Being a Unitarian Universalist
I'm holding in my hand an ad that appeared in many cities across the continent about 10 years ago. Developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association, the ad sought to raise interest in our liberal movement. It was moderately successful and it posed the provocative statement that 61 million adult Americans choose not to go to church on Sunday because they cannot abide the "absolute" truths, rigid dogmas and guilt trips found in many organized religions. It then went on to say that there is a church for such people, where the essential goodness of people is stressed and its members are more concerned with the here-and-now than the hereafter. The final punch line was that Unitarian Universalists find their church an exciting way to wake up on Sunday mornings.
To a certain extent, the ad was misleading, for being Unitarian Universalist is far more complicated than that.
And so, I'm undertaking today an attempt to list a few of the requirements of our liberal religion. My mind turned first of all to the Boy Scouts, who are guided by the Scout Law (I believe the Girl Scout Law is quite similar). A Boy Scout is: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. It occurred to me that a similar listing of the characteristics of a good Unitarian Universalist might be possible.
Right away, I'll have to admit that I may be traversing a slippery pathway, for UUs are a diverse body of people who are quick to challenge anyone who tries to define them narrowly. There's an old joke that asks: "What do you have when there are 50 people in a room, each with a different opinion?" We seasoned UUs automatically answer in chorus: "A Unitarian church!"
This exaggerates a bit, but it points to the fact that Unitarian Universalists are not required to adhere to any dogma or creed -- we proclaim that we are a creedless church. And so, when someone asks the question, "What does a Unitarian Universalist believe?," that person is asking the wrong question, based on the wrong presupposition that we have a creed that starts out with the two words: "I believe." The question is a loaded one, similar to the classic "When did you stop beating your wife?"
The question about what we believe will run up against a brick wall, for we UUs have no creed, holy scriptures, divine revelation or ecclesiastical hierarchy. Though we grew out of the confessing faith of Puritan Christianity, we have come to disallow the narrow and confining statements of faith. We have no dogma.
(Now, I want to put to rest the rumor that in our church schools, we teach our children that a dogma is a puppy's mother!)
And so, in the roundabout introduction to this sermon, I'm saying that you cannot identify a Unitarian Universalist by means of a faith statement. But without a creed or faith statement, an outsider might wonder where we do find our source of authority. The answer is that our authority lies within each and every individual. We stress the freedom and the responsibility of each UU to articulate his or her faith. Nothing should intrude upon the sacredness of one's inner thoughts and religious reasoning. There can be no authority over the free and inquiring mind. So, it follows that we place our faith in the capacity of each human being to do his or her own thinking, and this is no easy task. Many people in this world want answers concerning religious matters. It takes a certain type of person to be a religious liberal, and the main ingredient of such a person is that he or she is a free thinker. First and foremost, a Unitarian Universalist is a free thinker.
Next, a critic from without might ask: "What keeps you folks together if all are free to think and believe for themselves?" The answer is that there is a great deal upon which we agree. And yes, we do have common beliefs, but not beliefs structured along the traditional modes of organized religion. Unitarian Universalists don't start with beliefs, they grow into them as they relate to the real world and the marvels of nature and all existence. We come to agree upon a common set of values as set forth in our Purposes and Principles, not upon beliefs. Thus, we are a valuing religion.
If we are free thinkers and ours is a valuing religion, it follows that we are disciples of truth. We are not disciples of any charismatic or divine figure of the past, or of any ancient scripture. We may admire them without being disciples, for no one personage or scripture can contain all truth. And what is truth? Truth is that which persuades the open and honest mind.
A sub-category of being disciples of truth is that we are open-minded. Being too open-minded, though, has its hazards. We cannot always be just accumulating data, we have to process the information and take a stand. It has been said that if we don't stand for something, we will fall for anything. Being open-minded is not enough. It is also said that one can be so open-minded that his brains fall out.
