The New Massachusetts Universalist Convention

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Spring 2007

Universalism for Young People

Rev. Dr. Elizabeth M. Strong
Mass. Bay District Religious Education Program Consultant

I believe:

God is love
Jesus is a teacher and a friend
In the goodness of people
There is truth I know and more I will know
Service is required of me to live my faith, and
In the end all will be well.

Spring 2007

"What's the Difference Between Universalists and Unitarians?"

Newcomers often ask this question. Recently the distinction has become quite blurred, but in the early days there were clear differences between the two groups. Our purpose here is not to downgrade one movement so much as to point out the overlooked treasure we have in the other.

• In America Universalism is the older movement, by 30 to 40 years. What became The Universalist Church of America was founded in 1793; the original American Unitarian Association, in 1825.
  
• Universalism developed mainly in the hill country of central New England, an area that was then the frontier. Unitarianism developed in long-established settlements around Boston.
  
• Universalists were, by and large, from a less privileged social class than Unitarians. Hosea Ballou, who was the principal Universalist leader for more than forty years, was born in a log cabin in Richmond, NH and had less than two years' formal education. William Ellery Channing, his Unitarian counterpart, was born into an aristocratic family in Newport, RI and was sent to Harvard.
  
• Universalism developed among lay people. Unitarianism originated among Harvard-educated clergy.
  
• The first Universalists were "come-outers" who walked out of their home congregations and started new, liberal congregations. In this way their experience was like that of many Unitarian Universalists today. The first Unitarians were "stay-inners" whose congregations were gradually guided by their ministers into a liberal direction.
  
• Universalists had to build their own new meetinghouses. Unitarians inherited buildings that had been built by the town and were maintained at public expense.
  
• While both religions championed the use of reason and individual freedom of belief, their basic viewpoints were very different. Unitarian minister Thomas Starr King, son of a Universalist minister, famously explained the difference by quoting a Universalist who in a debate with a Unitarian said, "The Universalist … believes that God is too good to damn us forever; and you Unitarians believe that you are too good to be damned."

The Unitarians saw the moral realm as they saw society--stratified, with some people successful and others not. Their slogan, "salvation by character," meant that those who succeed in developing a high moral character will be saved while those who do not succeed will be condemned. By regarding salvation as something that one earns by doing good, Unitarians were adopting a view similar to that of--for example--Catholics and Methodists, though these denominations drew mostly from lower social classes and the Unitarians did not regard them as peers.

The Universalists had a more egalitarian view--expressed provocatively by Hosea Ballou as "salvation irrespective of character." Salvation was not earned, it was a gift to all from a God whose nature is love. And people who do evil things are not so much evil themselves as they are uninformed--they have not yet realized that the path to happiness in this life is doing good. In the 1930s Universalists wanted to express their faith without using the term "salvation." They said, "We avow our faith in the supreme worth of every human personality." This is the origin of the first Unitarian Universalist Principle, "the inherent worth and dignity of every person."

Winter 2007

"You Should Lose the Cross."

"We want to tell the truth about our denomination," replied the minister. "Historically, Christianity is the only heritage the UU movement has.

"And we also want to tell the truth about ourselves," the minister continued. "Most of us have Christian backgrounds. And while many of us came here wanting to forget about Christianity, our experience has been that it's more rewarding to learn how to take Christianity apart, discard the bad things, then incorporate the good things into our new, UU faith."

Mike E. never returned.

Does it make sense for UU churches to use the off-center cross? We think it does. Mike E. needed to get over his anger, not only for his own sake but for that of any congregation he might join. Our perception is that while a church that challenges people to address their religious pasts may thereby repel some visitors, it does a much better job of retaining those who eventually join.

Winter 2007

Humanists for Jesus

UUs widely assume that Universalists are Christians. While many of us are, many others might be more accurately described as "Humanists for Jesus."

It saddens us to feel we have to make this distinction, but our experience is that many UUs, once they have categorized someone as "Christian," while they may tolerate and even welcome that person, will pay little attention to what the person says. We want to be heard.

So what are "Humanists for Jesus"? On the one hand, we're Humanists. We ignore questions about the supernatural and think that religion should focus on human life and its problems. We assume that Jesus is dead as a doornail.

But on the other hand, we think that Jesus was a world-class religious genius, on a par with Buddha and Lao-Tzu, and that he should certainly be commended to the attention of UUs who, despite their professed interest in world religions, are estranged from the only religious tradition that preserves some of his words and deeds.

Winter 2007

Jesus Accepting a Gay Relationship?

Rev. Andrew Brown, Cambridge, England
adapted from The Herald, Journal of the
Unitarian Christian Association, No. 61

Biblical fundamentalists love citing scripture and they do it perhaps no more aggressively and unpleasantly than when it comes to denouncing homosexuality. If only we could find for them a Biblical text that might suggest another picture …

Well, it is my great pleasure to tell you that it exists and you can find it at Matthew 8:5-13. In this passage a centurion comes to Jesus to ask whether he will heal his "servant." But what is interesting is that the usual Greek word for servant, doulos, is not used. Instead we find the ambiguous word, pais, which means boy/servant. It is quite legitimate to suggest that this may be a reference to a junior officer doubling as a same-sex partner, which was a common practice in the Roman army. As John Henson predicts in his recent translation of Matthew (in As Good as New—A Radical Retelling of the Scriptures, O Books, 2005): "The day will come when this interpretation causes Christians no problems. It explains the officer's reluctance to invite Jesus to his home. He mistakenly assumed that Jesus would disapprove of his life…."

Now I knew there was a reason for learning some Greek …

Winter 2007

Guided Meditation

Breathe in … breathe out.

Breathe in … breathe out.

Neglect this …

and the quest for inner peace …

will be the least of your concerns.