{"id":2753,"date":"2014-11-09T18:39:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T01:39:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=2753"},"modified":"2014-11-09T18:39:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-10T01:39:38","slug":"november-09-2014-exploring-unitarian-universalism-your-dogma-ate-my-karma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2014\/11\/09\/november-09-2014-exploring-unitarian-universalism-your-dogma-ate-my-karma\/","title":{"rendered":"November 09, 2014, "Exploring Unitarian Universalism: Your Dogma Ate My Karma!""},"content":{"rendered":"

(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering, All Rights Reserved\"uua-logo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Galileo Galilei, as many people know, is famous for his multiple discoveries on the atomic nature of matter and our solar system.\u00a0 Using his own observations and mathematical models, as well as borrowing ideas from Copernicus\u2019s original observations, Galileo showed that the planet Venus revolves around the sun, that comets do the same and that moons circling Jupiter, which he discovered, prove his theories.\u00a0 But such facts that he observed by telescope and had shown to many others, they were immediately labeled as heresy by the Catholic Church.\u00a0 They contradicted several verses found in the Bible saying the earth is stationary and that the sun revolves around it.\u00a0 Centuries of Christian dogma holds that the Bible was and is the inerrant and infallible word of God.\u00a0 It is the source for all Truth and cannot be incorrect.<\/p>\n

The earth was made by God as the center of the universe, such dogma claimed.\u00a0 The sun, stars, planets and other celestial bodies revolve around it.\u00a0 This geocentric universe was crucial to theological belief in God\u2019s creation and his establishment of humans as the purpose for all existence.\u00a0 A heliocentric or sun oriented planetary system, as Galileo observed and proved with his math, was a direct threat to that viewpoint.\u00a0 If the earth and humans were not central to God\u2019s creative plan to have all things worship him, if the Bible was somehow wrong in its geocentric verses, the whole structure of belief in God and the Bible could be questioned.\u00a0 And, of course, that was a dagger at the heart of ecclesiastic control over human affairs.\u00a0 Despite irrefutable evidence that even Church astronomers of the time had observed, the Church told Galileo he was wrong.\u00a0 His observations, science and math were false.\u00a0 The Bible is Truth no matter what.<\/p>\n

At an advanced age, Galileo was put on trial for heresy.\u00a0 A unanimous Inquisition verdict was rendered against him on June 23, 1633.\u00a0 It stated, \u201cThe idea that the Sun is stationary is foolish and absurd in philosophy, and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture\u2026”<\/b>\u00a0 Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment.\u00a0 Because of his fame and age, the sentence was commuted the next day to house arrest for life.\u00a0 Galileo was then confined to his home, under guard, until he died in 1641.<\/p>\n

It was not until 1758 that the Church ended its ban on Galileo\u2019s books and teachings.\u00a0 Nevertheless, the Church has continually held that it was correct in putting him on trial because, it says, the science at the time was imperfect and Galileo\u2019s ideas threatened social order.\u00a0 As recently as 1990, Cardinal Ratzinger, the future and current retired Pope Benedict, stated in a speech about the Galileo affair, \u201cThe Church at the time of Galileo kept much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo’s teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 Such a statement is breathtaking in its refusal to admit error.\u00a0 And that points to a major problem with religious dogma.\u00a0 Once a religious creed or dogma is stated as fact, once Scripture is determined to be infallible and inerrant – as fundamentalists say about the Bible and Koran – there can be no subsequent admission of error.\u00a0 To do so brings the entire creed, doctrine and Scripture into doubt.\u00a0 If one part can be wrong then the entire whole can be wrong.<\/p>\n

