"Who Are the Unitarian Universalists?"
by Rev. Kimi Riegel
January 23, 2005

Unitarian Universalists have been around for centuries. In the first centuries after the death of Jesus (yeah, we go that far back) people held a variety of beliefs about the nature of Jesus. One of those beliefs was that Jesus was a human; this later became known as Unitarianism. This idea was thrown out of Christian doctrine in favor of the trinity of Father, Son and Holly Ghost at the council of Nicea in 325.

In the 16^th century many studied the bible closely, finding no references to the Trinity. They then organized churches around the idea of a Unitarian God. One God, one Jesus and the two were not one in the same. They faced tremendous religious persecution. To be a Unitarian was to be a heretic. As a result they also preached religious tolerance for all people. In 1568 in a part of the world that was then Transylvania, now part of Romania, the then Unitarian King declared the Edict of Toleration, a document that allowed freedom of religion. His belief was that since faith was a gift of God, people could worship in the faith they choose. Thus Unitarianism and religious tolerance have been connected for centuries.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, radical reformers in Europe and America also studied the Bible closely. They found only a few references to hell -- and they believed those had been grossly misinterpreted by orthodox Christians. They found, both in the Bible and in their own hearts, an unconditionally loving God. They believed that God would not find any human being unworthy of divine love, and thus salvation was for all. Because of this emphasis on universal salvation, they called themselves Universalists.

Over many decades, in the United States , the two groups converged in their liberal styles until in 1961 the two became one in the Unitarian Universalist Association.

As a result of these thoughtful ancestors, today it comes down to us to believe what we find essential to believe. Each of us -- after our own considered dialog, research and reasoning -- find a faith we can hold, a faith that holds us and gives our lives meaning. Each of us individually and collectively come to different conclusions but search together. We are a non-creedal faith. Some would say we are covenanted, in other words we promise to be together. We are not bound by what we believe but instead we are bound together by the process of finding meaning. We are a faith of people gathered like our fourth principle says to “search for truth and meaning.”

In addition to freedom of belief, these church reformers wanted to be sure that the church wasn’t led in the future into some of the corrupt ways of the past, these corruptions being mostly a product of the power of the ecclesiastical structures and the clergy. Thus they organized their churches under the leadership of the congregation rather than ecclesiastical bodies or individual clergy. Today our churches have what is called congregational polity or the political organizational structure that puts the individual congregations in charge, with democracy as the means of decision making. Our national headquarters in Boston offers us services and advice but in the end we are responsible for our church.

The Frequently Asked Questions section of our national web site states: “In continuity with our independent forebears, today Unitarian Universalist congregations are covenanted, not creedal. Congregational polity is a basic doctrine. In the spirit of freedom, we cherish honest dialogue and persuasion, not coercion. We embrace democratic method as a central principle. Our local members unite to engage in and to support ministries of their own choosing.”

These are great words, but what does it mean in practice? What do Unitarian Universalists believe? And the answer to that seems to be best said by Carl Jung. He said, "The serious problems of life are never really solved. If ever they should appear to be so it is a sure sign that something has been lost. The meaning and purpose of a problem seem to be not in its solution, but in our working on it incessantly." At its best our religion -- perhaps any religion -- is a search for truth and meaning.

And so we search. We use all the traditional means of looking at various scriptures and historical writings. We talk and listen. We test our theories and we learn some more. We hear new ideas and try them on for size. And most of the time we are trying to find what it true. Ken Phifer, our minister in Ann Arbor, suggests four ways of discerning what is true. We use our feelings, the authority given to those we trust, our reason and finally our senses. As Unitarian Universalists we use all these resources. We listen to authority but also use our reason. We use our senses but also understand that others have valid and sometimes different experiences. We trust our feelings but know that they must be tempered with our reason as well. We look inside ourselves and outside.

There is a tale told in both the Hindu and Buddhist traditions and perhaps in others as well that speaks to the importance of this. At the time when the universe was created, the gods found a place for everything -- except the truth. Their difficulty was that they did not want truth discovered too easily.

It was suggested that truth be placed on top of the highest mountain. Another suggested a distant star. Yet another suggestion was the dark side of the moon, and one of the gods proposed the depths of the ocean. In the end the gods chose the place where humans might be least tempted to look: inside the human heart.[1]

As Unitarian Universalists we are free to use all the methods, to search in all the places, to find the ground of our being, to find that which sustains us, to find the faith that can hold us. And many of us come down in different places.

