When I moved to the Pacific Northwest three years ago and wanted to find pagan community, I opened up the yellow pages of the phone book and looked for the closest Unitarian church. This wasn't the first time I'd used this method to locate pagan community. After 15 years of moving around the western United States due to my job as a park ranger and river guide, which required me to move seasonally-- often twice a year counting my stints as a ski instructor in the winter-- I have had to become an expert at finding community. Some areas of the country are less pagan-friendly than others, and it can be extremely difficult to find others of like mind. For example, pagans do not advertise in small ranching towns in northeast Wyoming. I have utilized Web searches, flyers at bookstores, Renaissance Fairs and pow-wows in my searches with varying results. Sometimes I found wonderful groups of magickal people, and other times I found seriously disturbed individuals with power, control and ego issues. I quickly found that Unitarian churches were one of the safest places to find other pagans and connections to the larger community.
I've had the pagan community find me in some interesting ways. One of my strangest encounters was at a homebrew club meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado. I was standing around with fellow brewers and beer experts when I jokingly told one of the people I was talking with that I was a "card-carrying pagan." I immediately worried that I had misjudged his open-mindedness based on his tie-dyed shirt, long hair and John Lennon glasses, because his eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped to his beer mug. Just when I thought that I had made a serious mistake in what I like to refer to as the "Bible Belt of the Rockies," he grabbed my hand and said, "You've got to come with me and meet my wife right now." He took me across the street to meet his wife and several other Unitarian witches who were in the process of forming a Unitarian Universalist (UU) church complete with a Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) chapter.
In another community in the central valley of California, I was invited to a Halloween party with some people with whom I played tennis. They all looked like typical middle-class Protestants to me, but the party they threw at the local UU church told a different story. Inside the building was live rock-and-roll music and dancing, along with apple bobbing, popcorn balls and a costume contest. Outside, they hosted a beautiful Samhain ritual and feast for the dead. I discovered that some of my conservative-looking friends were actually witches and darn impressive ones at that.
I soon discovered that Unitarian churches were a great place to hang out in general, not just on ritual nights. Any given Sunday might find a service led by a practitioner of the Lakota religion, the next might be Buddhist in nature, and the one following that could honor any number of world religions, including earth-centered spirituality. Often a service might be dedicated to social action or environmental issues. Many UU churches are lay-led, meaning that the congregation takes turns presenting the services and classes, all with a different flavor. The churches that do have full- or part-time ministers do not lose their eclectic flavor, as a majority of UU ministers I've met are generalists and appreciate many worldviews and types of spiritual practice.
Even though Unitarian and Universalist churches' roots are technically based in Christianity, they were considered heretics, as they did not hold to any "one truth" or "path to salvation." In 325 C.E., when the Nicene Creed established the Trinity as dogma, people who professed Unitarian or Universalist beliefs were persecuted. Throughout history, Unitarian and Universalist churches and laboratories have been burned out and ministers murdered. Even for those pagans who mistrust any association with Christianity or churches, the shared persecution and fight for religious freedom is difficult to ignore. As the Unitarian and Universalist churches merged in the twentieth century in order to gain a larger liberal voice, the trend moved toward a worldview that incorporated the teachings of many world religions. In recent years humanist teachings have been in the forefront of the UU faith, in some cases to the exclusion of more spiritual or mystical paths in many congregations.
The Sixth Source of Unitarian Universalism is "Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature." The growing popularity of neo-paganism and witchcraft naturally integrated into UU congregations, so much so that the mother organization formed CUUPS in order to "educate people about Paganism, promote interfaith dialogue, develop pagan liturgies and theologies and support pagan-identified UU religious professionals." As paganism, humanism and even atheism integrate with other world religions into the tapestry that is UU, it becomes difficult to determine exactly what a Unitarian Universalist is.
The people I've met at Unitarian churches are some of the most diverse, intelligent and interesting individuals I've ever been with in a room. Even though they come from extremely diverse backgrounds -- humanist, pagan, Buddhist, Jewish, liberal Christian, agnostic, atheist and anything else you can imagine -- they share distaste for dogma, and very often identify themselves as being a "recovering" Christian, Catholic or member of another dogmatic religion. It would seem that a group this diverse wouldn't have any common ground, and I have been asked many times, "What is the point of having a church filled with people that do not necessarily believe the same thing?" Unitarians do honor and adhere to seven common principles that link this diverse group together:
1. Respecting the inherent worth and dignity of every person
2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregation and in society at large
6. The goal of a world community with peace, liberty and justice for all
7. Respect of the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part
When I moved to the Tacoma area and found the larger pagan community through the UU church, I came across something that I had not experienced before. I felt as though I was looked at and treated differently because I was a Unitarian as well as a witch. After about a year of feeling this way, I tried to broach the subject on some E-group lists. I asked several groups of people if they thought Unitarians were somehow different. Out of the 200 or so people on the combined lists, not one was willing to comment on the list. Two or three spoke with me in person, but still seemed to be skirting the issue.