Another quality of being a Unitarian Universalist is a corollary to being a disciple of truth. A Unitarian Universalist is a skeptic. We take nothing on its face value; we ask "Why?" And that makes us all heretics, for the root of the word "heretic" is "one who questions." Heretic is an honorable name for a UU. We insist upon the right to be skeptical. In fact, it is my theory that we UUs are born with a gene that makes us skeptics. We question all that does not persuade the open and honest mind.
If Unitarian Universalists are free thinkers, it follows that we must guard our rights of free inquiry. Therefore, UUs must be guardians of freedom. And, if we are guardians of freedom, this means that we are liberal. I do not use the word "liberal" in the narrow political sense in which most people today define the word. "Liberal" comes from the Latin stem liberalis, which means "free." A liberal is an advocate of freedom, not one bound to any orthodoxy -- religious or political -- one who is independent in opinion, not conservative, often expressing democratic or republican ideals as distinguished from monarchical or aristocratic ideals or forms of government. From this definition I would add that a liberal can be both a republican and a democrat -- spelled with a small r or d. But in particular, a liberal advocates the democratic way in regulating human affairs.
Unitarian Universalists are also advocates for the democratic way, both within our churches and in the larger society. We believe that democracy means putting brotherhood and sisterhood into action; it is the devotion of each individual to the service of all. Imperfect and ponderous as democracy may seem, in a free church and a free society democracy is an absolute essential.
And so, if we stress the democratic way in regulating our institutions, it follows that Unitarian Universalists are institutionalists. We are not loners. We are involved in our institutions, our churches, our governments. We know how powerless a lone individual can be. Only through our institutions do we find empowerment, a sense of place, a sense of community, a sense of purpose and direction. A UU alone is not a UU. We truly practice our faith only when we are involved and immersed in our community, engaging in life and in comradeship with others and who strive to make the world a better place.
Now, being institutionalists, Unitarian Universalists are also generous to their church. They realize that this fragile institution, the liberal, non-dogmatic church, the bearer of our values for this and future generations, must prosper in our times and beyond our lifetimes. And so, UUs contribute their time and labor and their money to ensure the health and future of their church. Unitarian Universalists put their money where their values are.
To be a democrat (small d) means that one believes that humans are capable of governing themselves. Therefore, Unitarian Universalists believe in human potential, and thus, UUs are necessarily humanists (small h). Unitarian Universalism grew out of a liberal rejection of the monstrous claims of Calvinism that all humans are created out of the evil of Adam's sin and therefore tainted and stained by that original sin. In contrast, UUs believe in the human potential for goodness. This does not mean that we perceive no evil -- we do. But we put no metaphysical basis to evil; we need no devil to explain human cruelty. However, we do know that humanity is slowly evolving and climbing out of the pit of cruelty. Though painfully slow, our faith is that righteousness and justice will eventually prevail, and goodness cannot wholly lose. We also know that progress comes not through prayers alone or through miracles. Unitarian Universalists believe that if God exists, he, she or it works within the world through human hands and human hearts. Only human endeavors can change or better the world. The Jewish theologian Martin Buber knew this when he said that "people are God's language." And so, I repeat, a Unitarian Universalist is a humanist.
Being humanists and believing in the human potential leads inevitably to the fact that Unitarian Universalists are optimists. We are blessed by our intelligent existence in this marvelous world where beauty and love are real. In spite of all the tragedies and pains of living, we are given this life for the purpose of bettering all life, and we believe this task gives us purpose and meaning. We are not naïve optimists, but the old Unitarian shout of hope, "Onward and upward -- forever!" is no idle statement. We are optimists.
If Unitarian Universalists are guardians of freedom, liberals, democrats, humanists and optimists, then they are also, by derivation, egalitarian. UUs believe in the equality of all human beings. We cannot be racists, sexists, ageists, homophobes or ultranationalists -- insensitive to the needs of the world's peoples and putting our nation first, above those greater needs. But, as a realist, I know that within Unitarian Universalism one will encounter all of these deadly faults, though hopefully to a far lesser degree than in the greater society. To be a true egalitarian means to be supportive of the human rights of others, which include not only political rights but the right not to be hungry and to be sheltered and free from fear.
