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What We Believe
At a recent Unitarian Universalist conference, I attended a seminar on UU Evangelism. I attend these seminars because, like many UUs, I see that we have a wonderful faith tradition that's worth sharing, and I want to find ways to inspire others to find out more about us.
Unfortunately, I often find myself frustrated by such exercises, and, for the first time, I was able to put my finger on why. The UU approach to evangelism, simply put, consists of convincing others to have a conversation about what Unitarian Universalists believe, but then having little specific to say on the topic.
Here is an apocryphal (from the Greek apo, meaning “totally” and cryphal,
meaning “made up”) transcript paraphrasing various conversations I've
had with friends and colleagues about Unitarian Universalism:
Friend: “So, what do Unitarian Universalists believe in, anyway?”
Me:
“Well, Unitarian Universalists have a set of principles affirming the
worth of all people, how we work together, and our relationship with
the larger world.”
Friend: “Okay, but what do you believe in spiritually?”
Me: “We believe there are many ways to find spiritual truths.”
(Crickets chirp...)
Friend: “And those truths would be...?”
Me: “That's for you to decide.”
I
could continue, but you get the point – I've lost 99 out 100 people I'm
having this conversation with by the time the it gets this far. The remaining percent,
incidentally, is slightly higher than the percentage of the adult
population of the United States who identify themselves as UUs, so I'm
actually making progress.
Our
national religious organization, The Unitarian Universalist Association
of Congregations (UUA) recently embarked on a national advertising
campaign, with a similar goal of evangelizing Unitarian Universalism.
The UUA spent substantial sums of money promoting messages such as “Is God keeping you from going to church?” and “When in prayer, doubt.”
In
many ways, these messages reflect well on the UU approach to religion.
At the same time, someone encountering UUism for the first time this
way could be forgiven for thinking “Oh, I see, Unitarian Universalism
is the religion for people who hate religion” or “Unitarian
Universalism – that's the church where people don't know what to
believe, right?”
thud... thud... thud...
So,
what can I, your humble Board President, offer to help deal with this
confusion? Not much, of course – I am not a religious professional, nor
do I play one on TV. But like all UUs, I make it a point to be
possessed of an expansive view of religion. In addition, I am an
engineer – it's my job to take an analytical approach to solving
problems.
With that in mind, I offer a few of my own observations about what I think Unitarian Universalists believe.
We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Yes,
I know, I've just largely repeated our First Principle. But it is an
article of faith, as is the faith expressed by the Founding Fathers in
“certain unalienable Rights” called out in the Declaration of
Independence. It is unprovable, profound, and worth defending to our
full measure of devotion. Honestly, if that isn't belief, I don't know
what is.
We believe that faith is described, not prescribed.
Unitarian
Universalists are highly allergic to making definitive statements of
faith. Being a fiercely independent lot, any statement declaring “This
is what we believe, period, end of discussion” would be rather, shall
we say, contentious – we simply don't do creeds.
But
in the process of avoiding such arguments, we miss a golden
opportunity. The members of a Unitarian Universalist congregation bring
a varied, but largely compatible, set of religious perspectives to
worship. With open hearts and open minds, and with the help of a gifted
minister, it is possible to describe how those varied perspectives merge into a meaningful and coherent view of faith defined on our own terms.
Which leads to my last observation.
We believe in the Spirit of Life.
This is the theme of one of our best hymns and speaks to what I see as the focus of many of our shared religious experiences.
Whether
our perspectives are informed by Christianity, Islam, Judaism,
Buddhism, Deism, Humanism, Naturalism, or Religious Atheism, the common
thread linking those perspectives appears to be the belief that
something profoundly beyond ourselves is present in the universe and
that it is inextricably linked with life itself. For lack of a better
term, that would be the Spirit of Life.
So,
if this helps you with your elevator speech about UUism, great. If you
think I'm completely full of spam, no problem. Bring your own ideas
forth and let's see if we can work out something better.
And if you're out there thinking this is a dandy way to do religion, come see us sometime.
Yours in Faith,
Bryan
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