Proselytizing can be a public service. I'm sure there are many people who would be interested in the church if they only knew it existed. I'd like to see them make some TV ads based on the principles of the church, kind of like the warm fuzzy LDS ads. But our ads could include all types of people that you wouldn't normally associate with a more conservative church. Maybe they've done this already but I haven't seen any UU ads on TV.

I don't see how sharing our principles would violate the general principles, since it's only the general principles that could be shared.

But yeah, there really isn't much of a difference between prostelyting and selling. I quite often felt like a salesman back when I was a missionary. But the ads I see on TV that churches put out now a days are very non threatening and are focused on advocating a paticular principle. And during these times we sure need to get the message out about religious tolerance and peace. The world needs to see that people of different faiths can come together and worship under the same roof and form a peaceful community.

Namaste, Kungufzed.  (btw, check your IMs )

We/I could just be splitting hairs here (something that UUs are apt at), but to me there are different connotations between "evangelizing," "proselytizing," and "marketing."  Evangelizing is about spreading the good news, which I agree can be a public service.  If people agree with the message, then they will welcome hearing it.  And if they agree with the message yet had never heard it before and thought they were alone, then evangelizing can even be salvific.  Proselytizing to my mind means trying to convert someone.  Not just spreading the word, but trying to convince others that it's the right word.  As UUs, we may tell others about UU (I certainly hope we do!) but I doubt many of us argue with folks if they say they're not interested.

I would have to concede, however, that most people view evangelizing and proselytizing as the same.  And there is something similar about them.  Whether it's us telling our friends about this cool religious community that we found that or the biblical fundamentalist trying to convince you to accept Christ, in either case we both truly believe that our faith is a good one that could help others.

Marketing otoh...
Maybe it's just me but the term "marketing" makes me think of ad agencies trying to sell you laundry detergent.  There are like a dozen different brands of laundry detergent out there but in actuality they basically all work the same.  It don't matter much whether you use Tide or Gain.  Marketing is what convinces you to buy one brand over the other, by putting it in a pretty package or pairing it with a celebrity endorsement.

I am not at all opposed to us being out there in the world, telling people about us.  That is a large part of what this website is about.  But I would never call it marketing.