Liberal Churches

I was asking last month about more moderate or liberal churches in my suburban area. I was told good luck in finding any.

Here are some results of a search.

There is the Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church in Clear Lake and my old First UU Houston Church on Fannin.

What about not so liberal - you know how UU's are classified as heretics and pagans and worse?

How about descendants of the Congregational Church that Unitarians drifted away from two hundred years ago? The United Church of Christ is still creating controversy today with its message that they welcome all, including gays, and their message that God is still speaking to them. Problem is that the nearest "still speaking" church in that denomination is on Shepherd Dr. in Houston about 25 miles away. There is a La Porte Community Church (Disciples of Christ) affiliated but seems more a non-denominational church rather than welcoming a diverse congregation. On the other hand, part of their mission is justice and serving the community. There is also a Faith Covenant Church on Reseda in Clear Lake but it has no website and I can find little information about it.

Then there is the Friends or Quaker Church. Of these the most liberal are in the unprogrammed branch, represented by Friends General Conference, and there is one in Houston. The largest and nearest Friends Congregation is the Friendswood Friends Church of the evangelical branch, represented by Evangelical Friends International. That appears a much more traditional church with a more traditional standard service.

Another liberal denomination is the Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church in Houston. This is mainly known as the gay church but I don't know how gay.

A liberal Evangelical writes that liberals can be found in almost all churches (from Roman Catholic to Southern Baptist), but tend to be in greater numbers in the mainline Protestant denominations: American Baptist Churches, USA; Disciples of Christ; Episcopal Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Presbyterian Church, USA; United Church of Christ, and the United Methodist Church. That could expand your choices if you do not expect liberal or at least moderate leadership. (I still could end up feeling I need to demand equal time to have a fair-and-balanced view from the pulpit. The last times I was in a typical traditional church the minister kept referring to GOP talking points and making it a political sermon.)

I should also make a mention of Bahai Faith. While liberal in its doctrines of equality and social justice it is quite conservative in its theocratic orthodoxy and expected obedience. I learned about this by asking a Baha'i member to speak at a Servetus First UU meeting when I was programming that social activities and discussion group. I see I am not the only one who has discovered this authoritarianism in Baha'i faith.

I haven't mentioned Catholic and Episcopalian Churches where from my experience all you need to know are the code responses and the sermons are shorter. There are socially active Catholic Churches and it depends more on the priest.

I would be happiest if I had a closer UU Church with vigorous discussion groups and intellectually stimulating talks from the pulpit.

Tags: religion, liberal, Houston, churches