Sunday, November 25, 2007

"Our Roots: Part Part 2

 Who Are We?"

A Talk by Barbara Fleming

Namaqua UU Congregation

Before I begin, a whirlwind tour of part one might be helpful:

·         325 A.D. – Arians dispute insertion of the trinity into Christian doctrine during the Nicean Council and are labeled heretics;

·         Medieval times and age of the Inquisition – though dissenters to the trinity still exist, they are mostly frightened into silence;

·         16^th century – Amid corruption within the Catholic church giving rise to Protestantism, Michael Servetus dies at the stake for publicly declaring that the Trinitarian doctrine is erroneous;

·         17^th century – Socinians, heretics who dispute the trinity, are driven out of Italy and resettle in other parts of Europe and England, encountering persecution by the Church of England.

     Which brings us across a choppy sea to the rocky, windy shore of a continent on the other side of the ocean from England, where some dissenters calling themselves Puritans have ventured  to find religious  freedom.

     Whoa! Puritans? They certainly aren’t Unitarians!

     No – but they are heretics, people who choose their beliefs rather than having beliefs forced on them.  Certainly, they are rigid in their beliefs too, going so far as to hang one woman for refusing to give up her Quaker faith.  But hang around a few more years and check them out again: by the mid-18^th century, the church these Pilgrims built in 1620 has become – you guessed it – Unitarian.  Member Paul Revere approves.

     Let’s stay in the 18^th century awhile. We see Joseph Priestley, driven from his home in England by religious persecution, evangelizing throughout New England, starting Unitarian churches.  We see John Adams, second president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, third president, and John Quincy Adams, sixth president, all finding Unitarianism to their liking. 

     We see Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, saying of his Universalist faith:

         What I wrote reflects our beliefs in the Biblical scriptures, in one God,

        in Jesus Christ as the mediator between God and man, in the Holy Ghost,

        and in good works.

     We note that Universalists, unlike Unitarians, are Trinitarians. We see John Murray, who came to America in despair after his wife and child had died, happily remarried. Thanks to him, Universalist churches are sprouting up all over the land. We see silver-tongued Hosea Ballou spreading Universalism like wildfire until there are more than 800,000 Universalists in the nation. His message is appealing, because Universalists, while accepting Christian doctrine almost entirely, offer the promise of God’s mercy for all, no exceptions – amazing grace.  Anyone and everyone can enter heaven, thus, dispensing with hell.

     Just as this early Universalism is unfamiliar to us, we need to remember that 19^th-century Unitarianism is not our Unitarianism. Still firmly rooted in Christianity, this faith accepts all the Christian precepts, from the literalness of the bible to the promise of eternal life, except the trinity and the holy spirit, ideas viewed as pagan myths not part of true Christian belief.  These Unitarians see the divinity of Jesus as a gift from God.  And yet – in 1819 William Ellery Channing stirs things up a bit, saying from the pulpit that the bible is fallible, open to criticism, Jesus is human, not divine, and God is good, not wrathful.

     And that’s not all. By the middle of this century we see Unitarian preacher Theodore Parker telling thousands of people that a belief in miracles is unimportant – what matters is to follow the teachings of Jesus and live a compassionate life.  Oops! Conservative Unitarians in Boston don’t like that. They are openly hostile to Parker, deny him access to pulpits.  These folks prefer to hide their heads in the sand and engage in intellectual debate rather than address the issues and ills beyond their front doors.  But they are being confronted by an evil hard to ignore: slavery.  

     Of course there are other evils, like the oppression of women, child labor, mistreatment of the disabled and mentally ill, poverty…

     But not all of the Boston contingent are ostriches. We see folks taking action. Here is Parker, speaking out against slavery, helping fugitive slaves, fighting the Fugitive Slave Law.  By his side is Unitarian Charles Follen, an outspoken abolitionist.  And there is Unitarian Susan B. Anthony, reminding us that women need an equal voice in government.  Working closely with her is Unitarian Elizabeth Cady Stanton.  Over yonder is Dorothea Dix, Universalist, seeking to alleviate the suffering of the mentally ill. All around the country Unitarians and Universalists are acting on their faith to make the world a better place:

ü      Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., brings compassion and rationality to the Supreme Court

ü      Maria Mitchell becomes the  first woman astronomer

ü      Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first female physician

ü      Mary Livermore alleviates suffering through nursing and works for suffrage

ü      Nathaniel Hawthorn writes morally profound novels, poems and stories

ü      Susan B. Anthony devotes her life to the cause of women’s suffrage

ü      Fanny Kemble dares to take to the stage as an actor and to speak publicly against slavery

ü      Thomas Starr King is a key figure in keeping California in the union during the Civil War

ü      Olympia Brown, Universalist, becomes the first female ordained minister in the U.S.

ü      Henry Bergh founds the ASPCA

ü      Margaret Fuller grants women a public voice through her Dial magazine

      And more others than we can name.

      Let’s not kid ourselves – not all of our story is rosy. Many Unitarians and Universalists, mostly in New England, continue to ignore the causes of abolition and suffrage, even speak in opposition, turn away from social injustices and problems. They prefer to remain cocooned in their theological debates and discussions. Moreover, they resist change in their belief system – witness their reaction to Parker – and many regard the reformers and activists as an embarrassment to their religion.

     But now comes the Civil War. No one can ignore the issue of slavery any longer.  Unitarian Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, has opened thousands of eyes to the evils of that institution. President Lincoln calls her “the little lady that started the war.” After terrible, brutal battles, Universalist Clara Barton ventures out onto the battlefields to minister to wounded soldiers. Doctors won’t let her do any actual care, so she totes water, cleans camps and washes linens. Other women join her. Unitarian Julia Ward Howe’s song, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” – which sounds today so much like any other mainstream Protestant hymn – inspires many a Union solder, even once brings Lincoln himself to tears. Her husband, Dr. Samuel Howe, pioneers work with the blind, innovative work which will, years later, open up the world for Helen Keller.  

     When the cruel war is over, we see Clara founding the American Red Cross. Julia calls for an international day of peace, to be called Mother’s Day, and works to the end of her life for suffrage.

Both Unitarianism and Universalism, it seems, have come out of the elitist heights of intellectual debate and theological study into the real world. People embracing these religions are stepping outside their comfort zones to make a difference, to improve the world they live in. Their faith tells them to take action. For several decades after the Civil War, both Us and Us continue to have disproportionately large impact on the society and culture of their times.  The individualism that is so much a part of 21^st-century religion is nowhere to be seen – these people are devoting their lives to striving for the greater good.

     We see, too, inroads into the complacent theology both religions have accepted for some time. Emerson, Parker, Ballou, Channing, Olympia Brown, Thomas Starr King, others, have provoked thought and examination of the belief set which had been so settled, so comfortable. Universalist Hosea Ballou has openly refuted the trinity. Still undeniably Christian, both these bible-based belief systems, firmly creedal, growing ever close together but still two separate denominations, are nonetheless very liberal for their time, heretical in some ways, questioning, doubting, probing, seeking, unsatisfied with the status quo. They are laying the foundation for who we have become, are becoming.

     So -- who are we?

    We are these ancestors, these questioners and seekers and doers. We are their future, come to life.  We are their legacy.

     Stay tuned.