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Silent Wind River

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Hey there. I'm a 16 year old male, and I must say, I feel a bit out of my league in here, but I joined anyway! I'm sure I won't regret it. You all seem really... really... smart... :eek: *ahem* Anyway, to the point. I am a teenager, and religious at heart, but I'm having difficulty finding one that suits me. I'm gay, you see, so that narrows down the options a fair bit. I have already tried Taoism, which just doesn't feel right. And I have looked into African Diasporic Religions, which are all very nifty, but don't really explain much to me, and some of the dieties are a tad bit frightening. I have considered Wicca for about 2 years, but it sort of strikes me as a bit too made-up. At present I'm calling myself a Unitarian Universalist, but I sort of long for something a bit more... organized. *sigh* It's hard to explain. Anyway, I look forward to having many good conversations with you all. Blessing, and I hope I didn't sound too unsophisticated.
 
Welcome, Silent Wind River. No need to apologize or think that everyone here 1. is academic or extremely knowledgable (I'm not), or 2. has found and committed to a spiritual path (I'm still searching).

Silent Wind River said:
At present I'm calling myself a Unitarian Universalist, but I sort of long for something a bit more... organized. *sigh*
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I hear ya there, bro. I've been to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship here in Greenville several times and, although I enjoy the open-mindedness and the willingness to pull from many, many different traditions, it just seemed a bit wishy-washy to me when it all came down to it. You know, vague. ;)

By the way, I think it is great that you are doing this searching, and at 16! When I was your age (God, that makes me sound like a grandfather or something, but I'm not. Not even close.), I was disillusioned with religion and pretty much agnostic. It wasn't until I was in my early twenties that I started feeling that maybe there is something to this God thing, and started my own search. Like I said, I'm still searching, and plan to be for quite some time.

Looking forward to your input. I am sure you have a unique perspective.
Peace.
 
Hi silent Wind River, and welcome to CR. :)

Hope your questing goes well - but do be patient about it all. :)

And maybe you'll learn something interesting here - but I doubt it. ;)
 
A man for all seasons

Silent Wind River said:
Hey there. I'm a 16 year old male, and I must say, I feel a bit out of my league in here, but I joined anyway! I'm sure I won't regret it. You all seem really... really... smart... :eek: *ahem* Anyway, to the point. I am a teenager, and religious at heart, but I'm having difficulty finding one that suits me. I'm gay, you see, so that narrows down the options a fair bit. I have already tried Taoism, which just doesn't feel right. And I have looked into African Diasporic Religions, which are all very nifty, but don't really explain much to me, and some of the dieties are a tad bit frightening. I have considered Wicca for about 2 years, but it sort of strikes me as a bit too made-up. At present I'm calling myself a Unitarian Universalist, but I sort of long for something a bit more... organized. *sigh* It's hard to explain. Anyway, I look forward to having many good conversations with you all. Blessing, and I hope I didn't sound too unsophisticated.
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I am or call myself a postgraduate Catholic. I think I can attend or participate in all kinds of religion today. But I do have a critical eye to religion in general and to each religion in particular. So I tend to point out the less genial aspects of religion and particular religions.

In this respect I might be unfair or appear to be disrespectful; however, I want you to know that no such intentions are in my mind and heart, and certainly not to the person bringing up a religion or a religious idea or practice.

Why then do I bring out the less genial aspects of religion or of a particular religion? Maybe I am just naughty? just like the kid who tells me that I have a spot of sauce in my nose. On the other hand, if the kid does not tell me even from mischievous glee that spot of sauce, maybe I would go about the whole day facing people with that spot of sauce in my face.

What I should do is to say less genial things in a genial manner. I will try to do that. And yet, there are people who do tend to see offense where no offense is present. So just tell me if you see offense in my posts, and I will tell you why a particular post is not offensive or admit it's offensive and rewrite it.

Welcome.

Susma Rio Sep
 
Zdrastvuitsye, hola, shalom, salaam, Dia dhuit, namastar ji, hej, konnichiwa, squeak, meow, :wave: Silent Wind River.

