Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbus, Indiana

My future wife Kathleen was raised Catholic, and I was raised Jewish. But these were the faiths of our past when we were thinking of marriage and starting a family. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial UU Church in Charlottesville, VA, where we lived at the time, had just declared itself a nuclear-free zone. Knowing some of the interesting people there, and it being nuclear-free and all, we thought that it might be a safe church to try out. We loved it and soon were married by its UU minister. One reason we decided to move to a small town in the mid-west when a job offer arose in Columbus was that it had a UU congregation. We hoped to find a friendly, religiously liberal congregation here and, indeed, the people of UUCCI soon became the core of our social and caring community lasting now nearly 28 years. We are humans being. And we are humans becoming. We are being and becoming in an ark of community.

My aunt retired in 1970 and returned to Columbus. She had been a Unitarian Universalist since the 1920s, first in Memphis, Tennessee, then in Washington D. C. When she came home to Columbus she invited me to come to church with her, because she didn’t drive. We went to the small Unitarian Universalist group that was meeting in those days at the Chestnut Street building. I helped her support the church with garage sales and with keeping the books – she was a Certified Public Accountant. Sometimes she paid the utility bills herself, when there wasn’t enough money in the treasury. In those days we would pick up a dozen donuts on our way to the Sunday meeting, and that would be enough. I have continued to attend this church because of the people who think like I do – the first people I had ever been around who did.

I came here because I was looking for a church when I moved to Columbus after retiring. I had read about the Unitarian Universalists and was curious. I grew up Lutheran and have also attended the Presbyterian church. I stay here because it’s fun. It makes sense to me.

My mother was a founding member of this congregation, and I was just always here. I “signed the book” (became an official member) at age 17. Back then we were a laid-back group. We came into the meeting room, grabbed our coffee and sat down and started talking. It was all lay-led. I remain a part of this congregation because it sustains me. It’s not easy to articulate how. It feeds the soul to be here with this group of people.

I feel as if I’ve evolved in my religious life - growing up in Texas as a Southern Baptist learning all the Bible stories, then attending the Episcopal church with my family from the age of 11 on until I moved to Columbus in the 1980’s and discovered Unitarian Universalism. None of those earlier experiences had a negative effect on me. As a young child attending Baptist Vacation Bible School in Dallas, it was fun to color Joseph’s “coat of many colors” and to sing songs like “Jesus Loves Me”. And over the years, the Episcopal churches I attended would be considered liberal even by today’s standards. It was never demanded that I take those Bible stories literally – I thought of them as allegories teaching moral values. And my priest in Virginia even talked about not believing in Hell. I always did take issue with the Trinity and the “magical stuff” in the Bible, so I really just recited the creeds by rote. But I’ve always felt it important to live my life as Jesus did, and as found in the Jeffersonian Bible. UUCCI has become a refuge in a desert for me. Other than my friends here, there are only a few others in Columbus I can talk freely with about my values and beliefs. I enjoy being around folks with like minds; we might not always agree on every issue, but we do respect each other’s opinions. And I appreciate the opportunity here at UUCCI to continue on my spiritual path – to explore the world’s great religions and other philosophies and points of view - to take from them what is meaningful to me. There are always new things to learn.

One year at family Thanksgiving, an uncle said, “Let’s bow for a prayer,” and our four-year-old son said “What’s a prayer?” That was our wake-up call that we were neglecting part of his upbringing. We had heard of the Unitarian Universalists through teaching colleagues who were members. The Fellowship had received a grant to sponsor an art show, and they asked Bob to participate in the show. [Bob is a professional sculptor.] We got to know other members through Nancy’s work at Developmental Services, and interdenominational Peace Fellowship meetings, so we gave the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship a try and liked it. We keep coming to UUCCI now that our children are grown because we enjoy the social responsibility activities and the opportunities to do things for others. It’s good to have an alternative to traditional churches, a place for respectful dialogue between people with differing ideas. It’s good to support an organization that encourages reasonable, thoughtful, open-minded conversation.

I grew up in this church, in the old building on 8th Street. My mom was Catholic and my dad was Lutheran. When they married, they wanted a place where they could attend church together, without either of them being told their beliefs were wrong. When my wife Lorna and I had children, I wanted them to grow up with a sense of community in a place that would not try to instill a set of beliefs in them, but let them learn and become themselves. My wife was reluctant about trying any organized religion, because of negative experiences she had had. We visited three different denominations, as well as other Unitarian Universalist churches. Then we found UUCCI, and it seemed like the right place for us. So we have kept coming. There is a loving atmosphere, where it’s OK to express yourself in your own way. I especially enjoy learning about other beliefs. The spiritual feeling of the services is meaningful to me when I need to recharge. With our busy kids and our jobs, we can’t attend all the time, but we always feel welcomed when we attend. We appreciate that there is no pressure to become formal members or to pledge a certain amount. It’s hard to answer questions that people ask me about what Unitarian Universalists believe, because they don’t understand that the church doesn’t tell us what to believe. I have my root beliefs, but I’m always changing my mind about certain things and developing my ideas. Other people might like to be told that what they believe is right, but at UUCCI, I feel continually challenged and that’s what I like.