I can relate to your story about being shunned.  I have never attended the Unitarian Church, but here is my story.
 
I met a woman who moved in on me so quickly to become my friend that it made my head swim.  I do not make friends easily and have had enough bad experiences with other women that I am very slow at making close friendships.  ( I have a friend from 1st grade and 1 from high school and then this 1 from the 1980s)  But we hung out together and were mutually supportive in setting up a crisis line and some emergency resources for folks in the community.  She married and moved away but we stayed in contact via email.
 
When my daughter married in VA, she and her husband flew to go to the wedding and to be there with me so I would not be outnumbered by my ex and his family.  I was impressed with her loyalty.
 
Her Dad died.  My Mom died.  I wrote her a brief statement, a testimony that I shared with all my friends and family by email, about how my faith sustained me and brought me through my sorrow and all the other stuff that was happening at the same time (bankruptcy, husband's heart attack, etc. etc. ad nauseum).
 
I received a rather terse reply.  She told me she had always understood that I was a conservative politically and that was okay.  She had also understood my deep faith and my beliefs about Christ and the Bible but it was not okay for me to talk about any of this with her and she was deeply offended by what I had shared.  Hers was the only negative comment I recieved about my testimony.  I have not heard from her again.  I did write and tried to repair any damage I had done to the relationship.  She does not answer my emails and I have not heard from her again.  I still have her name on my list and once in a while, I send her a joke or a cartoon but she has not responded.
 
Our city had a city flag with a shield with 4 squares in it, sort of like medieval heraldry.  In one square was a cross.  The Unitarian minister brought suit against the city and the courts made us remove the cross.  The city refused to replace the cross in the square because if anyone asked what was in the empty square, we have a testimony.  We can tell them the cross is supposed to be there.
 
I miss my friend.  But ... her choice.