In my experience UU churches vary greatly, from xtian to pagan to rationalist. Jefferson Unitarian here in Golden, CO bills itself as “A Religious Home for the Liberal Spirit” and in the very first service I attended on Veterans day a 70yo vet in uniform read one of the most vicious passages of the bible (where God tells his folks to slaugther everyone and take their cattle and women), and then related his life story of going from soldier to war resister, and from seminarian to atheist. The sermon was then about the selective use of the bible, and why it’s looked as as just another book by UUs. But yes, there are Pagans who meet here as well as Buddhists (and lately, though to the chagrin of the ministers (and mine), a 9/11 conspiracy group.
(Check out some of the truly exceptional sermons online, on subjects as Sam Harris, David Korten, bad biblical literalism etc at
Jefferson Unitarian is a rapidly growing church, now at 800, offering 3 services and thinking about building. Apparently there’s quite a few people out there with some remnants of religiosity, “awe” or desire for a community that provides fellowship and contemplation of important life issues. Given where this US society is at, many of those will have theistic concepts. They may or may not lose them over time. My feeling is many theists will eventually shed those concepts, recognizing that the idea of a personal god is simply childish and impossible, and that a watered down concept of a now vanished creator does not yield any explanatory power nor moral guidance -so why bother at all.
