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That's too bad. I have known a few people of that faith and they were people that follow the Golden Rule. It is too bad that we have went to "if it feels good, do it". Topic should read "Satan's Recruitment Numbers Up".
The only two Churches that are actually growing in numbers are Jehovah's Witnesses #1, and Mormon's #2.
Though other churches are growing on a regional basis.
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In Tennessee, Unitarians grew by 20.8% from 2000 to 2010. During the same time frame, they grew by 22% in Georgia
Our national membership has been flat for several years, though putting aside the matter of the number of members on the books, the number of folks who self-identify as Unitarian has steadily increased over that same time period.
... putting aside the matter of the number of members on the books, the number of folks who self-identify as Unitarian has steadily increased over that same time period.
Yeah, I would more or less fall into the self-identification category there despite being an atheist. However "membership" is not that much of a distinction for the UU's as it is for most other groups, religious or otherwise. There's no pressure to "sign the book" and all "signing the book" means is that you signed the book. You're allowed to vote in meetings, essentially, and there will be more subtle expectations for donations and volunteering I suppose, and you'll be taken a little more seriously when you express opinions or make suggestions. But it isn't attached to a doctrinal litmus test or some sort of ritualistic initiation like it generally is in actual churches.
So I would not be surprised to find there are a lot of people like me who like the idea of being part of a humanist social group who might be a source of some social support to me in my dotage, but who are a little hesitant about the hand-holding kum-by-ah of membership ... such that the UU is growing by the first measure, and stagnant overall by the second measure.
That said, our UU society all but shuts down for the summer. No adult ed classes, services are so small they're not held in the auditorium, the office is open one day a week ... they don't even bother to keep up appearances. I take it these people represent the core membership and it's probably 50 people in a town with a permanent population of 30,000 or so. As such, even a liberal, welcoming, doctrinally un-obsessed, not-really church doesn't look like the indispensable pillar of the community you'd think it'd be if it were truly valuable and valued by people.
So this makes me wonder whether our culture isn't shifting in ways that go beyond the appeal (or lack thereof) of conventional theism. I live in a neighborhood of replica Victorian homes with old-fashioned front porches that are almost entirely visual props and not actually used. Neighbors don't know each other for the most part. If churches and neighborhoods no longer are something people "belong" to, then what DO they belong to? Employment and professional connections and social media appears to be about it. People don't really have time or energy for much more. In fact the way the development I live in is "gelling" in the final phases of its development, it's about one third absentee owners who are just renting their property out. Roughly a third of the people who live here aren't really invested in the 'hood. And even the owner / occupants could just as easily be living anywhere in the area. They are here not to build a sub-community together, but to have a place to "flop". Or they are hung up on peripheral criteria. My next door neighbors are a likable enough couple but has the notion that my wife and I are 10 years younger than them and so not really ideal people to hang with or get to know. In kinder terms than that, they actually told us that initially. That has changed a bit now that they realize that it's either us or the twenty-something student renters or young couples with kids in the townhome buildings. So nice to feel like people are "settling" for knowing you!
When I lived in the Phoenix area I stumbled into a group of guys who met for coffee and casual conversation most mornings that I really enjoyed and have missed since. In my current town, now that I'm over 50, I'm eligible to join the senior center and was pleased to see that they have a social "men's group" that meets every Saturday morning at 9. Except that I went to it and no one else showed up. It's on the web calendar, it's posted on "this week's events", I phoned the office the day before and confirmed it ... and yet no one bothered to show up but me.
I'm beginning to think that I'm living in a dystopian world where no one talks to anyone except by email or FaceBook ... or in some group that is mutually propping up some sort of belief fantasy ... or their employment ... or maybe in discussion forums like this.
So while as an atheist I am cheered by the slow dissolution of our nation's largest Protestant denomination and the general downward trend of the others, I am not convinced that the social support and community once provided by these organizations is being replaced by anything equivalent. Or that the downward spiral is entirely a function of people getting hip to the BS of faith-based belief systems.
Yeah, I would more or less fall into the self-identification category there despite being an atheist.