One friend said, "You seem as witchy to me as anyone else." Another said, "Well, they are different in Seattle." Yet another said, "Well, you're not a typical Unitarian. When I think of Unitarians, I think of fluffy-bunny white-lighters like so-and-so." As a priestess of the Morrigane, I've never been called a fluffy bunny or even had that insinuated to me. I felt as though I was considered an exception to some sort of rule. I interviewed several local witches and pagans to determine what the Unitarian stereotype is and where these opinions come from.
Raven, a traditional witch for over 20 years said, "A person can't be a Unitarian and a traditional witch. They just don't go together." Wren, an eclectic witch and member of a local coven, added, "I think a lot of people associate Unitarians with fluffy-bunny white-lighters and don't consider them real witches." I know Unitarian pagans who are eclectic solitaries, initiated Gardnerians and everything in between. I find it odd that in addition to the usual batch of things pagans and witches often use to decide who is legitimate or not, the secondary aspect of attending a Unitarian church would even come up at all.
I asked several people who aren't traditional witches what their experience with Unitarian pagans has been. Rick, who identifies himself as a "pagan and aspiring witch" said, "The Unitarian pagans I've met struck me as being a bit goofy, but fairly normal, quite likable, well-humored and comfortable with themselves." Tina, who identifies herself as a solitary Wiccan since the age of 15, didn't feel that being a Unitarian would detract from her practice of witchcraft. "It would depend upon the people around me. I do not think it would detract. I am a solitary practitioner so my energy is my own." Jerry, who identifies himself as a "nonpracticing pagan" and is married to a witch, has a different impression of Unitarians in general and has found them to be a bit intense at times. "I think they take their social justice quite seriously. I've seen UUs take very public stands to fight discrimination against gays, march in political protests and take part in environmental demonstrations." Sandra, who is studying the Druid faith, agreed. "Unitarians seem to be more of a political force than a spiritual one. It's like they are all on their own path and gather together to fight social injustice, discrimination and destruction of the environment."
I have found that the pagans and witches who don't have a great deal of direct experience with the organization are the ones most likely to have an opinion based on stereotypes of Unitarian witches. There are, of course, those who would disagree with my theory. Emrys, a board member of a West Coast CUUPS chapter, explained that sometimes people come into a CUUPS group and become quite upset that there isn't a degree system and it isn't run the same way as their coven. He related a story about one woman who became involved in their group and after a time voiced some very strong opinions, saying she didn't feel certain people were qualified to lead circles or workshops. "She just didn't get the fact that this group was a chance for people to learn by doing, and to grow by leading. She eventually became very disgruntled and left the group after stirring up a huge controversy for no apparent reason other than to show us that she considered herself a real witch and the rest of us to be amateurs." Bronwen, a high priestess for another CUUPS chapter, echoed his feelings. "These are public circles, places for learning. They aren't going to run like a coven. They are not designed to be exclusive. They're designed to be inclusive and welcoming."
Perhaps it is the word "church" that throws some people off. Many pagans have had bad experiences with churches and organized religion in general, so it is not unreasonable for them to consider a church incompatible with their pagan spiritual practices. I, for one, am grateful that I have a church community in which I can raise my daughter as a pagan and allow her to learn about all world religions, so when she is an adult, she can make an informed, educated decision as to what path she wants to follow. For some parents, having a church structure is important. My 12-year-old daughter goes to a school where the make up of her sixth grade classroom is 96 percent Christian. When her Catholic, Baptist or Mormon friends ask her if she goes to church (sometimes in an effort to determine if she needs saving) she can honestly say "Yes." She can go into detail about what a Unitarian is if she so chooses or just say, "It's a liberal religion taking from several world religions," which is her most common response. With close friends, she is often more candid about the Goddess.
In a perfect world, our children would be able to say, "I'm pagan, we don't need to go to church." But the fact remains that adolescence is hard enough without being targeted as a "devil worshiper" by your classmates. Our children have plenty of time to fight for religious freedom when they are older and better equipped to handle it emotionally. For now, I say let them enjoy being children. Childhood is painfully short as it is.
I have friends, a support network in the Tacoma and Seattle pagan communities and a small coven of my own. One might ask why I would need a church on top of that. I no longer move twice a year, nor need the ability to find instant community in a new town. In addition to wanting to give my daughter the best of both worlds, the UU church gives me a platform from which to educate the media and greater community about what paganism and witchcraft are and aren't, as well as a place to really feel that I make a difference in the fight against religious persecution. I would feel that my life was missing something without my UU community of intelligent, diverse and creative individuals. In my job working in the environmental field, I'm amazed at how many people I run into who I know from the UU church. They are engineers, educators, environmental activists and volunteers. They are the community that enhances my spiritual practice.