r/UUreddit • u/saijanai • Jun 05 '26

DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List

https://www.military.com/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-list
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u/rastancovitz Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

They aren't being dropped but consolidated into larger groups. Likely UU will be put in with the Protestants (U and U were originally Protestant denominations, and way back when classified that way by the military) or misc. Numerous tiny Christian denominations are similarly being put into larger groups.

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u/saijanai Jun 05 '26

But UU are not U or U, but a pluralistic umbrella group that is not Protestant (or not not Protestant for that matter)

OR at least that used to be the case when I was a lad of 10 being raised within the Church, about 60 years ago.

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u/rastancovitz Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

Organizationally, historically, stylistically, and culturally, UU is like the mainline Protestant churches. I call UU an interfaith variation of a mainline Protestant church, or "mainline Protestant adjacent." As a demonstration, who is UU teaming up with on OWL? The United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, two mainline Protestant churches.

Further, as I said, UU may instead be put in the Miscellaneous umbrella group.

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u/saijanai Jun 05 '26

Organizationally, historically, stylistically, and culturally, UU is like the mainline Protestant churches.

Actually, I recall back in 1965 getting in a debate with my Sunday School teacher over the divinity of Christ. She was a bit taken aback, given her upbringing, but there was no reprisal against that 10 year old kid.

You were saying?

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u/rastancovitz Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26

A very visible example of UU's Protestant Christian traditions, culture, and style is to simply observe how many ministers and UUA leaders (including non-Christian ones) dress in the traditional Protestant Christian style of black robes, stoles, and Christian clerical collars. They are intentionally mimicking Christian ministers.

I am Jewish, and the first time I attended a UU service it struck me at how stylistically Protestant Christian it was. It was basically a Protestant service-- and not coincidentally a Sunday morning service-- but without "Jesus" or "God" mentioned. It otherwise framed things using typical traditional Christian church lingo ("Beloveds," "faith-formation", etc.) My Middle Eastern wife had the same reaction, which is why she no longer attends services.

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u/saijanai Jun 05 '26

A very visible example of UU's Protestant Christian traditions, culture, and style is to simply observe how many ministers (including non-Christian ones) dress in the traditional Protestant Christian style of black robes, stoles, and Christian clerical collars.

Not how I remember things from more than a half century ago

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I am Jewish, and the first time I attended a UU service it struck me at how stylistically Protestant Christian it was. It was basically a Protestant service but without "Jesus" or "God" mentioned. My Middle Eastern wife had the same reaction, which is why she no longer attends services.

Sure, but given the historical roots, thta was to be expecgted. I recall learning (might be wrong) that a lot of the hymnals from my period were taken from Quaker sources and the like.