CAN I BELIEVE ANYTHING I WANT?
Sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Maureen Killoran
With River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation
August 21, 2011
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS A VIDEO OF THIS SERMON*
I was at the doctor’s last week, and my place of employment happened to come into the conversation. Said the doctor, “I used to have a patient from your church." He liked to say that Unitarians are good people who like to live by the 10 suggestions.” We smiled. Everyone in this room has probably heard jokes about Unitarian Universalists. Some of them are even funny.
How about this one: What can you say about a dead Unitarian Universalist? He's all dressed up with no place to go.
Somebody described UUs as Quakers with ADD.
And then there’s Garrison Keillor’s depiction of a “Unitarian monastery in New Hampshire” . . . “The rule there is complete silence, but if you think of something really good you can go ahead and say it.”
When Unitarian Universalism is the faith to which you are committed, the plethora of jokes can be confusing. . . embarrassing . . . irritating . . .
Unitarian Universalism is a free religion, an intentionally creedless religion -- and more times than I would like to acknowledge, this gets tangled up in people’s minds with NO religion, and there you have it – Unitarian Universalism, the faith community where you can believe anything you want. The community that, maybe, is something of a joke.
Those of you who have been UU for some time may appreciate the sinking feeling I had when a woman stopped me near the asparagus in Whole Foods and asked, “Aren’t you the minister of that church at River Road and Whittier? Is it true what my neighbor says, that you guys can believe anything you want?”
Yes. Well. I was reminded of the card that people used to hand out, with a tiny square drawn in the center: “Tell me everything you know,” the card read. “Write it here.”
Fortunately, I’ve got my “elevator speech.”
“We believe,” I like to say, “we believe that each individual has both the right and the responsibility to come to their own conclusions in matters of religion. We believe that people do this best in the context of a nurturing and challenging community. And we believe further that each of us has a responsibility to live our beliefs, to do our best to make a difference in the world.”
If it wasn't for the fact that the asparagus was waiting, I could have gone on and told the woman how, when you take us in the context of the wider world, Unitarian Universalists aren’t all that unusual in our respect for the individual. I could have said we’re not alone in refusing to stipulate beliefs.
I could have told her we're like the Buddhists, our religion based more on ethical principles than on theological beliefs.
I could tell her we're like the Sikhs and Baha'i, believing there are many paths to truth.
I could say we share with Hindus the conviction that individuals need to seek out a manifestation of the Holy that fits their own personality and needs.
I could say we’re like the Jews, believing people have personal responsibility to bring justice to birth.
I could say we’re like Muslims, with our emphasis on community.
I could say we’re like the Ethical Culturalists, because for us it’s important to incorporate the teachings of human reason.
Or I could say we’re like the deep ecologists who embrace our total interdependence with everything that was and is and will come.
I could say all this and more. But there we are in Whole Foods -- and the asparagus IS waiting. And so I smile, and give my elevator speech. Then the woman asks the question she’s really interested in, “Be honest with me – isn’t my neighbor right when she says you’re really a cult?” I apologize and say I’ll be happy to talk more . . . would she like to make an appointment and come by my office some time?
I grab my asparagus and leave. I don’t know if I’ve done that lady any good or not. But I do know where her last question came from!
In the world of questionable reference books, there are a number of so-called “Dictionaries of Cults,” which they define as any religious body that does not conform to evangelical doctrine, specifically the requirement that members accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Unitarian Universalism qualifies, as do Quakers, Buddhists, Jews, Baha'i, Muslims, and a fair-sized segment of Congregationalists.
I'm reminded of the late constitutional lawyer Leo Pfeffer's comment on the way people label faith communities: "If you believe in it, . . . it's 'the' religion; if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect; but if you fear or hate it, it's a cult."
Unitarian Universalism is an intentionally creedless religion – we put our trust in the individual to make personal theological -- or a-theological – choices. And we believe this happens best in the context of a nurturing and challenging community.
My friends, no matter how often we try to explain it, there are some folks who simply are not going to get what a positive and empowering relationship this can be:
* how it nurtures and sustains ethical behavior;
* how it can inspire whole communities to right relationship with one another and with the world;
* how we may not always get it right, but continually we are encouraged, urged, supported in our striving.
Witness this supposedly true story, of a UU going to a small restaurant for Sunday brunch. At the next table, two people were discussing their dissatisfactions with the church they both attended. Suddenly one asked, "Well, what about the Unitarians? What do they believe in?" Without a pause the other one replied, “Recycling!”
Yeah, when you don't have a creed, people don't know what to do with you. And yet, my friends, creeds are historical creations. Each was wrestled from the mud of human interaction and molded with the energy and power of human controversy.
The Nicene Creed, for example, recited weekly in countless thousands of mainline Christian churches. It grew from one of the biggest human arguments in the early Christian church. In the year 325, Emperor Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea to settle by vote a controversy that was tearing the church apart -- whether or not Jesus was divine.
