Why most UUs are apathetic and ignorant about their church

And the danger of this apathy

"We have met the enemy and he is us." – Walt Kelly

"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." – Plato

It is regularly observed that most Unitarian Universalists (UUs) lack interest in and awareness of the workings, politics, and current state of affairs of their church. At my congregation, several members, who left due to drastic changes in the church and congregation, were appalled by the apathy and even willful ignorance of so many members.

Even as national and congregational membership rapidly declines, congregations fold, congregants witness friends and longtime members quitting the church, and those who see what is happening raise alarms about the church’s trends towards authoritarian rule and dogmatism, I hear from members of other congregations that this indifference is widespread among their members.

This post examines the reasons for this widespread apathy and its dangers to the church, congregations, and the UU movement.

Contributing factors to this apathy and ignorance

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Most people have only superficial knowledge about the organizations they belong to

Most people are "low-information voters," with only a superficial understanding of the organizations and movements they belong to— whether it's a political party, a charity organization, or a church. Various reasons contribute to this, including a lack of interest and involvement, and lack of time. For many UUs, knowledge of Unitarian and Universalism beliefs and history and their own congregation’s inner workings and governance is remarkably lacking.

Decentralized structure of the church

The UU church's decentralized structure, where each congregation operates with significant autonomy, often leads to a lack of emphasis on a unified church identity or knowledge base. This results in varying levels of engagement and awareness among members.

Many congregations are uninformed and disengaged with the national church, failing to adequately inform their members about broader issues and democratically participate in the General Assembly.

How Unitarian Universalist congregations have dropped the ball on democracy

Focus on individual beliefs

UU traditionally emphasizes individual spiritual journeys and personal belief systems over dogmatic teachings. This can lead to a more relaxed approach to institutional knowledge, where members might prioritize their spiritual development over understanding the church's broader history, structure, or governance.

Human nature and group psychology

Unitarian Universalists are human beings prone to all the usual social and group psychology, including groupthink and echo chambers, crowd following, tribalism, and cognitive biases.

Julie Hotard Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and cult expert who has written about the recent trends of illiberalism and intolerance in the UU church, wrote the following:

Once we have food, clothing, shelter, warmth—basic individual needs met—humans need connection and community more than anything. Some of us value, hold dear, and need morally or spiritually uplifting ideas and practices like the 7 Principles. Perhaps most do not. Humans are social and tribal. Most come to church to sing, play, or socialize with other people. Anything that could interrupt, interfere with, or distract from that is ignored at best—and pushed away aggressively and abusively at worst.

There’s significant gratitude toward the leaders and organizers of places and organizations where people can socialize. One of my fellow congregants told me, "I don't want to hear anything negative about the leaders of the church." Another congregant said she didn’t want to hear about conflicts in the church because they have nothing to do with her—that she is focused on herself, her health, and her family. Her concerns for the church community seem limited to wanting to receive a sense of connection and community there—regardless of anything else that may be happening. In fact, she's pretending that nothing else is going on there.

Denial of reality in service of getting one's perceived tribal needs met without interruption can be very powerful.

Often, people in supposedly morally-centered organizations like churches end up playing the role of the "apath" when abuse, gaslighting, scapegoating, and/or authoritarian coercion are occurring. Here’s a description of "apaths":

Narcissists often recruit people called 'apaths' to help with their games — here's why they're dangerous

When Trump said, "I could shoot people on 5th Avenue and not lose any followers," I never thought I'd be saying that about the leaders of the Unitarian Church. But today, I am saying that about them and their congregants.

UUs are no longer the independent minded freethinkers they once were

Miles Fidelman, a longtime UU, church historian and organizational expert, observes that UUs have changed over the years, becoming crowd followers and conformists, whereas they once prided themselves on being independent thinkers.

Many congregational cultures prioritize conflict avoidance and focus on maintaining peace and harmony, often at the expense of addressing systemic issues within the church. Those who raise concerns are frequently silenced and labeled as troublemakers, while those who remain quiet and compliant are rewarded.

When liberal congregations are liberal in name only

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Such laity apathy and ignorance are not only dangerous but may prove catastrophic to the church

The disengagement of laity and congregations from church affairs is dangerous to the church, congregations, and the UU movement.

Steve Sullivan Ph.D., a philosophy professor at Pennsylvania Western University and a member of a UU congregation in Pennsylvania, wrote the following during a group discussion on this topic:

With a religion that is based on central authority, there is a serious danger that the authority will abuse its power. That's exactly what we have seen under the UUA regime in recent years. Congregational autonomy protects us from such abuses.

The UUA has proven repeatedly that it cannot be trusted to apply even reasonable looking principles evenhandedly. It used to be that the punishment of misbehaving ministers by the UU Ministers Association (which is under the thumb of the UUA) was focused almost exclusively on sexual misconduct. I too am all in favor of such punishment. But in recent years we have seen ministers punished for allegedly "breaking covenant" in ways that have nothing to do with sexual misconduct. Kate Rohde was punished for criticizing another minister in a private FB post that somehow reached that minister; she was denied her pension-like income from the UUA/UUMA. By contrast, when hundreds of ministers villified Rev. Todd Ekloff for the book he wrote thoughtfully criticizing the UUA (and UUMA?) for "the coddling of the Unitarian Universalist mind" in connection with minority groups, none of those ministers was punished at all for violating the rule against badmouthing other ministers. Ekloff was expelled from the UUMA, ostensibly for refusing to meet with a UUMA board that was run by a minister who had already condemned him. Congregational autonomy enabled his Spokane congregation to decide for itself whether to keep him or remove him as minister; they chose to keep him. 

But there's more. Congregations that abuse their own power over actual or prospective members may get away with it because the UUA backs them. Many of us know a highly intelligent woman who spent two decades helping a congregation that came to be dominated by UUA-supporting members. She decided at last to apply for membership, but was turned down because she had been critical of the UUA. She knew it was hopeless to turn to the UUA for assistance; she now attends a support group for people who have been mistreated by UUA-dominated congregations.

In connection with Article III on congregational autonomy, we should focus on the issue that genuinely concerns most members of this group: the danger that the UUA will revise Article III so as to empower itself to shove its illiberal-leftist ideology down our throats if our congregations remain members of the UUA. We have seen some signs that this is in fact their intention; some members of this group have been especially helpful in calling attention to these signs. I have pledged to keep my congregation informed about new information in this connection; I hope others in the group will do likewise in their own congregations

We may be witnessing in real time the dying of a once proud religiously liberal church. The UUA is jettisoning its liberal and enlightenment traditions, and the church is splitting, with increasing numbers of congregations distancing themselves from or leaving the Unitarian Universalist Association, longtime members and ministers leaving, and independent groups, such as the North American Unitarian Association and Fifth Principle Project, forming. If the church collapses or whithers on the vine, history will show that laity and congregational apathy and ignorance about national church affairs, and the organizational and cultural forces that promote and enable such indifference, were key contributors.

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Further reading:

The True Believers: UU is in Danger of Becoming Just Another Church

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