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Newsletter Articles - 2001
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What Universalism has to Offer, III
Religion
Visitors often comment that UUism doesn’t seem like a real religion.
The Seven Principles, while unobjectionable, strike them as secular
(“…could have been written by an agency of the United Nations”)
and for the most part unchallenging (“Who isn’t in favor
of peace and justice?”).
This state of affairs is the legacy of a bitter controversy that
raged for more than 100 years, mostly in the Unitarian denomination,
between liberal Christians and those further to the left--Humanists
and their forerunners--who objected to traditional religious language
(like “God”) and to the singling out of Jesus among the world’s
spiritual leaders. Unwilling to be split over doctrinal differences,
and seeing no alternative but to retreat from endorsing any particular
religious path, the Unitarian movement came to describe itself primarily
in terms of principles of procedure (“freedom, reason, tolerance”)
on which everyone could agree. When the Unitarians joined forces
with the much smaller Universalist movement in 1961, most Unitarians
were unaware that the Universalists had worked out their own distinctive
solution to the Christian/Humanist conflict and so the Unitarian
approach prevailed. As a result today’s UUism is not so much a religion
as a process that supports people who are searching for a religion.
As one wit put it, “In UUism you’re parachuted into a jungle, given
a machete and a canteen and told, ‘You’re free’.”
While the Christian/Humanist controversy was raging among Unitarians,
Universalists had quietly forged their new Declaration
of Faith, which is a synthesis of liberal Christianity
and Humanism. Two of the five points (“supreme worth” and “authority
of truth”) embody Humanist values, while the other three proclaim
liberal Christianity. True to its heritage, Universalism-- “the
Larger Faith”--had opened its arms and grown larger still.
In modern Universalism you’re still parachuted into a jungle, still
given a machete and canteen and told that you’re free, but you’re
also given a compass and shown a direction
in which many others have found spiritual fulfillment. Universalism
is more than a process; it’s a religion. |
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Taking Back the Prayer of Jesus
Our father [and mother] in heaven, hallowed be
thy name. Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.
The prayer commonly attributed to Jesus was once said in unison
at virtually every Unitarian and Universalist service. Today, most
UU churches never say it at all.
I think it was a mistake to say it every week, because to do so
was to imply that those particular metaphors for God (a male ruler
dwelling in the sky) are superior to others. And to this day I can’t
lead the prayer without inserting “and mother” as I did above.
But I think it’s also a mistake never to say this prayer.
By never saying it we deny our ancestry, and contradict our self-proclaimed
openness to diverse religious perspectives.
Besides, it’s a good prayer! When we say it, we are crying out
to the power of the universe, addressing it as our parent and asking
for what we need: justice (that’s what “thy kingdom come” means);
bread; forgiveness; and a little slack (“lead us not into temptation”--rendered
in one recent translation as, “do not subject us to test after test”).
During the Christian/Humanist controversy this prayer unfortunately
became a pawn, its use widely interpreted as a signal of loyalty
to the Christian side. But now that Universalism has shown us the
way to a more inclusive faith, isn’t it time to take the prayer
back? |
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Universalists Leading the Way, II
Anti-Slavery
While UU folklore has it that we were leaders in the movement to
end slavery, our record is actually mixed.
It's true that a number of Unitarians, like the ministers William
Ellery Channing and Theodore Parker, were in the forefront of the
anti-slavery cause. But most Unitarians were less outspoken, because
prominent members of Unitarian congregations had business interests
that depended on the labor of slaves. And in the South, some Unitarians
and Universalists actually owned slaves.
On balance, though, both Unitarians and Universalists did much
to further the anti-slavery cause; and, as in so many other matters,
it was Universalists who led the way.
Universalists passed an anti-slavery resolution at the Convention
of 1790 (Philadelphia), which was adopted four years later by the
New England Convention (Oxford, MA). By 1794, therefore, the entire
Universalist denomination had gone on record as opposing slavery,
making them only the second denomination (after the Quakers) to
do so. (After taking their anti-slavery stand the Quakers, too,
had slave-owners in their ranks for many decades.) By contrast Channing's
first anti-slavery sermon was not delivered until thirty-one years
later, and the Unitarian denomination never went on record as opposing
slavery. |
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God Is Love
This quotation from the New Testament (1 John 4:16b) has been dear
to many sects, but perhaps to none more than the Universalists.