This was a big deal. It may feel arcane now, but in the 4th century, the question of Jesus' divinity caught public passion the way health care does today. Historians tell us that riots broke out as ordinary men and women took sides. Even in the Council, the arguments were heated, even violent -- but in the end the vote went overwhelmingly against the "Arians," those who believed Jesus was not God.
My point is that the CREEDAL STATEMENT that “Jesus is God” was decided by majority vote some 300 years AFTER the man from Nazareth was crucified, died and was buried.
It gives a kind of perspective on all those things people say you HAVE to believe.
Oh, Unitarians and Universalists have had our “creeds” over the years -- though we’ve always called them something else. But it looks like creed to me when, for decades, every Unitarian service affirmed “The Fatherhood of God, the Brotherhood of Man, the Leadership of Jesus, Salvation by Character, and the Progress of Mankind, Onward and Upward Forever.”
It looks like creed to me when, in 1873, the Rev. William James Potter was kicked out of the Unitarian ministry because he wouldn't call himself Christian. And it looks like creed when, in recent years, more than one UU search committee has rejected otherwise viable ministerial candidates because of their personal Christianity.
Now, in 2012, there are no creedal tests – no formal list of things you HAVE to believe to be a member of this church.
And there is no formal list of things I HAVE to believe -- or to preach -- to be eligible to serve as your minister. We call this the free pew and the free pulpit – and among other things, this means that you aren’t going to agree with this minister all the time – and I’m not going to be offended when you don’t!
In the words of historian Peter Williams from the Encyclopedia of the American Religious Experience (1988), rather than focus on theological consensus, UUs emphasize “a ‘shared community of values,’ which involves both questions of personal growth and the achievement of a just and whole society."
With that lady in Whole Foods, I could say we believe religion to be an inside job that each and every person is appointed to do. I might quote my colleague, the Rev. Fred Small of Cambridge, who says UUs have only one absolute requirement: that we covenant to love and respect each other. (“Merry Christmas, Garrison Keillor,” Rev. Fred Small, uuworld.org, 12-23-09)
“So!” I can hear my lady crying. “Unitarian Universalists really CAN believe anything they want.” Whoops. I told you it wasn’t easy to understand.
How do I explain, as my asparagus is waiting – how do I explain that, rather than making no demands at all, Unitarian Universalism places very high demands on those who choose its path? Maybe I come back to my original phrase and hope she’ll hear it just a little more clearly . . .
Unitarian Universalists, “I say,” that each of us has the right and the responsibility to come to our own conclusions in matters of religion. We believe that we do this best in the context of a nurturing and challenging community. And we believe further that each of us has a responsibility to live our beliefs, to do our best to make a difference in the world.
* Unitarian Universalists believe that nobody has the right to cop out on life.
* We each have both the right and the responsibility to think about life’s ultimate challenges.
* We each have the right and the responsibility to translate our choices into action for the benefit of the whole interdependent web.
* And we have a responsibility to do our best not to surrender hope . . . not to give up on life, or on the world.
"We need not believe alike to love alike," said our Unitarian forebear Francis David. But nobody ever said it would be easy, or that we would do it well, each one of us, all of the time.
I've been a UU for over 40 years, and I am here to testify that there's truth in the old saying about how arguing theology with a UU is like mud-wrestling with a pig -- pretty soon you realize it will never be over, because the pig is enjoying himself.
In our congregations, UUs have -- and sometimes we even manage to enjoy -- our differences -- but what distinguishes the genuine UU is the deep commitment to maintaining . . . staying with . . . enduring . . . even during the disagreements in our community.
And the lady in Whole Foods? If I could, I would encourage her to visit this community of humans, being and becoming. I would encourage her to stay for coffee following the service. To participate in a couple of activities, and get to know some of the members. I would say this:
Unitarian Universalism does not tell its members what to believe.
Rather, (1) Instead of the comfort and certainty of a creed we offer a nurturing and challenging place for you to weave your own tapestry of beliefs and values, a tapestry strong enough to sustain you in the tough and tender places of your days.
And (2) Instead expecting everyone to affirm the same set of beliefs, we offer a congregation of committed companions -- with whom (you can count on it) you won't always agree -- but in this community you will find people who will offer their hands in support in time of need . . . their hearts to laugh with your joy and grieve with your sorrow . . . their minds to explore with you the challenges of values-based living.
Can you believe anything you want?
* Those truths that your values affirm . . .
* those truths that your intellect accepts . . .
* those truths that your heart finds necessary
* those truths that stand the test of time and
* those that are challenged and revised by the realities of our days. . .
Yes, these things you can, indeed you must, believe.
These beliefs can, indeed must, shape the way you live your life, not just on Sundays, but in your home . . . in your work place . . . in the world, each and every day.
* This video is best viewed on a high speed internet connection. If you would like to watch the full service from which this sermon was abstracted, please contact Rev. Maureen for password information.
(c) M. Killoran, Bethesda, MD, 2011