasts and blogs about enhancing your Mormonism with Unitarianism, we thought the two would be compatible together. Mormonism has strict doctrines and rituals and hierarchy, whereas Unitarianism is essentially devoid of strict doctrines but preaches values of acceptance, compassion, and tolerance, which is taught in the Mormon church but is oftentimes overlooked in the culture. They essentially think "God is love" and that's all there is to it. Each person in their religion is on a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning."

We headed over post-Sacrament meeting and after Atticus had an hour of nursery (he was ready to leave anyways), and we arrived about ten minutes after their service started. After we got Atticus settled into the nursery (they had a Buzz Lightyear toy, so he had no problem), we settled down with Tallulah in the small chapel during a musical number of "Beautiful"and the sermon soon began (we unfortunately missed the reading of "Ain't I a Woman?") It was given by a guest speaker, a woman from a nearby town that was actively involved in politics, and had a passion for reproductive freedom. At first it was a little unsettling to be talking about contraception, teen sex, and abortion in a church setting, but her words really resonated with me, and she brought up a few issues and perspectives that I had never considered, and her peaceful and rational tone enhanced the message. After the meeting, there was coffee and cookies and fellowship. We spoke with a few people, but didn't stay long because we were hungry and Atticus started making a mess.

Overall, we really liked the service and would probably attend in the future. The UU church in Madison looks amazing, there is a congregation of 2000 (largest in the US) and they meet in a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It's close to where we live, and we will most likely continue to combine our Mormonism with a side of Unitarianism. I'll let Tim offer his perspective at a future time, he has more thoughts about our venture into uncorrelated Mormonism.