A House of Blasphemy and Deceit

AKA, a respectable and venerable American faith tradition

As a minister, the question I get asked most often is also rather straightforward: “What is Unitarian Universalism?” And I have to admit that, these days, that’s a fair question. 

It’s a somewhat more engaging question than, “are you in a cult”, but I suppose that’s a fair one, too. 

Recently, a colleague wrote that an Evangelical Christian had left a Yelp review for the UU church she served. I’m confused as to how many folks are using Yelp to figure out what church to go to, or whether an Evangelical is in a position to offer any helpful advice to a would-be seeker, but I will say that I very much appreciate this reviewer’s conclusion, however: that our church is, quote, “a house of blasphemy and deceit.” 

If I ever write a book about Unitarian Universalism, that will be the title. 

Obviously, Unitarian Universalism is different from Evangelical Christianity — and about as far from religious fundamentalism as you can get and still be in the same conversation. But the Yelp “criticism” is particularly ironic since, it turns out, that the last person actually charged with blasphemy in the USA — as an actual, punishable crime — just happened to be a Unitarian!

There is, has been, and will likely remain, confusion about who we are and whether we are a “real religion”. When 25% of Americans identify as Catholic and another 50% claim membership in one Protestant Christian denomination or another, it’s pretty easy to loose track of a faith tradition whose total US-based membership would be a rounding error. Assuming my calculator is being appropriately used, my estimates put us at about point-oh-six percent of the current population, or thereabouts. In raw numbers, we have around 1,000 churches and 200,000 members here in the USA — with about 800,000 worldwide who, while perhaps not active members, still check our box on forms. Small, but scrappy.

But, to be clear: while Unitarian Universalism, as a combined denomination only dates to the early 1960s, both Unitarianism and Universalism are historical, well-documented, faith traditions, and each are at least as old as the United States — and yes, for the record, both most definitely did spring out of Protestant Christianity. 

And at this point however, let me refer you once again to the title of my not-yet published book, above. Because “spring out of” does not mean “equivalent to”. So, if you have been told that “faith tradition” means “bound by a common dogma, doctrine, or creed”, and if deviations from that definition cause spontaneous sputterings that include the word ‘blasphemy’, well, Unitarian Universalism may make your keyboard itch. Because UU folks do deviate.

Who we are, and what we believe, is a bit complicated, but one of the most concise answers I’ve heard is that Unitarian Universalism is a non-creedal, liberal, religious tradition that celebrates diversity of thought, background, identity, belief, and purpose. But perhaps it would just be simpler to say that Unitarian Universalism is many things — by history, by design, and by aspiration.

Today, there are a great many individual UU’s that do call themselves Christian, just as there are UU churches that celebrate traditional Christian liturgies and, yes, even some that offer the Eucharist as part of their worship services. However, the point worth underlining here is that visitors (and members) should at the very least expect some variety in religious expression among the individual congregations that find a home under the umbrella of Unitarian Universalism. Every UU community is just a little different. Some do lean Christian. Many do not.

If that’s confusing, perhaps it would help to say that Christianity is very definitely one of the Sources that UU’s draw from, but is only one of six such Sources (see below). Another way I’ve heard it said is that Unitarian Universalism is more like “Christianity Plus”, or maybe that it includes a “superset” of Christian beliefs, practices, and goals. Or perhaps it would be helpful to say that most UU’s do not “center” Christ — Jesus of Nazareth is one of many figures whose words of inspiration can find voice in a UU church, congregation, fellowship, or society on any given Sunday morning.

There was a symbol that was used by a Universalist group called the Humiliati that might help understand this relationship: the circle with an off-center cross. While the Cross is certainly present, the point is that there is more room in that circle for a wider Truth. You can also see this idea of “wider truth” celebrated today in the more modern UU chalice, the symbol at the bottom of this page.

Another way of imagining our theological relationships comes from the Rev. Dr. Forrest Church, who talked about “The Cathedral of the World“. He says that there are many windows in “The Cathedral”, each with its own view on Truth, each window creating its own pool of light. “But the windows are not the light. They are where the light shines through.” Each of the many religious traditions in the history of our world, then, could be imagined as individual windows. And if that is so, then perhaps we can say that UUs are those who are moved by the light of many different windows.

The image I tend to use for today’s UU faith is that of a “big tent”. I like to believe that there is room under our tent for a wide range of views and beliefs, and I believe that the quality of the conversation under that tent rises as the diversity of opinion increases. 

