Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Philcrates answers my comment on Christian UUs

In this posting, I commented (apparently not rhetorically, because I got an answer) that, in spite of some Christian UUs seeming to feel somewhat persecuted, "I keep noticing that most of the bloggers who identify as Unitarian Universalist characterize themselves as Christian Unitarian Universalists... Go figure."

Philocrates picked up on the my puzzlement, and gave an explanation I would have never thought of. In part, he says

It's parochial: Although you might not be able to tell, several of the early UU adopters of Blogger and Movable Type -- two of the major blogging software packages -- actually know each other off-line. Could it be that UU Christians took to blogging early because it gave us a way to keep in touch with each other while having conversations we wanted the larger movement to be having? Boy in the Bands, Philocrites, Prophet Motive, PeaceBang, and Unity, for example, are written by real-life pals who like to hang out with each other. And now that a few of us have met the Amazing Fausto, we're not just a bunch of div school pals. (Only PeaceBang and I are Harvard Divinity alums. Fausto shames us all, though: He knows more UU history and theology than 93% of ministers.) Since we're a chatty bunch, we make UU Christianity seem more widespread than it is. When you add in the other UU blogs by Christians or Christian-friendly blogs, you get quite a long list.

I had no idea that the UU blogging community was that tightly knit! :) And I feel much better now, knowing that my UU church, which stays significantly vigilant in watching out for the "J" word, is not in quite the minority I might have thought <insert chuckle here>.

Although I'm beginning to think the pro-"J" group might be a little more interesting.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 4:23 PM