"Top 10 Reasons NOT to be Unitarian Universalist "

Rev. Bruce Russell-Jayne
January 4, 2009

Reading The Known and the Unknown, excerpt
Rev. John Buehrens, former UUA President

Unitarian Universalist, James Luther Adams…a teacher of religious ethics for over half a century, called on religious liberals to go beyond the Protestant principle of the "priesthood of all believers" and [to become a church which embodied a] "prophethood [of all believers]" by voluntarily coming together to serve a renewed vision of liberty, equality, and human kinship.

In Germany he saw the Nazis get little opposition from vague idealists. On the other hand, he witnessed the underground Confessing Church, which was made up of those who dared to resist Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism. Adams met and worked with the underground leaders. In this crucible, his faith became firmly, irrevocably cast in the pattern of the biblical prophets, with their eternal hostility toward all idolatries…

Unitarian Universalists still find their faith rooted in the prophetic tradition. In the 1950s, while teaching in Chicago, Adams served on the board of the First Unitarian Church. The minister had been outspoken about local issues of racial justice. One night, at a meeting from which the minister was absent, one of the trustees began to complain, suggesting that this was politics, not religion, from the pulpit; that it was alienating people, including him and his wife; and that both the minister and church should be "more realistic." When he lapsed into racial slurs, his fellow trustees, including Adams, interrupted.

"What is the purpose of a church?" they asked. Did he want the church only to make people comfortable? only to confirm them in their prejudices and not morally challenge them?
"Well, no," the so-called "realist" admitted. "Then what is the purpose of a church?" the others kept asking.
"How should I know?" the man said, "I'm no theologian...
"But you're a member here, and a trustee of this church," said Adams and the others, refusing to let him off the hook.
As Adams tells the story, the discussion continued until about one o'clock, when fatigue combined with the Holy Spirit and the man blurted out, "Well, I guess the purpose of a church is, uh, to get hold of people like me, and to change 'em."

Who are these Unitarian Universalists standing around the coffee table discussing race relations, AIDS, last night's movie, and next fall's election? They may not all be prophets. They almost certainly won't all predict the election correctly. They won't even all agree about the candidates, or about the movie…though they will affirm that "we need not think alike to love alike." And they will express that love by caring about the world around them, discussing ideas, struggling together so as not to be solo prophets, but a prophetic community-one in which, as Adams says, "people think and work together to interpret the signs of the times in the light of their faith. The prophetic liberal church is the church in which all members share the common responsibility to attempt to foresee the consequences of human behavior, both individual and institutional, with the intention of making history instead of merely being pushed around by it.

Sermon Top 10 Reasons NOT to be Unitarian Universalist, Rev. Bruce Russell-Jayne

Unitarian Universalists tend to shy away from telling others about their church. The attitude seems to be, “We’ll do a little advertising in the newspaper, and the people who are UUs and don’t know it will probably find us.” I first learned about Unitarian Universalism when I attended meetings of the Sierra Club in the basement of the UU Church of Chattanooga. Curious about what kind of church would welcome environmentalists, I attended a worship service, and I knew immediately I had discovered my religious home. It had only taken me 42 years to find it. The church accepted me where I was and challenged me to grow spiritually. I thought UUism was simply fabulous, and I wanted to tell others about us. It seemed strange to me that members of the congregation were averse to speaking about their UU faith.
Wanting to find a way to help church members get over their reluctance to reach out to the community, I attended a weekend workshop led by Larry Peers called “Sharing Our Unitarian Universalist Faith: A Program In Outreach and Evangelism.” The first thing Larry did, the first thing he had to do before our workshop could go anywhere at all, was to deal with the “E” word. Yes, a room full of UU church leaders from all around the district had signed up for a workshop on Evangelism, but we were not really ready to go there. So, Larry wrote ‘Evangelism’ on the top of a sheet of newsprint and then asked us to name our feelings about it. People had very negative reactions to the word, associating it with such things as proselytizing, coercion, and non-rational religion. Soon people were shouting out angry and painful comparisons so fast Larry couldn’t keep up. Many felt UUs were above doing Evangelism. After filling up sheet after sheet with negative associations, Larry stopped writing, took the sheets off the wall, and tore them up. He said, OK, this is not our definition of Evangelism. We UUs can decide to do it a different way. Then we proceeded to list some ways we could, in good conscience, talk with others about UUism. The workshop was cathartic. After that, we didn’t all go off on a mission for two years looking for converts the way the Mormons do, but most of us learned we could share our UU faith, even using religious terminology, without resorting to the objectionable practices some churches use.