Again, if Unitarian Universalists are liberals, stressing the sanctity of the free, inquiring mind and the freedom of expression that derives therefrom, it follows that Unitarian Universalists are tolerant. However, our tolerance is not limitless, especially if one person impinges upon the freedom of another. In our UU churches there exists a wide range of religious understandings. Our theological spectrum may run from atheist to theist. Some of us may choose to use traditional religious language with words such as "God" and "prayer." Others may feel uncomfortable with those words. And yet we strive for freedom of religious expression. We stress the freedom of the pulpit for our ministers, and conversely, the freedom of the pew for each layperson. We may challenge another person's religious concepts, but we hope never to belittle or diminish the personhood of the individual holding those concepts. Theological discussion is important to us, for behind every theological concept is a common struggle for understanding of the human condition. We may differ theologically, but that should not separate us, for as I pointed out earlier, we UUs do not center our faith on any particular religious belief system, as do most Christians. We coalesce around values: freedom, equality, democracy, etc.
We aspire to be tolerant, but we know that we are not always tolerant. Many of us have come out of orthodoxy, some of us bruised and angry. We welcome the freedom and support that a Unitarian Universalist church can give us, a place where we can "decompress" from the strictures and fears placed upon us during our religious past. Unitarian Universalism should be such a place of refuge, but only for so long. It is our duty to demand of our members that old angers be sorted out, examined and put away. For to be a UU is not to be always strident against old orthodoxies. Being a Unitarian Universalist does not mean that one be a dogmatic anti-dogmatist. A full-time, practicing Unitarian Universalist should not describe his or her religion in terms of what is not believed. Our faith should not be described in negative but in positive words and values. Self-assured Unitarian Universalists are secure in their understandings that free religion is not static but always growing, not rigidified in creed or doctrine, and that participants in our faith are challenged continually to grow and mature as religious individuals. A well-grounded UU will not stomp out of church if the minister preaches on the various concepts of God, or verbally attack another person who might express a viewpoint too close to a painfully discarded dogma. No, a mature and evolved Unitarian Universalist will be tolerant and will listen and not pre-judge, all the while feeling secure in the knowledge that the church will not collapse because of religious language that touches tender nerves. There is a sort of reverse fundamentalism expressed in many of our churches by those who are fearful that we may become too "religious." We claim that we cherish our diversity, but often, in matters of theology, that is not the case.
So, if we are to be tolerant within our churches, we must also be tolerant without. Unitarian Universalists should also be ecumenical. With religious maturity comes the understanding that there is no one way to religious fulfillment. A tolerant UU looks for the underlying values from which we can find common ground with other faiths, and I assure you that there are many such values. We Unitarian Universalists have no monopoly on the values of freedom, democracy or truth -- they are valued by all religions. Religious federations can be built upon our common values. There are many endeavors in which Unitarian Universalists can join with other faiths for peace and justice in the world. My past experiences lead me to believe that on the local level, our churches are not very ecumenical.
Another quality of being a Unitarian Universalist is enthusiasm. UUs are enthusiastic and proud of their church and faith. And they should say it loud and clear. We have a long and proud history and our liberal movement has had a profound influence upon our nation, far out of proportion to our smallness as a denomination. We know that UUs are more numerous in the United States Congress in proportion to denominational size than any other major faith. We know that nearly a third of the statues of Americans standing in the Hall of Fame in New York City are Unitarians or those closely related to our movement. Five of our presidents have called themselves Unitarian (Jefferson, John and John Quincy Adams, Millard Fillmore, William Howard Taft). Another, Abraham Lincoln, if he had joined a church -- which he never did -- would have been Unitarian, according to his own statement. Yes, a minority religion we may be, but we are a long way from being invisible.
