Howdy, yesmam!
There's a word in the Unitarian Universalist community for the members
who have come to Unitarianism after leaving other religions. Such
persons are traditionally called "come-outers." I know this because I
was a religious traveler in the other direction: I was a "born-inner"
who was raised by Unitarians, spent the summers of my teen years at
Unitarian youth camps, was married by a Unitarian minister, and then -
much to my family's alarm - became an evangelical Christian at the age
of 37. "Come-outers" are called "come inners" by some Unitarians who
wish to emphasize that these people may be running toward something,
rather than fleeing their previous denominations.
It is estimated that 90% of Unitarians are "come-outers" who have
previously been affiliated with other churches. Only 10% are
"born-inners" raised in Unitarian households.
"Unitarians believe in one god, at most. In fact, many Unitarians are
atheists. While the movement did come out of the Congregationalists of
New England, I believe that modern Unitarians do not consider
themselves Christians. It is an interesting group in that it
essentially has a revolving-door membership. The vast majority of
adults who were raised as Unitarians are no longer Unitarians, and the
vast majority of those who are currently Unitarians were not raised as
such. Often, members of Unitarian churches are couples who come from
different religions, usually Christian and Jewish. The Unitarians are
said to be the wealthiest religious group, per capita, in the country
- as well as being the best educated and one of the smallest."
Cached copy, Stanford University: The Future of Religion at Stanford
http://216.239.37.104/search?q=cache:TKC0ACuVAXwJ:wais.stanford.edu/religion_718.html+%22raised+as+unitarians%22&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8
"In the September/October [2002] issue of the UU World magazine, in an
article about Unitarian Universalist college students, Neil Shister
writes of the young UU's we lose when they leave home... Shister
notes, 'For a small movement like Unitarian Universalism - only about
two thousand UU's graduate from high school each year, and estimates
of how many never return as high as 90 percent - this loss is
particularly painful.'
That's right. Of all of those of us who regularly attend a Unitarian
Universalist congregation, only 10% were raised as Unitarians or
Universalists. The rest of us are what are affectionately called
'come-outers' from other religions or new church-goers from unchurched
backgrounds."
First Congregational Unitarian Church of Harvard, Massachusetts
http://users.rcn.com/uuharvrd/serm021110.htm
Here's a link to the Neil Shister article mentioned in the above
quote:
Unitarian Universalist Association
http://www.uua.org/world/2002/05/feature1.html
"Our congregations consist overwhelmingly of members from other faith
backgrounds. We used to always call them come-outers... The term
come-outer referred to the fact that all these people had come out of
other congregations and faith traditions. But a closer listening to
their stories reveals that most did not, in fact, come out of a
Baptist or Presbyterian or Catholic church one day and into one of
ours. Rather, in between was some period of time, usually years, in
which they lived, as we say, unchurched. Some call this in-between
period 'nothing.' One might also call it secularism. Whatever its
name, it is that 'nothing' or 'secularism' from which they actually
came out, or as some now say, came in... One or another of these
stories describes in at least broad outline the experience of some 90
percent of the present membership of our congregations, more than that
in many. Overwhelmingly we are what is called a convert faith. The
remainder, 10 percent or so, are what are usually called born UUs - or
born-inners - the second or later generations of UU families."
Unitarian Universalist Association: The Process of Commitment
http://www.uua.org/coa/01.pdf
If you are interested in Unitarianism, you might want to read some of
the church's introductory material that has been published in pamphlet
form. You can see the text of these pamphlets by going to the site
linked below, and clicking on the hyperlink that says FULL TEXT:
Unitarian Universalist Association: Basic Introductions
http://www.uua.org/pamphlet/basic.html
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "unitarians" + "come-outers"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=unitarians+%22come-outers
Thanks for an interesting question!
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |
