RVUUF designated Freethinker Friendly

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Abstract rendering of human figure, black, standing upright with arms raised against red heart in a white circle, surrounded by linked black double-outlineThe Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has been designated Freethinker Friendly by the UU Humanist Association. According to Maria Greene, executive director of the UU Humanist Association, the Freethinker Friendly Committee voted unanimously to approve RVUUF’s application.

From a description on the UU Humanist Association website:

“Unitarian Universalist congregations have been welcoming humanists, atheists, agnostics, and other freethinkers for over 100 years! Families, especially, find supportive and loving community and a village to help raise their children — often an oasis of acceptance within the larger culture. For many non-theists, a UU congregation is the only place they can be open about their beliefs and still share in the opportunity to express their love for humanity through service, and to engage with others through life’s joys and challenges.

“At the same time, Unitarian Universalism’s historic identity as emerging from Christian movements, and the church-based language and style that comes with that history, can be a stumbling block for potential members who identify as non-theist or come from secular backgrounds. Now your congregation can extend a welcome publicly by becoming a Freethinker Friendly congregation.

“Just as being a Welcoming Congregation for LGBTQ people does not imply being unwelcoming to straight people, being Freethinker Friendly does not imply being unwelcoming to theists. Unitarian Universalists are proud to be part of a pluralistic religious tradition, one that welcomes people of many beliefs and celebrates the richness that diversity brings.”

To be designated Freethinker Friendly, RVUUF had to meet four requirements. It had to include language in its published welcome statement that clearly includes atheists, agnostics, humanists and other non-theists; it had to discuss, as a congregation, ways to be more inclusive and welcoming in its language and rituals; it had to provide times and spaces that celebrate a humanist worldview; and had to reach out to the wider non-theistic community.