All That Glitters…
Meredyth Howard attended her first Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Athens (UUFA) youth group session in 2002. It began as a punishment from a friend for missing a kickboxing class, but Howard has remained a committed member since and now serves as the youth, young adult and membership coordinator.
“After the first meeting, which was on my 16th birthday, I was hooked,” Howard said. “It was home.”
Unitarian Universalism is an international covenantal faith rather than a credal faith, meaning it does not require congregants to believe in specific deities or scriptures. The UUFA, located on Timothy Road in Athens, is one of many of these congregations. As the sign, bearing a pride flag and the phrase “Black Lives Matter” suggests, the fellowship prioritizes acceptance and welcoming people of all backgrounds. Its parent association, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) asserts, “We are people of many beliefs and backgrounds: people with a religious background, people with none, people who believe in a God, people who don’t, and people who let the mystery be.”
The UUFA is so keen on welcoming, Howard says, that it has undergone a certification to become a radical Welcoming Congregation through the Unitarian Universalist Association, which prioritizes offering a safe space to members of the LGBTQ+ community.
I don’t care about the wrapping, I care about the person,” Howard said.
Diversity, however, does not just mean sexual orientation or gender identity but also race and ethnicity. The UUFA was founded in the mid-1950s and supported faculty at the University of Georgia in desegregating the campus in the 1960s. Since its earliest days, the fellowship has committed its congregation to embracing inclusion and fighting injustice.
Though to some, this commitment to inclusion doesn’t always show.
… Is Not Gold
After joining the UUFA in 2007, Anjali Jarrett devoted much of her time to the congregation, serving as co-chair of the hospitality team and leading composting efforts. Being a South Asian woman in a sea of white faces at the UUFA, Jarrett often felt alienated. She persevered for many years in the congregation despite receiving questions such as “do you eat bugs?” or hearing comments that she’s from “somewhere over there.”
The Unitarian Universalist values of inclusion, service and community connected with Jarrett. Ultimately though, these values weren’t enough to keep her around in the face of racism and ignorance. Her final straws were two incidents of harassment by male members, and she made the decision to leave the congregation on Oct. 1, 2025.
I realized I will never be treated as one of them. I will always be seen as a foreigner,” Jarrett said.
Jarrett’s experience of racism in a Unitarian Universalist space is not a unique one.
Josh Carter, a claims adjuster, visited the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Gwinnett in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where they were quick to tell him that he might be “better off” in a place with more people who look like him. Carter is Black.
Both Jarrett and Carter use the word “tokenism” to describe the covert racism they’ve experienced in predominantly white, liberal spaces. Prejudiced attitudes and offhand comments in these spaces, according to them, are born out of good intentions but also an attitude that people of color still need saving. Carter concedes that at a Unitarian Universalist church, minorities are still likely to face the same discrimination they would anywhere else.
“White liberals come up with all these principles because they’re scared people will think they’re racist,” Jarrett said.
A Wider Pattern
“11:00 on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America,” said civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
This quote refers to the way worship services, despite their intended uplifting nature, continue to be segregated across the United States due to cultural and historical differences among denominations. Several denominations that are in Athens, such as Anglican and Presbyterian, are similarly white-dominated nationwide at 86% and 83% white respectively, according to a Pew Research study.
This phenomenon is reflected within many religious groups, including Unitarian Universalists, no matter how fervently they might advocate for diversity or inclusivity. A 2023 UUA congregational survey found that 83% of members are white, up from 77% in 2008. These demographics are reflected in the Athens fellowship, where the leadership is almost entirely white, and where Jarrett says it is evident many members grew up in a “dominant culture.”
Just having the right ideas, saying a great principle, does not mean that that transforms you and transforms your culture,” said Rev. Pippin Whitaker, the minister at UUFA.
Whitaker says Unitarian Universalist congregations are not exempt from the racism, sexism and classism that exists in society, and members must make conscious efforts to address it. In response to Jarrett’s case, Whitaker says they are still in the early stages of listening and assessing the conflict.
“This is who we are, this is part of the work of Unitarian Universalism,” Whitaker said. “We are dismantling systems of oppression wherever they are, within and beyond our organizations.”
Whitaker has let Jarrett know she will continue to support her, despite her leaving the congregation. Jarrett said she is glad to have known Unitarian Universalists like Whitaker and the others who supported her “who are capable of seeing our common humanity.”
Hope for Change
Many people still find community in the UUFA, despite others’ experiences.
Diana Gu, a Chinese-American woman, found the congregation after searching for meditation groups. She’s only been with the fellowship for a little over a month, since moving from Atlanta to Athens, but already she’s found community in the UUFA’s Fire Drum Circle.
They create a really special atmosphere where it feels safe to learn and express ourselves,” Gu said.
“It’s just a lot of fun and the group is really kind. There’s a lot of laughing while learning.”
As an Asian-American woman, Gu is ever aware of the racial makeup of the spaces she enters. She recalls the Buddhist center she attended previously as being “really friendly” but it “did not represent how diverse Atlanta is.”
While she hasn’t had any negative experiences at the UUFA herself, she says she understands how incidents of racism or ignorance could occur there, and in predominantly white spaces in general. She has noted that the drum circle is remarkably more diverse than the general congregation.
Anjali Jarrett recognizes what the congregation has to offer in comparison to other religions or denominations, but positive change just was not fast enough to keep her comfortable. While her own kids may not attend anymore, she has hope for the children still there. During her membership, one of her favorite things was seeing the children who knew exactly how to compost, in contrast to the “helpless” adults.
“That gives me hope,” Jarrett said. “That children, when they’re raised with different values, different ideas, different environments, that they can lead generations to a different future.”
Natalie Bardy is a journalism major in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
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