Two hundred years ago, considering it to be Biblical proof that
their own understanding of God was correct, Universalists adopted
it as their principal motto. In their very first declaration of
faith (1790) they gave it a prominent place. In their homes, they
stitched it into samplers. In their churches, they painted it on
pulpits and carved it into chancel tables. They put it on the mastheads
of newspapers and the covers of orders of service.
Though Universalists' view of the Bible and even God changed over
the years, their conviction that "God is love" remained constant.
They reaffirmed this commitment in their last declaration of faith,
in 1953. And in the 1970s, they even featured it on the badge reproduced
here.
But in a time when so many are unable to share the faith of their
ancestors, when God is less real than God seems to have been in
the past, when for many the word "God" itself is no more than a
question mark, a name for life's mystery--in such a time one can't
help but wonder: can this vestige of an earlier age still be of
use?
We say that it can. "God is love" is advice for the journey. It
shines light on our choice of religious paths. This venerable motto
says to each of us: the experience of love can be relied on as a
sign that you are headed in a right direction. It says: if the religious
path you are following fosters loving relationships, then your path
is a right one. |
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Theodore Parker on Universalism
The Rev. Robert W. Haney of The Theodore Parker Church, West Roxbury,
sends the following quotation from a letter written by Unitarian
minister Theodore Parker to the Rev. Samuel J. May of Lexington,
June 14, 1847:
“The Universalists are more human than we; they declare
the Fatherhood of God and do not stick at the consequences.
Everlasting Happiness to all men. I think they are the most human
sect in the land.” |
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One Mountain, One Special Path
In his marvelous book Finding Your Religion, the Rev. Scotty
McLennan tells of his encounter with a Hindu Brahmin priest and
the Hindu concept of “one mountain, many paths.” Scotty’s initial
reaction was that of many UUs: Maybe this is the way to spiritual
maturity. Be open to all religious traditions. Pick and choose from
what rings true for me in each.
The Hindu priest objected. “There are many paths up the mountain
and they all reach the top, but ... you can’t be on more than one
at a time.” He advised, “You’ve grown up as a Christian and you
know a lot about that path.... Go back and be the best Christian
you can be.”
“But I don’t believe Jesus was any more divine than Krishna or
the Buddha,” protested Scotty. “And Christians would condemn you
for knowing about Jesus and not accepting him uniquely as your Lord
and Savior.”
“Then go back and find a way to be an open, nonexclusive Christian,”
said the priest, adding that the more Scotty could learn about others’
paths, the more it would help him to progress along his own.
What the priest was counseling is Universalism. Universalism is
an interfaith religion that seeks not to lose touch with the UU
movement’s Christian roots. Our logo, a circle with off-center cross,
can be viewed as a mountain seen from above: though the religion
of Jesus is only one path to the summit, we single it out because
it is the path of our heritage. |
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Misplacing Our History
It happens like this. Someone
describes an episode from Universalist history as “Unitarian Universalist.”
Then someone else shortens “Unitarian Universalist” to “Unitarian.”
The result is that a part of Universalist history is now remembered
as “Unitarian.”
Not long ago, for example, I heard someone refer to the battle
for separation of church and state in Massachusetts (not won until
1833!) as “Unitarian-led.”
It was Universalists in Gloucester who began that fight, in 1781.
Unitarians did not even begin to emerge on the religious scene until
about 1805; and once they did, they were by and large opposed
to separation, because their churches (founded much earlier)
were beneficiaries of the old system. To speak of the fight for
separation as “Unitarian-led” is ludicrous.
To prevent such distortions, we urge all UUs to insist that
the term “Unitarian Universalist” never be used to describe events
prior to 1960 (when the denominations voted to join forces), and
that the term never be shortened to “Unitarian” (say “UU” instead).
What is at stake is more than the sensibilities of a few self-styled
Universalists. If the Universalist perspective is lost, our combined
UU movement will be impoverished. Universalism was different than
Unitarianism. It originated among laypeople, not clergy. It drew
on the experience of a less privileged social class. Its message
was more radical, its scope was larger, and its taproot went deeper
into the heart. Universalism exists still within the UU movement,
available to all, though widely overlooked--a treasure waiting to
be unwrapped. Universalism is real religion. It can excite your
mind, and touch your heart, and feed your soul. |
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