The following list has 7 organizations that have some features
similar to the First Unitarian Universalist Church of the Internet.
If you know of other similar e-mailing lists and organizations,
please send a description like the following—with hyper-link—
so that others might also discover such alternatives.
The people responsible for each of these organizations and lists
have been asked (or will be asked)
to read, correct, & extend the information provided.

    New e-mailing lists and organizations can be added at any time.
The UUA also maintains over 150 e-mailing lists,
most of which are not similar enough to the FUUCI to be listed here.
Here is the complete list of UUA e-mailing lists:
http://www.uua.org/LISTS/
If you know of other organizations similar to the FUUCI,
please call them to our attention.

    To comment on the following profiles,
send an e-mail to James Park, webmaster of the FUUCI:
PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU

{This e-mailing list has been mainly replaced by a number of other lists for young adults,
which will be profiled here.}  

"C*UUYAN, the Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult
Network, is a grassroots organization fostering community and
spirituality among UUs between the ages of 18 and 35."
—quoted from the top of the C*UUYAN home page:
http://www.uuyan.org

    The C*UUYAN attempts to provide connections
for the many young adult UU groups in North America.
The C*UUYAN website will help you locate
the nearest UU young adult or campus group.
If you cannot join one, create one !
By visiting the home pages of other groups,
you will get some ideas for creating your own
young adult or campus group.
Suggestions and resources for creating your own group
are provided and linked from the C*UUYAN home page:
http://www.uuyan.org

HOW C*UUYAN DIFFERS FROM THE FUUCI

    The First Unitarian Universalist Church of the Internet
was originally called The World Wide Young Adult Congregation.
It was an attempt to create a young adult group in cyber-space.
Later its scope was expanded to include all interested adults.
Most of the members of the FUUCI never meet one another in person.
This is the strongest contrast between the FUUCI
and all the local groups that have connections with C*UUYAN.
Nevertheless, the FUUCI still operates much like a local UU group:
There are 'programs' offered to all members.
These are called "cyber-sermons".
The cyber-sermons are selected by the members
from a list of proposals to which anyone can contribute.
After each cyber-sermon is distributed, the discussion begins,
also conducted entirely by e-mail and website.

    This e-mailing list for young adults
(ages 18-35—age-centered but not age-exclusive)
enables young adults everywhere
to communicate with one another about whatever is on their minds.
The volume of messages varies depending on whether
there is a hot topic at the moment or not.
If you subscribe to this list (which is available in digest form),
you will receive 1 to 5 message per day.
This e-mailing list is not moderated,
which means that everything subscribers send in
is automatically distributed to all subscribers.
The current number of subscribers is about 340.

    Here is the self-description, taken from the list itself:

    "UUYAN-L is a communications, planning,
and random discussion mailing list
for the Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network.

    The list provides intercontinental transport via the Internet
for UUYAN conference notices and planning, news,
people-finding, party invitations, moving help,
teddy bear FedExing, grant and fundraising info,
and general social good stuff.

    To subscribe to UUYAN-L,
send the following in the body of an e-mail message
to the Internet address
listserv@TerraLuna.Org :

subscribe UUYAN-L Your Name"

    UUYAN-L is run by Steve Traugott
on his own computer: <stevegt@TerraLuna.Org>

    There is no archive of messages,
so the only way to read what this list contains
is to subscribe.
And if UUYAN-L does not suit you after you have given it a try,
you can unsubscribe by the same method.

HOW UUYAN-L DIFFERS FROM THE WWCC

    UUYAN-L provides a forum for unlimited discussion:
any subject, any length, any frequency, etc.
The WWCC originated by way of UUYAN-L.
Announcements encouraged interested young adults
to get involved with the WWCC.
Later adults of all ages were invited to subscribe.

    Both organizations provide discussion
of issues of interest to people on their mailing lists.
But the WWCC is a more structured forum.
Cyber-sermons are limited to 3 pages, 10KB.
The authors of cyber-sermons reply to all responses
by private e-mail.  And some of these exchanges
are published on the WWCC home page.
Thus the sheer volume of messages is much lower on WWCC-L.
WWCC has only one cyber-sermon per month,
which is selected by a direct vote of all subscribers.
That cyber-sermon sets the theme for that month's discussions.