Originally posted by Silent Wind River
I am a teenager, and religious at heart, but I'm having difficulty finding one that suits me. I'm gay, you see, so that narrows down the options a fair bit.
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As Carlos Santana once said (I'm pretty much paraphrasing since the interview was in late June/early July and I heard the blurb around 11:45 pm CDT here in Milwaukee): Religion separates people. Spirituality brings people together.

Anyway, I am good friends with a gay gentleman originally from Mexico City (currently living in Brazil) plus one of my study partners for Japanese is openly gay. It is pretty much a lable to me, not who you really are. I, myself am a Jewish witch (as is my latino friend) and neither he nor I "found our niches" until we were in our 30s (I was 36, I don't know how old he was.) I know it's hard, but have patience in your search.

*amorphous voice coming from over an amorphous counter* "That'll be two cents please."
*hands over two pennies.* *Ka-ching. Zip. Click. Rip*
"Here's your receipt. Have a nice day."

Phyllis Sidhe_Uaine
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome. I'm trying to be as patient as I possibly can. But you know us hormone-crazy teens. Trying to identify ourselves asap and experience absolutely everything all at once. ;) *sigh* Oh, the foolishness of the young.
 
One query and one suggestion

Silent Wind writes:

At present I'm calling myself a Unitarian Universalist, but I sort of long for something a bit more... organized. *sigh* It's hard to explain. Anyway, I look forward to having many good conversations with you all. Blessing, and I hope I didn't sound too unsophisticated.
Click to expand...

What I know about Unitarian Universalist, the term, is that 'unitarian' is opposed to 'trinitarian', and 'universalist' is opposed to 'exclusivist'. So I would suppose that the religion you at present favor does not include the doctrine of the Tirnity which is the bedrock of traditional Christianity embracing both Catholics and Protestants. But being universalist, your religion is open to all peoples, all races, all colors, all nations, all ages, all genders.

Is there a religion that is not universalist? I can think of one right away, Judaism; for it is a religion founded by the God of the Jews for the Jews as His very chosen people; which God of the Jews however is also taught by Jews to be the God of everything and everyone. I think our brother, Bananabrain here, can tell us about the exclusivism of Judaism and how it might also be universalist. My own idea is that any universalism in Judaism would appear to be an afterthought.

But if I may, and if you have the time and generosity, I would be most interested to hear from you from your own acquaintance with the Unitarian Universalist religion, what are your beliefs and your observances.

You also mention that you long for something a bit more organized. Would you like to consider something which I rate as one of the most organized, the Roman Catholic Church. The Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormons, I think is also pretty organized.

I like your attitude. Yes, try everything and pick the best; or try everything and keep everything; it is possible in religion.

Susma Rio Sep
 
Thanks again for the welcome. It is much appreciated. :)

Susma, you nailed it! Though breaking down the title of the religion is probably not going to get you a very good sense of what it is. Unitarianism and Universalism were two liberal Christian denominations that opposed Orthodox Christianity, which merged together and developed into a group which basically opposes creedal religion and accepts everyone and their diverse beliefs, and that is what UUism is today. With a fundamental belief that all souls head to the same place. There is no condemnation in this religion. That said, the UU's do have a few beliefs which most members have in common. They are:

The inherent worth and dignity of every person;

Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;

A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;

The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Other than that. the religion is pretty much a free for all. Create your own beliefs, find your own truth and attain a greater spiritual conciousness in your own way. It is a group of people who meet every Sunday (though that is not actually a requirment) to develop their own ideas on anything and everything. A community that comes together to study and compare the different religions of the world and draw from what inspires them, ignoring what doesn't. Just do what works to make you a more spiritual person, is basically the fellowship in a nutshell. It's actually all very wonderful, and I've grown a lot from following the UUist ideals. I don't really know why I want to leave this group for a more religiously homogenous one, such as the LDS or Catholic church. But sometimes I just feel that way, and sometimes I don't. In fact, for a bit of trivia, the founder of Mormonism was raised by Universalist parents. So obviously he felt that a religion where everyone agrees was the way to go. *shrugs* Anyway, that's my little blabbering blurb, I hope you found it somewhat satisfying. Cheers. :)
 
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