"Birthright" UUs? Another take

Jeff Wilson at Transient and Permanent wonders if there isn't something troubling about the distinction of "birthright" UUs as compared to UUs who have been converted from some other religion.  He describes the convert as being angry with Christianity and which he says is related to the "Diehard Secular Humanist Syndrome." 

This idea of the angry ex-Christian as rejectionist is an enduring image, and it may have been apt several decades ago.  But based who is joining us now,  I think it needs to be retired.  Converts or "come inners" may be Christians searching for more liberal Christianity, Christians who have decided that they wanted a more humanistic and more universalistic religious community but are not angry at Christianity, people from a non Christian religious community that find Unitarian Universalism attractive, and finally, we have many new UUs who have never been part of any  religious community at all.  I have found new Unitarian Universalists much more open to searching for a religious meaning and less interested in rejecting.  What all these groups have in common is the narrative of discovery, they found Unitarian Universalism.

On the other hand there are those who came to Unitarian Universalism through the agency of their parents, and who were supported by the religious education program for children of a liberal congregation, and shared the experience of Liberal Religious Youth, or Young Religious Unitarian Universalists.  The experience of coming of age within Unitarian Universalism is an intense experience, people who have had that experience seek out others to share their narratives, to tell each other their common stories.  I continue to experience solidarity with ex-LRYers after forty five years.

At the Convocation of Unitarian Universalist ministers held in Birmingham, Alabama held several years ago, a group of ministers who shared the experience of being brought up Unitarian Universalist got together.  We rejected the term "birth right" Unitarian Universalist.  Jeff is right that the term has elitist connotations. But there was another reason, if one was a child when one's parents discovered Unitarian Universalism, one has had a similar experience as someone whose family has been religious liberals for generations.  The narrative of being raised UU and the narrative of discovery are radically different.  When I am teaching a new members class,  I share my mothers story of discovering Unitarianism as a rebellious Catholic seeking freedom, and I share the story of my spouse and partner as a parent seeking religious education for her inquisitive child, because these stories resonate with the seekers.  When I want to talk to parents who are raising children within Unitarian Universalism, or to our own young people, I share the stories of my own Unitarian childhood, because these stories are closer to their experience than any "how I found Unitarian Universalism story."  It is the seeker story that dominates our community faith narratives.

I think we need to be able to share our raised up UU stories, we will continue to lose young Unitarian Universalists if they never have their story told and hear others with a similar narrative tell their story.  Perhaps the "elitism" that Jeff has experienced among some who use the term "birth right" UU, is a cry for recognition, recognition that could be granted without privileging their child dedication ceremonies over the new member classes by simply telling both stories.