So, in a UU congregation, you can find Christians holding to the word and life of Christ. You’ll also find Reformed Jews, Western Buddhists, Humanists, Pagans, those that call themselves “spiritual, but not religious”, and those that simply are NONES. In short, what you’ll find is diversity, curiosity, and a mandate to wonder. Add to that a rather robust suspicion for authority and a categorical rejection of what sometimes gets called “blind faith”, and what you’ll likely find on any given Sunday, in any given UU church, is the opposite of “cult”.

What UU’s agree on, what ties us together as a community, are Seven Principles.

Seven Principles

UU’s have no Shahada, no Shema, no Apostle’s Creed, no confession of faith. Instead:

Unitarian Universalism affirms and promotes seven Principles, grounded in the humanistic teachings of the world’s religions. Our spirituality is unbounded and draws from scripture and science, nature and philosophy, personal experience and ancient tradition as described in our six Sources.

Those Principles that UU’s “affirm and promote” are:

• 1st Principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• 2nd Principle: Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• 3rd Principle: Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• 4th Principle: A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• 5th Principle: The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• 6th Principle: The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• 7th Principle: Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Six Sources

By my count, there are three streams that flow into the river that is today’s UU: Unitarianism, Universalism, and Religious Humanism.

It’s worth noting that Unitarianism and Universalism as ideas were not unique to history or to the United States. UU historians are quick to point out inspiration in the heresies of Arianism, Pelagianism, and others, back to the very beginning of Christianity. They also note the development of Unitarianism in Eastern Europe, like the Unitarian Church of Transylvania, which dates back to the 16th century. As interesting and suggestive that these links are, however, they’re at best parallel lines of development. Unitarianism and Universalism, as they became threads of the eventual merger, are both distinctly American.

At the time of the merger in 1961, Universalism was expressly Christian, and preached the gospel of Universal Love and Salvation–their goal, you might say, was to “Love the Hell out of the World.” The founding of Universalist church in the USA is attributed to the arrival of John Murray in the late 18th century, after both he and his religion were hounded out of England. Over the course of the 19th century, and under the hand of its most celebrated evangelist, Hosea Ballou, Universalism became one of the largest and fastest-growing denominations in the rapidly expanding nation. I believe that the reason Universalism declined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was entirely due to it’s success–by WWI, the idea of “eternal Hell” had fallen largely out of favor in most mainline church pulpits (that is, until Fundamentalism came to the US in the early 20th century, but that’s a different story).

Unitarianism certainly started as expressly Christian. It got its start in the 17-18th century, and in a startling echo to the Universalist story, it came to America as the result of yet another Englishman fleeing a mob — in this case, one Joseph Priestly. Not quite a generation after Priestly’s “relocation”, upstarts William Ellery Channing (and a few other New England preachers), caused a stir in the newspapers of the day. Using the latest Enlightenment research and practices, they vigorously and publicly called into question the Calvinist orthodoxy of the Puritan North, and concluded (among other things) that the traditional Christian teachings of the Holy Trinity, Original Sin, and human depravity had no Biblical foundation or support. These arguments were not received well, and the upstarts were accused of all manner of terrible things — blasphemy, deceit, and perhaps worst of all, Unitarianism. I suppose that it is not surprising that those upstarts simply claimed the name.

Over the 19th century, and with the work of prominent Unitarians like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau, Unitarianism evolved rather profoundly. Transcendentalism, Humanism, and Naturalism are all threaded through the tapestry of Unitarianism, right alongside Eastern mysticism — some of the very first translations of Eastern philosophy were done by Unitarian Transcendentalists. It’s not wrong to say that these threads led to Spiritualism, Theosophy, Christian Science, the Unity Church, and the so-called “prosperity gospel” (can’t win them all).

After Unitarianism and Universalism, Humanism is the third major wellspring of inspiration within today’s UU. Today, when someone says “Humanism”, they typically mean “Secular Humanism“, a vocal opponent to religious fundamentalism, but Humanism, as a religious movement, had roots in the Enlightenment. In the late 19th century, the movement had woven the ideals of reason, truth, and logic directly into the fabric of community and social engagement. There, the Free Religious Association, the Freethinkers, and other groups, explored the edges of this new “religion” at a time when industry and society was evolving as rapidly as scientific understanding. In 1933, a group of influential academics and preachers (many of them Unitarians) signed the first “Humanist Manifesto“, a declaration of Good Without God, a way to form a more perfect union without metaphysics and supernaturalism, one instead grounded in science, tolerance, and human capacity.

What all this means is that there is no one book of holy scripture in today’s UU churches; while the Bible is no longer “centered” as the sole source of Truth and Divine inspiration, it is widely revered. To that richness, today’s UU’s find inspiration from many sources — six of them, to be exact — and together with the Principles, they create the shape of “the big tent”.

1. Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
2. Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love;
3. Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
4. Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
5. Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit;
6. Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.