Not proselytizing!
I was just wondering if there were any other UUs in the German Swiss area. There is a UU church in Genva but none here in Zürich.
I was thinking of starting a fellowship and wondering if there were any other UU's in the area. I'm non-deistic, myself, but I miss the Unitarian church. Anyone else?

What is 'non-deistic'? And what would you expect from the group? How are you different from other church denominations?

(I've looked it up in the Wiki, but just wanted to hear it from you.)

Unitarian Universalism

You should easily be able to find any such conversation in a pub.

No-deistic means that I don't believe in a big ol' deity.

You are right, one could find such conversation in pubs. What I get out of it is that I like the setting of an organization. I like singing the songs (a close secnd choice is going to a football game and singing fan songs) and I like that the Unitarian form of prayer is either meditation or service. Service being activity in social justice. I was raised catholic and feel comfortable in ceremony and worship service. I like Unitarianism because it uses reading and knowledge fom all sevices and does not ask that anyone tailor their own beliefs to fit in. All beliefs are welcom in a place of open dialog and a community of service.

That's my pitch.
Once I've found enough interested folks, I would look into renting St. Jakobs or another free church and try out working together a lay-person-led fellowship.

Thanks for your patient explanation. All the best to you.

Thank you for the interest and the opportunity. Also, this thread has shown me that football + pub - alcohol= approximation to the Unitarian Church

Did you find anyone? I too am very interested :-)

So what is the difference between non-deistic and atheistic?

One term scares your parents and the other doesn't.

It's the difference between collecting stamps randomly because they take your fancy but without regard for building up a coherent colection, and not collecting stamps at all.

One is still a hobby and the other isn't realy a hobby but can become a mania if you get overly zealous about it.

NOOOOOO! There are no stamps!

Ah.

I realize this is a very old thread, but better recycle than start a new one, right?

I hope you found that there are active groups in both Geneva and Basel. They meet on Sundays once a month and every two weeks, respectively.
http://www.genevauu.org/
http://www.uubasel.org/

Did you ever start a group in Zurich? I'm thinking of starting a regular Chalice circle in Bern and wonder if there are any other residents of Bern who have practiced or grown up as UUs who would be interested in joining me.

At this point, I think it would be more interesting to create a core group of already or previous practicing UUs before reaching out to others, specifically to avoid discussions like the one this thread turned into. Please do not return to that line of conversation, it is very insulting.

Unitarianism has a rich history that in fact has its origins in Switzerland, though in its modern form it would be barely recognizable to those who were originally executed and persecuted.

If you have questions about UU's history and philosophy, please contact me privately.

So what happened to the idea of open dialog? Does your search for spirituality aid you in dealing with insults?

Hi NotAllThere, I am not sure what you are implying by your comment.

An open dialogue is a public conversation to solve a problem together. I presented a problem - that I do not know if there are people in Bern interested in joining a UU chalice circle. I presented it here, in an open forum because english is the main language of people who practice UU, so it is reasonable to think that there are some individuals looking for such a group on this forum. Also, this thread already existed, which validated my assumption.

An insult has no place in either a dialogue or an open forum. It is an assault and is abusive. Nothing I wrote was intended to insult anyone else or solicit insults. Why would my spirituality aid me in dealing with insults any more than any other spirituality? Does your spirituality do that for you? Perhaps we can address this in our chalice circle. We can have a conversation to discuss what the role of insults are in spiritual practice and dialogue. Or, if we prefer, the role of spirituality in responding to abuse, harassment and insult.

In general, UUs seek peaceful interactions over assaults and believe in open dialogues. I directed the conversation away from the drift of the previous thread because I don't think it was productive to my or the original poster's question.

Thank you for your interest. I see you are in Basel, if you would like to explore UU, I'm sure the fellowship in Basel will welcome you. Best of luck with your own spirituality.

I'm implying that attempting to direct the flow of a thread conversation in a public forum seems somewhat contrary to your expressed desire for open dialogue. Furthermore, such direction from newcomers to a forum is generally considered a bit rude.

Perhaps I'm extraordinarily dense, but I don't see anything insulting in this thread. Light banter perhaps, but certainly not insulting.

If you think this is insulting, you should try and read what people say about Christianity and Islam on this site.

HTH

FYI, I've found this Facebook Group, but no indication of regular meetings: https://www.facebook.com/unitarianuniversalists/

Hi Unikore,

I know some of those people! If I understand correctly, they are trying to start a group in Zurich but since many of the people interested go regularly to the services and discussions Basel or join us for our chalice circle in Bern, it hasn't quite happened yet. You are welcome to join us in Bern as well! Or go to Basel! Or push them to make it happen.

Some of us are actually planning to get together in Zurich to have an in-person component of the upcoming online EUU retreat. You would be welcome to join us: http://www.europeanuu.org/events/euu...-12-15-online/

You can [send a private message] if you want to get in touch.

- N

Researching the ancestors on my fathers side, I found they come from a non-conformist/methodist background in Lincolnshire- known as ranters and ravers at the time, which apparently had more to do with puritanism than dancing.

Following up, I learned about non-theist quakers who sound really similar to Unitarians -this thread lead me to find out what the Unitarian Church stand for, so thanks for broadening my horizon

Pascals wager: "best strategy is to act as if God exists" ; will God know that you are trying to con him/her?