It’s been over twelve years since I went to that workshop, and I am now a full-fledged UU Evangelist. This morning, I wanted to tell anyone who might be looking for a church home some of the basics about UUism. However, remembering the workshop, I knew some of you might feel uncomfortable if I just boldly and forthrightly voiced my opinions about how UUism can be a life-saving faith. Therefore, I have decided to list the Top 10 Reasons NOT to be a Unitarian Universalist. I’ll come in through the basement door so to speak. That way, if you hear these and still want to join this church, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
So, in my best impersonation of David Letterman, here is my
Reason # 10 NOT to be a Unitarian Universalist: UUism won’t save you from Hell.
Sorry – we can’t guarantee you a ticket to heaven. Our Universalist forebears were known as the “no-Hellers” they preached that all people were saved no matter what they believed. Their message of hope made the Universalist Church of America one of the largest denominations in the early 19th century. Largely due to the Universalists’ success, most other protestant churches toned down their hellfire and damnation approach. I’ll have to admit, we preachers can’t scare people into joining the church by threatening eternal damnation the way we used to. Unfortunately, once there was less of a contrast between the Universalist message and that of other protestant churches our membership fell. Our concept of Universalism has evolved over the last 200 years toward broader principles such as our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. UUs are less concerned with what might happen to them after they die than what is going on in the here-and-now. As the bumper sticker my wife Cece used to have on her car proclaimed, “We believe in Life BEFORE Death.”

Reason # 9 NOT to be a Unitarian Universalist: We can’t tell you what God says.
Another big disappointment for some. If people aren’t too worried about Hell, the next thing they seem to want to know is what God tells them to do with their lives. God’s messages for you is the main focus of most other churches, but Unitarian Universalism does not claim to know definitely what God or the Goddess has to say to you. We do talk about theology, and we read and honor the scriptures of all the world’s religions. We listen to people’s stories of their experiences of the holy, and we encourage you to seek opportunities to experience divinity directly for yourself. In my studies of the collection of writings that comprise the Bible, I often find contradictory understandings of God or the nature of humanity’s relation to the holy. As a movement, we have come to agree there are multiple ways to view theology. We just don’t have the chutzpah to speak for God.

Reason # 8 NOT to be a Unitarian Universalist: We can’t even tell you what the Church says.
Let’s admit it, God can be a little bit hard to fathom, so some churches place themselves between divinity and humanity. Those churches make their beliefs abundantly clear, and church members learn to repeat creeds – statements of beliefs all hold in common. The Catholic Church believes in the primacy of the Pope, and the Mormon Church believes in the prophecies of Joseph Smith. Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal church – we don’t tell you what to believe, and we don’t all believe the same things. UU Congregations promote acceptance of one another no matter what your beliefs, and we encourage you to follow your own path of spiritual growth.

Reason # 7 NOT to be a Unitarian Universalist: You won’t make your Mother happy
If you leave the church of your childhood, your Mother is going to worry about you. Many UUs are “Come-Outers,” people who have come out of another religion. The first thing that strikes those folks when they hear we don’t tell people what to believe is a huge sense of relief. “Wow,” they say, “the UU church will accept me the way I am, I don’t have to convert or profess to believe in something that doesn’t work in my life.” They can let go of those things they learned as children and incorporate spiritual ideas and practices they find more true for them. Many UUs get hung up right at this stage of spiritual development. In their new-found freedom, they set forth in detail all the things they don’t believe anymore, all the rituals they don’t need, and all the religious language they can’t tolerate. If you tell your Mom all about how you have rejected her religion, she will wonder what it is you do believe, and she will be concerned for your soul.

Reason # 6: Unitarian Universalism is too hard to explain to others.
And, before we can explain to others what we believe, we have to figure that out for ourselves. Really, on the surface UUism sounds so simple: no dogma, no catechism, no need to prove your worthiness. No wonder outsiders describe us as “The church that believes in anything.” I have even heard UUs proudly say to visitors – “You can believe anything you want!” But that’s not really how it works. Remember, many of us left another religion sometimes after years of pain and struggle because we simply could no longer believe some of the things it taught. I might want to believe my eating habits don’t account for my expanded waistline, or that New Orleans will never suffer another devastating hurricane, but somewhere in the back of my brain lurks an area called the Reality Checker. The Reality Checker won’t let me believe those things. I’ll bet your brain has a Reality Checker, too. So, we can’t really believe anything we want. We enourage people to engage in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning. According to the Reverend Scott Alexander, “Being a UU does not give you freedom to believe anything you want, it gives you rather the freedom to search for and find those beliefs from which your heart and soul cannot escape!”
Now let me help you a bit with the problem of answering that question all UUs get asked, “If you don’t believe in Hell, or the Divinity of Jesus, or … you fill in the blank, what do UUs believe?” You see, most religious people equate beliefs with faith, the thing that they live by. If you simply answer that UUs don’t have a creed, or some such, they don’t know what to think. But, it might help if you understand what’s really behind their question. When you say your life isn’t guided by a set of commonly held beliefs, they wonder what tells you the difference between right and wrong, keeps you moral, what makes you a good person? I suggest you frame your response to answer that question. What makes you a good person? You may know you are not going to Hell, but your Mom wants some re-assurance.

