But it was always made clear: this is part of their tradition, not ours. We also talked a lot about our own theological heritage, and its similarities and differences with other churches.

I have regularly attended Christian churches, but I don’t take Communion. I sing, bow my head, stand and sit quietly, out of respect for the service. But I generally don’t join in the spoken prayers, since they’re not mine to do. I sometimes kneel, and sometimes don’t. I feel like my observation of Christianity helps me deepen my faith.

It’s worth pointing out that people in the churches I’ve attended have never asked me to act differently. They universally welcome me and affirm my presence as an observer. I’ve had great conversation about faith after those services. If all that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t go.

OTOH I think that we do need this “UU ancestor worship”. History is one of the elements that uniquely identify us as a distinct tradition within the framework of reformed, humanistic Christianity. Perhaps it’s my Catholic upbringing that leads me to the veneration of saints, but I think it is still a good idea. We just need to be faithful to the message and the work of those ancestors, rather than deforming in politically correct terms. Most of them were very, very incorrect for their times.

And to think that if the flaming chalice is anything at all, it’s either a meaningless official-looking logo for some old stationery designed only to fool obtuse bureaucrats, or else it’s the flame of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) rising out of the Blood of Christ (Luke 22).

Looks like they’re celebrating the former and not the latter, but even that they’re doing unwittingly.

Holy S#!+!!!

I would have just called it FestivUUs.

Seriously, if we want a real Unitarian Universalist holiday, why not the old “fast day” in April or May, sort of an “opposite day” Thanksgiving with fasting and [gasp!] confession of the year’s sins.

Dean Grodzins used to promote this practice at Meadville while he was still there. I’ve thought about carrying it forward.

Self-parody, unintentional I hope, at its highest.

Objuan, good on ya.

OTOH, for a breathtaking example of great swathes of UU terminal uniqueness concentrated into a single, concise, clueless statement, click here.

It’s got it all — cultural misappropriation, Famous UU “ancestor worship”, Christian-bashing, self-congratulation, emptiness of spirituality, emptiness and even ignorance of any of its own core beliefs or values (other than that “other religions have value”), and a blissful obliviousness to the dangers of all of the above.