A Short Reading on the Divine at the UU

As folks know I deconverted but I am not a militant atheist and do explore other religions and visions of the divine. I am OKAY with atheist and freethought writings because the normative view of God is so far from what I believe now, that I definitely have many areas of overlap in their thinking. 

One question I did ask as I did deconvert, is still, "Is there anything out there" even if it does not resemble the almost cartoonish vision of the divine or of God I had been handed in evangelical Christianity? I don't like classic Yahweh. One friend of mine says that most of the evangelical world is now worshiping Satan [Republican Jesus et. al.] so if there is a loving God he's going to be far more disgusted with them [hmm I even remember all those Revelation warnings about the Beast] then with someone like me.

Traditional Christianity definitely does not work for me anymore. One thing I returned to was exploring other visions of the divine in world religions, and had the thought, "Do other humans pursue a loving God?" and what does that look like?

Every world religion has  positives and human faults, but in my readings on different world religions, I found the Sikhs very interesting. They seemed to have a lot in common with theistic Unitarian Universalists, so this was a short reading I did at UU church. While doing some of these readings, I did learn the Unitarian Universalist Association does have an ongoing relationship with the Sikh religion in shared values and outreach. "Why do you go to the forest in search of the Divine? God lives in all and abides with you, too. As fragrance dwells in a flower or reflection in a mirror, so the Divine dwells inside everything; seek therefore in your own heart" Tegh Bahadur
Contemplating the sacred, one, looks at the view of God or possibilities of a higher power, or a Source running this entire show? How many Americans picture God as an old man in a long white beard living up in heaven? Like a Zeus wearing a long white robe in a Justice League "hall of justice, where the sacred is limited to these cartoon images?

 There's many other views of God or the sacred out there, and I have explored the views of the divine or sacred in other religions such as the Sikh religion. Years ago I saw a TV show that was talking about Sikhs and their religion reminded me a little bit of the Bahais, their vision of God was formed around love. Sikhs describe God as "oneness that permeates creation". The Bahais also call their god as the "source of existence".

I saw one Sikh describe the divine as

"We are the fish, God is the ocean."


For religions who see God as the "source of all", every raindrop forms the rain. This would apply to UUs who see God or divinity as the Source or Center of All. Even those who are agnostic like myself are interested in exploring these visions of God and the divine.

This is a vision of the Center of All or God that loves complexity and diversity. Would something that created millions of species on one planet, expect sameness in human beings? Would it mandate division between people into extreme tribalism, between saved and unsaved? |

One positive attribute of the Sikh religion is that they do teach the universal brotherhood of man and pray for the well-being of mankind without distinction of caste, color and creed. Sikhs believe the entire universe to be sacred as well. Nature is considered the sacred expression of the divine will.