Reason # 5: Unitarian Universalism is too much work.
Yeah, that’s the problem with that answer about being a good person. It’s bad enough UUism requires you to determine your own beliefs. On top of that it also wants you be able to articulate them and then to act on them. It takes more to be a UU than declaring yourself one; UUs rely on “Deeds not Creeds.” If you say you believe in “justice, equity, and compassion in human relations,” you had better act that way. Commitment to a UU church is not to be taken lightly, it requires more than personal spiritual growth. It means contributing your resources and participating in the activities and mission of the church.

Reason # 4 NOT to be a UU: You have to hang out with people you wouldn’t normally choose to be with.
Many UUs are transplants, having left their families in another state or the church where generations of their family have attended. Few churches see the variety of people coming thru the doors as we do because people learn we will provide a safe place for the spiritual wayfarer. Look around you – you probably won’t see anybody who sits in a cubicle near you at work, or an old family friend. In this church, you will have to deal with strangers and what you may consider to be strange beliefs. UUs covenant to accept one another. We practice the art of gratitude for the religious pluralism and diversity of personalities which we think enriches and ennobles our faith.

Reason # 3: People will openly disagree with you.
Not only will your friends and family misunderstand you, UUs will too. Maybe because we are so diverse, or maybe because we are so individualistic, UUs speak out openly on all kinds of controversial issues. No one person is the final authority on matters theological or political, not even the president of the congregation, and especially not the minister! This can be problematic – it sometimes takes a long time to make a decision in our congregations. We are dedicated to the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process because between the two of them, we can remain true to ourselves and open to learning from others and to changing when it is for the good of the community. Fortunately, love is the Spirit of this church – and we don’t have to think alike to love alike.
Reason # 2: To be a Unitarian Universalist you have to change the world.

The ideals I just listed, hanging out with strangers and loving those we disagree with, are not commonly practiced in the wider world. UUs have a lofty goal – to bring about a world community in which there is peace, liberty and justice for all. UUs have had a great amount of influence in the world. There have been many notable UU artists, scientists, government leaders, mothers, educators, engineers, ministers, health professionals, reformers, writers and philosophers. We don’t expect all UUs to be Nobel laureates who personally affect the lives of millions, but neither do we expect UUs to work toward a beloved community that is only for those within our walls or who are philosophically compatible with us. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part brings us to a realization that our actions are important to the future of the world.

And now, may I have a drum roll please? My # 1 Reason NOT to be a Unitarian Universalist:
The first 9 reasons are not our final answer.
What an anti-climax! All that explanation I gave you, and I may change my mind about it.
To quote the Reverend Emily Gage, “Unitarian Universalism is a long standing faith that has always honored freedom, reason and tolerance. It’s a religion that doesn’t tell you what to believe, but asks that you figure that out for yourself. We don’t expect to agree with one another, but we are called to meet one another with open minds and loving hearts. We believe that truth may be found in any source, and that the most profound religious questions focus on how to live this life here and now. We’re brought together by a need for company on the journey, a community of compassionate acceptance, and a call to give back to the world. But let me be clear; this is not my final answer.”

We start with freedom, individuality, and autonomy of belief, and we come around to working together cooperatively in community, recognizing the interdependence of our world requires mutuality in which spiritual progressives cultivate human responsibility for creating a wholesome future for the earth. One of the beauties of UUism, is there is always room to grow and change when we learn something new. We do this as individuals and collectively as a church. We may have found some final answers, but we remain open to testing those answers – especially when there are new questions.

Now, we’re not given to issuing altar calls, and I’m not going to start today. But, if after hearing my Top 10 Reasons for NOT being Unitarian Universalist you are still interested in us, I invite you to talk to any Trustee or anyone on the Membership Committee or me about joining this church.

Scott Alexander, quoted in MMS Sermon, “The Hard Part,” (UUCC: 1994).
Melanie Morel Sullivan, Sermon “Top 10 Reasons NOT to be Unitarian Universalist,” (UUCC: 1994).
Emily Gage, “Final Answer,” Unifire Vol. #87 Issue #4 (Joliet: 2003).