My UU Congregation as "A Rapidly Shrinking, Self-Reinforcing Echo Chamber"

Many UU congregations have forgotten what is liberal religion

The below is a letter (edited and rewritten for this post) I sent to the Worship Team and minister at the Unitarian Universalist congregation I attend, Westside UU in Seattle, prompted in part by my ongoing frustration that the congregation platforms only certain “church approved” viewpoints while actively excluding others.

Although UU congregations are meant to be independent and self-determining, and UU itself is founded on liberal principles such as viewpoint diversity, pluralism of beliefs, and freethinking, the congregation I attend now operates as if it were merely a franchise of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in Boston, figuratively, and often literally, cutting and pasting UUA materials while declining to present alternative perspectives. This, including its accompanying lack of intellectual engagement, is a complaint shared by numerous others who left the congregation.

One congregational leader directly told me she felt that those who do not support the UUA should not belong to Westside. I didn’t say anything, but thought, “Are you even a UU?” Sadly, I believe this leader’s thoughts, if in different forms and degrees, represent the sentiments of multiple Westside leaders and, for practical matters, the organization as a whole.

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The letter:

Hi Worship Team,

Yesterday, I heard from a former congregant who, along with his wife, used to be very active at Westside. He’s a retired scientist who gave two sermons here in past years, but decided that UU and Westside were moving in directions he didn’t like. He asked me about the current state of affairs at Westside.

I told him that while nothing intellectually challenging remains that would interest him or his wife, I thought he would like the new minister, describing her as “very likable, thoughtful, and intelligent.” However, I added, “It’s clear that her goal, shared by many in leadership, is to make Westside into an emotional safe space and bubble for people who share her views and are like her.”

As evidence to support this provocative statement, I mentioned that although she has never told me I can’t express myself, “my ideas would never be allowed within twenty feet of the pulpit or enews.” (Note that I’m not being narcissistic here, and used “my ideas” as an example.)

He replied: “How sad. What happened to Westside and UU?”

I have always been a strong believer in liberal religion, viewpoint diversity, and expanding minds through sermons and educational programs that give us new perspectives and challenge our preconceptions, biases, and assumptions. That’s why I joined a UU congregation rather than a creedal church. My late independent-thinking mother once said, “UU is the only church I could belong to.”

In my recent essay, “More Evidence the Unitarian Universalist Church Has Become a Politically Doctrinaire Institution” (linked below), I wrote about UU nationally: “The result is a church that is a rapidly shrinking, self-reinforcing echo chamber.” The fact that “my ideas would never be allowed within twenty feet of the pulpit or enews” says that this description now applies to Westside as well. (Though Westside lost over 40 percent of its membership from about 2019-23, I don’t know current membership numbers, so I will use “rapidly shrinking” metaphorically.)

Westside, as an organization, now behaves as if platforming different viewpoints, especially those that challenge UUA orthodoxy coming out of Boston, is somehow dangerous to the congregational community. This not only underestimates congregants, treating them as if they are emotionally and intellectually immature, but also runs counter to the very essence of UU and liberal religion.

The former member I spoke with left Westside and UU due to increasing groupthink and the growing expectation of political and ideological conformity, especially at the national level. He and his wife were part of the mass exodus from Westside and UU a few years ago. My mother was also one of those who left, dismayed at the increasing dogmatism and illiberalism. She said she could not belong to a church that now punished ministers and ad hominem attacked laity for expressing dissent, and said, “They switched religions on me.”

Link: More Evidence That the Unitarian Universalist Church Has Become a Politically Doctrinaire Institution

I also recommend reading my earlier relevant essay:

Unitarian Universalist Congregations as Epistemic Bubbles

Thanks!

David