    "The UU-Community Mailing List exists
to provide Unitarian Universalists with a moderated electronic forum
to exchange information and discuss topics
as they would in a UU Congregation.
UU-Community intends to be the Internet equivalent of
Joys and Concerns, Shared Reflection, Sermon Talk Back,
Congregational Response, Forum, Congregational Meeting,
and Coffee Hour, rolled into one."
—quoting the PURPOSE of the UU-COMMUNITY
from their home page:
http://www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uu-community

    UU-COMMUNITY is a UUA mailing list for people
who are members of local UU congregations
(and/or the CLF, which is discussed below—number 5)
who nevertheless want to communicate
with one another by way of an e-mail list.

    More information about UU-COMMUNITY will be found at this URL:
http://www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/uu-community
This home page includes information on how to subscribe to
UU-COMMUNITY, the free e-mailing list.

    UU-COMMUNITY has not developed as originally conceived,
but nothing prevents it from realizing the vision articulated above.
Lately, it has been mainly one person sharing his blog.
Presumably others can also share their thoughts
if and when they choose to do so. 

HOW UU-COMMUNITY DIFFERS FROM THE FUUCI

    One special group the FUUCI hopes to attract is the unchurched UUs.
There are about 200,000 adults who consider themselves UU
who do not belong to any UU congregation.
This estimate of the 'missing' UUs is derived from the difference
between public opinion polls asking for religious preference
and the actual enrolled membership in over 1,000 local congregations.
Many of these phantom UUs are probably young adults
who were raised in UU congregations but who have never joined as adults.

    The ICUU is an organization composed of member
Unitarian and Universalist congregations and associations
in more than 20 countries
in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, & New Zealand.
It works through a council that meets every second year
and an executive committee that meets more frequently.
The ICUU e-mail list (ICUU-L) is open to anyone
and is intended for general discussion of international UU issues.
The ICUU sponsors leadership training,
visiting ministers, & other activities.
Member groups help each other.

   Here is the ICUU home page,
which includes information on how to subscribe to ICUU-L:
http://www.uua.org/icuu/icuu.html

HOW ICUU DIFFERS FROM THE WWCC

    Occasionally subscribers to ICUU-L share
their experiences with local congregations where they live
and their philosophical and spiritual perspectives.
Most of the efforts of the ICUU are organizational in focus.
The FUUCI does not duplicate the efforts of the ICUU.
Rather the FUUCI is content-rich, focused around the cyber-sermons
and the responses to cyber-sermons from members.

    Under one of the orginal proposed names
—World Wide Unitarian Universalists—
there might have seemed to be more similarity between these two organizations.

    This is actually the largest congregation of the UUA.
Founded in 1944, CLF now has about 3,000 members world wide.
CLF differs from all other UU congregations
because it has no single location.
It is basically a church-by-mail and cyber-space,
supplying many ideas and support
to isolated UUs anywhere in the world.

    The CLF has four e-mailing lists for members only:
CLF-L is for all CLF members,
CLF-RE is devoted specifically to religious education issues,
XXXX is for youth and young adults,
YYYY is for CLF members in military service.

    The Church of the Larger Fellowship also has
an extensive library of materials to lend to members:

40 different printed Month of Sundays Sets,
which consist of four complete Sunday services,
with the complete texts of the sermons
created by leading Unitarian Universalist ministers.

About 40 different audio-tapes of Month of Sundays Sets,
each usually containing four sermons or lectures.

Almost 200 videotapes of sermons, etc.
of leading Unitarian Universalist ministers.

About 300 books and other printed materials on Unitarian Universalism,
many not readily available anywhere else.

    For complete information, go to the home page for the CLF:
http://www.uua.org/clf/index.html

HOW THE CLF DIFFERS FROM THE WWCC

    The CLF is much older and better organized than the FUUCI.
It has a professional and clerical staff,
which is supported by the members,
who make voluntary contributons.
Because the FUUCI has no paid staff,
it costs nothing to be a member.