"Some of my best friends at church are atheists." It's true though. While Unitarian Universalism isn't atheism, it happily provides a religious home for atheists, agnostics, even Buddhists and liberal Christians and Jews ostracized by reactionary congregations.
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Originally Posted by mordant
That said, our UU society all but shuts down for the summer. No adult ed classes, services are so small they're not held in the auditorium, the office is open one day a week ... they don't even bother to keep up appearances.
This reflects a very long history in the Unitarian church: A very deliberate beginning of the church year at the end of the summer, and a very deliberate end of the church year at the end of the spring. That's slowly changing though.
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Originally Posted by mordant
I take it these people represent the core membership
Probably not. I ran summer worship for three years and while there were a number of core members attending, it was the same percentage as always, i.e., many core members followed the centuries-old tradition of taking ten weeks off from church (of the eight members of governing board, generally only one was in attendance), and casual members were as likely to attend during the summer as core members. During my tenure as summer worship coordinator, I was the only member of the worship committee that attended summer services every week. More over, there were a number of people who attended during the summer that did not attend our church during the rest of the year, some members of other churches that shut down for the summer.
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Originally Posted by mordant
So this makes me wonder whether our culture isn't shifting in ways that go beyond the appeal (or lack thereof) of conventional theism.
It is, but you cannot talk about Unitarian Universalism in the context of "conventional theism". UU is non-dogmatic. UUs may or may not be theists.
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Originally Posted by mordant
If churches and neighborhoods no longer are something people "belong" to, then what DO they belong to?
The most troubling answer is that people will "belong" to their family and close friends. The Dalai Lama recently stressed the danger of this:
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Whether we accept religion or not, we all need to cultivate compassion and concern for others, because we are social animals. Human intelligence allows us to expand that sense of compassion, extending it beyond our immediate family and friends.
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I tend to think that in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, we could get away with being selfish, concerned just about ourselves and perhaps our immediate family. But in the 21st Century it's clear that we are all connected. The Buddhists were right... and this emphasis on global compassion, it's an urgent need.
Narrowing one's compassion to just doing what's best for themselves and their family detaches people from connections with others in society. It breeds selfishness and self-centeredness. It is antisocial, damages society, and harms the world.
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Originally Posted by mordant
I'm beginning to think that I'm living in a dystopian world where no one talks to anyone except by email or FaceBook ...
Remarkably, Facebook does sometimes foster compassionate communities the members of which have never met each other.
Church planting actually increases number of churches, but less viable as self sustaining.
Weekly attendance at churches record drop.
Lowest number of baptisms since 1947.
Finally, more and more people are realizing that rational, secular, scientific, reasoning is reality, not belief in some old book written by desert dwelling, bronze aged, superstious goat herders.
I feel tempted to delve into the similarities between Baptists, Mennonites & Amish (Anabaptists), Presbyterians and their relative theologies as a back drop for explaining the different theologies that exist even within the Baptist church and laying down some Baptist history, but I think I'll just say that the SBC is a political organization that has essentially hijacked and attempted to homogenize the American iteration of "Baptist" in order to consolidate an enormous block of votes. The bibliocentric principles that they push, if accepted, would put a lot of people in a nice little block who know exactly what to be upset about and who to be upset at (Democrats). As a Baptist, I would consider the SBC losing members to be a good thing, but I have significant doubts that it means what you seem to think it means.
Though other churches are growing on a regional basis.Our national membership has been flat for several years, though putting aside the matter of the number of members on the books, the number of folks who self-identify as Unitarian has steadily increased over that same time period.
Regionally that is true of many BUT they are drawing from the same "pool" as it were. Baptists become, Methodists or Catholic or Non Denominational, Unitarian, etc. On a National and World Wide basis, it is Jehovah's Witnesses and then Mormon's, everyone else (Christian groups) are stagnant or shrinking.
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It's true though. While Unitarian Universalism isn't atheism, it happily provides a religious home for atheists, agnostics, even Buddhists and liberal Christians and Jews ostracized by reactionary congregations. 