The question of God has been one of the most discussed ones in our faith. God is a word that has been used to hurt and exclude so it is difficult for some of us to hear the word. When other faiths say if we do not believe in the God they believe in we are damned for eternity it is painful. Thus many of us who believe in god choose not to use the word. And still others of us have been led by our search to not believe in God. And most recently others of us have found the texts and beliefs of the earth-centered faiths, often with many gods and goddesses, to speak most directly to our truth. In most Unitarian Universalist churches you will hear things like “reverence for life,” “spirit of love,” “the divine within us all” or even “the great mystery.” These seem to do a better job of describing what most of us believe in and yet are inclusive of many forms of truth. As a whole most of us admit to having a faith in something that can’t be proven, but there are very few of us who believe in what might traditionally be called God.

And what about Jesus? Of course at the beginning of our tradition Unitarian and Universalists understood Jesus to be a human being with great qualities. He was not considered superhuman. That is still true for us today. Many of us find his teachings about love to be especially important in today’s world. We often group Jesus with the other great teachers of the world: Buddha, Muhammad, Gandhi and Moses.

The question then is “Are Unitarian Universalists Christian?” And the answer, like most of our answers, is yes and no. Some Unitarian Universalists are Christian in the sense that Jesus’ teachings are central to their faith. Some Unitarian Universalists are not Christian for although they may acknowledge that our faith tradition has its origins in the Christian faith those stories and symbols no longer speak to them. All Unitarian Universalists are Christian in the sense that our core ideals came from the Christian faith and we are a part of its history. None of us are Christian if you mean by Christian someone who believes that one must adhere to a certain set of beliefs to be a good person.[2]

The question then of how we view other religions arises. We believe, above all else, there should be religious tolerance. We don’t believe that people should be forced or coerced into any one faith. We believe people need to be free from persecution for their beliefs.  When we view other faiths we try to view them through a lens of respect. We understand that there are many truths in the world and that each of us has a part of the puzzle. We find it most difficult to value the teachings of some traditions that run counter to our belief in the basic goodness of humanity. We find it difficult to understand those whose faith encourages them to be exclusive. We take a public stance against those traditions that suggest gays, lesbians, bisexuals or transgender people are to be excluded from the rights we all enjoy. It’s a challenging dance we do with other traditions because while we want them to keep their doctrines away from the laws of this country they would like the same of us. We keep working at it.

And that is probably the operative word for our tradition, working at it or process. We believe that life is a process -- not a puzzle to be solved per se but a process of questions to be grappled with. We are proud of how we are changed by what we learn. Most of us can track major changes through our lives in what we believe about God, Jesus and religion in general. We are open to change in our beliefs and the best part is we don’t have to change churches. I have a colleague who grew up Unitarian Universalist and serves our churches as a minister. In her life she has been an atheist, a humanist and a theist. All the time she was serving as a Unitarian Universalist minister. We are a group of searchers together and we are open to where you are on the journey.

Of course the obvious question then is can Unitarian Universalists believe whatever they want? No. You can not believe that there is special favor for a select group of people based on inherit qualities such as race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. You can not believe that certain people, because of their beliefs, have a special access to God or the spiritual. You can not believe that it is right to exploit our natural world. And finally you would not find a place in our churches if you believe in structures that are autocratic or intensely hierarchical.

So, if you can affirm the basic good of humanity, if you are looking for a place to belong where are others are on the journey with you, then this is your home. We are a meaning-making community; a community that through its searching finds meaning individually and together.

Robert Assagioli, the founder of Psycho synthesis, tells a parable about the power of meaning to transform our experience of life. He invites us to imagine an interview with three master stone cutters who are building a cathedral in the Middle Ages. Before speaking with these workers, you take a moment to watch them cut stones into blocks. As each man finishes cutting a stone, others take it away and replace it with another stone, which too is cut into a block.
 After a while you approach the first man and ask him what he is doing. He turns on you in anger and says, “Idiot, use your eyes. I am cutting stones into blocks. When I finish one, they bring me another. I have been doing this since I was old enough to work and I will do it until the day that I die.”

You back away and approach the second man to ask the same question. But his response is quite different. He smiles and says, “I am earning a living for my beloved family. With my wages we have built a warm little house, we have food on the table every day, the children are growing strong. I am building a safe place for those I love.”

Going on to the third man you ask him your question. He stops his work and the face he turns towards you is radiant. “I am building a great cathedral,” he tells you, “that will offer comfort to those in pain and sanctuary to those lost in the dark. And it will stand for a thousand years!”

All of these men are doing identical work. Meaning does not change our lives, but it does change our experience of our lives.[3]

Each Sunday we come here, this community that helps us make the kind of meaning the third stone cutter found. There are many ways to find that meaning. We won’t show you the way but if you ask, we will show you what we have found. Namaste

[1] "A Free and Responsible Search for Truth and Meaning" By Rev. Kenneth W. Phifer 
November 12, 2000