The Pop-UU post made it to the carnival topic! Wahoo! That’s not too bad for a post thrown up after midnight. And if you think of yourself as a Pop-UU, be sure to leave a comment down there.
But my carnivale post (at least, my first one) is about why I think this conversation is important.
I know it can seem somewhat trivial at first glance – some weirdo whining about not enough Springer-watching inside his religion. But I think this is one of the biggest problems facing our denomination’s future. We come off too high-brow. Most of America isn’t.
We’re in an unfortunate niche market (aka a theological rut), and if we are serious about our faith and think it’s the best (as seen through our patronage) then we need to break that niche and start reaching Common-folk/Joe 6-pack/The Joneses. We need to show them that we really do have something special here, and that questioning in the back of their head if their religion is right for them isn’t to be dismissed.
But if we reach them, they might just go through the UU-Revolving Door when they encounter the atittude that pop culture is silly and not worth a damn. If the first thing they’re asked to do is sign a petition against Wal-Mart, where they bought the shirt they’re wearing, odds are they won’t come back. If people feel like they need to hide their Pop tendencies in order to belong, then not only are the missing out on being true to themselves, we miss out on fully seeing our fellow congregates.
That being said, some of us did make it through the door, and want to put our foot in that revolving door. But we’re ususally not encouraged to ever admit we like Pop culutre. We like American society [despite hating the president] and don’t want to always reminded of the faults things we happen to kinda like. So that’s why it’s time to come out, and realize that we’re here!
6 responses so far ↓
Philocrites // March 30, 2007 at 6:54 am |
Could this really just be a generational divide? I’ve never encountered any UUs my age or younger (say, under 40) who don’t enjoy pop culture. They may trend middle-brow, as Chutney puts it, or they may be such dorks that their version of pop-culture is entirely online or sci-fi/fantasy, but I really don’t think I know any Gen-X or Gen-Y UUs who resist pop culture. I do know a bunch who are so invested in certain kinds of political activism that they are terminally serious, but that’s a separate problem.
chutney // March 30, 2007 at 11:11 am |
You might be right. Mostly Boomers and older come to mind…
Kaleigh // March 30, 2007 at 11:54 am |
I agree that it’s at least partially generational. I was younger than they typical UU when I got married (21) and had kids (26 and 28), so most of the parents of my kids’ peers at church are about 10+ years older than I am. They’re much more serious and earnest, and much more middlebrow (unapologetically) than I (or the other younger folks) am. The whole hipster irony thing does seem to be a 25-40 age group thing.
kinsi // March 30, 2007 at 1:12 pm |
I do think it could partially be a generational thing (as if I need anything else in my life chalked up a generational divide) but I think seeing it as only a generational divide is a dangerous characterization, because I get the feeling that non-young-folk have the same feeling (like Mom To The Left’s post.) So I’d imagine that although there is a generational component, it is also cross-generational.
And thats as much as I’m allowed to think on my self-imposed Sabbath. Off to watch movies and eat pizza and relish in my low-browness.
Paul Wilczynski // April 2, 2007 at 10:44 am |
I often wonder why we’re so enthralled with the idea of spending extra energy either trying to change who we are, or get people who aren’t like us into UU churches.
I know it’s UU heresy, but why don’t we determine who we are, then try to get more people like us into our churches? It would be a lot easier. After all, people like us (whatever that means, exactly) are apparently people who want to be in UU churches.
If we have few or no people in any particularly category, it’s probably because they’re not interested in what we have to offer.
kinsi // April 2, 2007 at 11:36 am |
I don’t know if it will ever be possible to determine who we are and put it on paper – I’m relatively new to the faith and I hear all the time about how the 7 Principles aren’t really about us and people have serious issues with them. If people have issues with principles that are that broad, then I just don’t see UUs ever coming up with a statement or document thats agreed on by even a decent-sized majority. I don’t know if its ever possible to determine who we are as a faith.
In my church, we’ve been going through an Intriem Period (and just announced the candidate on Sunday, so it’s a pretty exciting time) but we’ve been growing – this Sunday 16 people joined the church. We really don’t have any guiding force right now in this intriem period, but we’re still trying to grow. Our 20s/30s group has never been bigger (220 on our email list).
I think the problem is that “lowbrow” or “Pop-UU” folk do come through the door, and they do want to participate, but are put off a “cultreier than though” attitude instead of the “holier than thou” attitude they’re used to. They either suffer in silence or leave.
I’m also wondering how geographic differences play out in addition to generational differences – I was talking with a Massachusetts transplant to Atlanta and she was talking how it’s a whole different world down here in “the bible belt.” That thought is on my mind as well right now.