Perhaps one of the most important qualities needed for being Unitarian Universalist is a sense of humor. Forrester Church, minister of our All Souls Church in New York City, wrote in one of his books about angels. One thing he said I've never forgotten: "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly." Not that we are all angels, but it is important for UUs never to become too pompous and serious. We must be quick to laugh at ourselves and to poke fun. It's easier for us to do so when we admit that Unitarian Universalism doesn't have all the answers -- if at all. G.K. Chesterton once said that a religion that can't laugh at itself is no religion worth having. I could never be a minister in such a church. And thank God (if you'll excuse the expression) we have an abundance of jokes to tell about ourselves. We could end the sermon right now and fill out the time, and more, by telling UU jokes such as: "UUs worship only one God -- at the very most," or "We begin our prayers by saying, 'To whom it may concern,'" etc. etc.
May we UUs always take ourselves lightly. And may we never become deadly serious, because that will make us eventually into a church that is seriously dead.
Another quality of being a Unitarian Universalist is reverence. To revere means to render high respect or praise to something. And what do we revere? Truth, beauty, virtue, compassion, love and -- most particularly -- we revere life, from which arises our capacity for reverence. We revere not only human life, but life in all its forms and all that ongoing life process. We humans have become as gods, for we can also destroy all life. Our duty is to preserve this great living system of which we are only a part. We have been blessed with the ability to comprehend and to wonder. Our reverence for what we survey must shape every ethical decision we make, for only with such reverence will the life process endure on our planet.
With all that I have said so far, it follows that a Unitarian Universalist is compassionate and loving. Actually, these attributes are intrinsic virtues in the first place, as they are for any wholesome personality. Compassion and love are universal virtues, hardly uniquely Unitarian.
And finally, a Unitarian Universalist is thankful -- thankful for this life, for this unique and precious microsecond of human consciousness that embodies each and every one of us, consciousness that gives us to know love and joy and beauty and a sense of relatedness to all existence. And from this relatedness comes the religious impulse to worship, to give thanks to the truly worth-ful things, events and relationships of our lives. (The word "worth" lies behind the word "worship," which in the old English was "worthship.") A religion without worship is not a religion. And, mark my words, Unitarian Universalism is a religion and UUs worship wherever they gather. Oh, an orthodox observer might question whether what we do is worship -- no sacraments, no genuflecting, no altar, no typical symbols to speak of, little of the traditional language of worship, hardly even the mention of the word "God." But still it is worship. We recognize the spiritual nature of human beings, and human spirituality indicates to us that there is something fundamental about humanity and the cosmos and the mystical relationship between the two.
And what about this relatedness, this sense of connectedness, this resonance with eternal things that many of us feel when we gaze off into the vastness of the heavens or experience through an infant's smile -- moments of transcendence that touch our lives if we are but open to them? Call it mystery, call it divine, call it God, call it nothing -- something compels us to be reverent, to give thanks, to worship quietly, with dignity and little conventional piety -- each of us free to relate through our common worship in his or her own way. Here, we Unitarian Universalists gather to relate to the inner and outer presence that is both mystery and friend -- that which gives us to know that we are not ultimately alone.
To sum up: To be a Unitarian Universalist means that we are free thinkers, disciples of truth, open-minded, skeptical, guardians of freedom, liberals, democrats (small d), institutionalists, generous, humanists, optimists, egalitarian, tolerant, ecumenical, enthusiastic, reverent, compassionate and loving, thankful and worshipful. I count 18, six more than the Boy Scouts.
Being a Unitarian Universalist -- it's not easy. It doesn't happen simply by signing a membership book or saying that you are a UU. You can have some of those 18 qualities and not be a Unitarian Universalist, but to be within our liberal faith, you must be all of them and perhaps a few more I may have forgotten; feel free to add to the list.
Being a Unitarian Universalist is how you look at life, how you relate to others, how you guard the freedom to think and to question. It's in the values you ascribe as truly worth-ful to you. It's in the way you worship and give thanks.
Being Unitarian Universalist -- it's a full-time endeavor, the toughest religion I know. And, speaking personally, as one Unitarian Universalist to another, I would have it no other way!
So may it be.
The sermon in a Unitarian Universalist setting is never the last word on any subject,
but rather an invitation to further dialog.
You may want to read other visitors' comments on Rev.
Oren A. Peterson's "Being a Unitarian Universalist" .
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