    The CLF will be expanding its Internet presence in the next few years.
But right now it is concentrating on what has proven to work:
its monthly printed magazine—Quest—sent to all members,
a website, a children's magazine,
the lending library, and the e-mail lists.

    "Soc.religion.unitarian-univ is the usenet group
dedicated to Unitarian-Universalists.
Since its inception in August 1994,
topics of discussion have ranged from
the inspirational to the silly to the practical and back again."
—quoted from the home page.

    You can read as much as you like from the archives.
And if interested in this kind of free-wheeling discussion,
you can join in.
Full details will be found at this URL:
http://sruu.iecc.com/

HOW SOC.RELIGION.UNITARIAN-UNIV DIFFERS FROM THE FUUCI

    The mailing list of soc.religion.unitarian-univ is robot-moderated,
which means that almost all comments
are distributed to the subscribers and saved in the archives.

    Whereas soc.religion.unitarian-univ is a very high-volume list,
having several messages every day,
the mailing list of the FUUCI is moderated
and sends out messages only about twice a month.
The messages consist of well-written and carefully-edited comments.
Private e-mail between authors and readers is also encouraged,
but this is not usually distributed on the FUUCI list itself.

    The discussions of the FUUCI are always organized
as responses to the same cyber-sermon,
which has been read by all of the people who wish to join the discussion.
This means that the discussion is well organized by theme.
The webmaster (in cooperation with the author of the cyber-sermon)
selects and organizes the responses from readers
and posts selected responses with those cyber-sermons in the archives.
The original author of the cyber-sermon
is also encouraged to reply to reader responses.
Some such responses from the author are private,
but others are published with the original cyber-sermon,
creating an on-going dialog on that theme.

    UUS-L is an unmanaged e-mailing list
with a very heavy volume of exchanges,
20-30 messages a day.
You can find out all about it,
including archives of past message, at this URL:
http://www.iecc.com/uus-l/

HOW UUS-L DIFFERS FROM THE WWCC

    Because UUS-L is an unmoderated list,
anyone may post anything, limited only by their own restraints.
This leads to a lively but unorganized discussion
of whatever happens to be on people's minds.
This does allow isolated UUs anywhere in the world to share ideas.
And there is no need to duplicate such a service.

    The FUUCI is at the opposite end of the spectrum
with respect to content and frequency.
The discussion is organized around cyber-sermons,
which are selected by the members
from a list of proposed cyber-sermons.
Anyone may propose a cyber-sermon.
But only the most compelling synopsis and outline
will draw enough votes
for that cyber-sermon to be distributed by the FUUCI.

    Even at its peak operating capacity,
there will probably not be more than one cyber-sermon per month.
The FUUCI discusses only one theme per month.
Subscribers who want to discuss other themes
are encouraged to propose cyber-sermons on those themes
for future months.

    The discussion that follows
responds to the cyber-sermon-of-the-month.
And only comments that deal with the same themes
are saved and posted with the cyber-sermon on the FUUCI website.
This allows people who discover FUUCI even years later
to find organized, very brief discourses
—and the responses of others who have read these discourses.
Persons who discover these discourses later
will also be able to add their comments,
which creates an on-going discussion on
well-defined themes.

    Authors of cyber-sermons receive all responses.
But only the best-written and most-relevant
are posted with the cyber-sermon.

    Members of the FUUCI appreciate this selectiveness of discourse.
Those who want a wide-open discussion
of anything that comes to mind
are welcome to join one of the other alternatives listed here.

    There are several additional newsgroups and bulletin boards in cyber-space
that are dedicated to communication among Unitarian Universalists.
This final note may eventually have a link to a list of these.

    Subscribers who have been disappointed by random discussions
and sometimes very high volumes of e-mail
will appreciate the very disciplined approach offered by the FUUCI.

    All such discussions lists differ so profoundly from the FUUCI
that there may not be any reason to give them individual profiles here.
However, if someone discovers one of these that is similar to the FUUCI,
please draw it to our attention.