My shortened history of Galileo\u2019s persecution, therefore, offers us a reason why religious dogma and creeds, like the Christian Apostle\u2019s and Nicene Creeds, are not only impractical but dangerous. \u00a0 They are inflexible and give rise to irrational thinking that refuses to accept new understanding, revelation and discovery.\u00a0 As I have set out this month to review Unitarian Universalism, the primary hallmark<\/b> of that denomination is its refusal to accept, enforce or state any religious creeds.\u00a0 As we saw last Sunday in my message on the history of Unitarianism, it has used human reason to logically evolve its understanding of spirituality. \u00a0 Humans, Unitarians believe, have yet to discover absolute Truth.\u00a0 Even science continues in its quest to understand existence and the cosmos.\u00a0 As rational humans, therefore, we must open ourselves to many streams of spirituality, philosophy and science all to be used as tools to question, search and understand what is true for us individually.\u00a0 Unitarians are radically tolerant in that regard.\u00a0 Instead of insisting on one set of beliefs or Scripture, persons have the freedom and responsibility to determine their own spirituality and then to freely believe it.\u00a0 All are welcome within UU churches as long as each respects all other persons and their beliefs.\u00a0 Ultimately, Unitarian Universalists believe there are many paths that lead toward Truth and all are valid.<\/p>\n

Since there are many viewpoints within Unitarian Universalism, members nevertheless unite in a common understanding of life from a humanist perspective.\u00a0 Human ethics and rights are the common focus – instead of dogmatic theological beliefs.\u00a0 In that regard, it is our duty and purpose to continually work to improve life for ourselves and others – to be change agents who work to create a better earth right here, right now, for everyone.<\/p>\n

Such Unitarian principles have been arrived at by logic and experience.\u00a0 And that is why Unitarians refuse to proclaim any form of a religious creed.\u00a0 While people have the freedom to believe in them, creeds\u00a0 are not based on empirical evidence that all people accept.\u00a0 Creeds exist within the realm of religious faith, and such faith is a matter of the heart and soul, not of the mind as confirmed by observation and experience.\u00a0 While all beliefs are respected in the UU, none are stated as absolute Truth precisely because they cannot be proven.\u00a0 In other words, humans cannot know<\/i><\/b> creeds, they can only believe<\/i><\/b> them – and that is a very important distinction.<\/p>\n

And therein lies a problem, as we see in the Galileo affair.\u00a0 Religions assert that they know<\/i><\/b> their doctrines and dogmas as facts when they are, instead, beliefs.\u00a0 For instance, I can believe<\/i><\/b> pigs fly – and forgive me if that sounds condescending toward religion.\u00a0 But I and others cannot know<\/i><\/b> that pigs fly as a fact because reason and experience do not prove it.\u00a0 If, however, I am respectful to you in my beliefs about flying pigs, and I\u2019m willing to listen to your counter arguments about them, you will hopefully accept me within your congregation.\u00a0 We each have the freedom to believe as we wish.\u00a0 And that is precisely what Unitarian Universalists do – all are welcome but nobody\u2019s religious beliefs are stated as creedal fact. Unitarians further ask that each person remain humble enough in what they personally believe such that they are open to accept new<\/b> knowledge – something the Catholic Church refused to do for Galileo.<\/p>\n

Unitarian Universalists do, however, believe<\/i><\/b> in the ability of human reason and experience to determine what is universally good and ethical.\u00a0 Toward that end, they put forth a set of visions or principles which are based on human logic and thus the foundation for their denomination.\u00a0 The seven UU principles are: \u00a0 (show slide)<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0 The inherent worth and dignity of every person;<\/p>\n

2)\u00a0 Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0 Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritually grow;<\/p>\n

4)\u00a0 A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;<\/p>\n

5)\u00a0 The use of the democratic process within congregations and in society at large;<\/p>\n

6)\u00a0 The goal of world community to promote peace, liberty, and justice for all;<\/p>\n

7)\u00a0 Respect for the interdependent web of all existence.<\/p>\n

Other religions demean these principles saying they are so all encompassing that they do not form the basis of a distinctive spiritual community.\u00a0 They are wrong.\u00a0 The principles assert a belief in universal values to which almost nobody, no matter their religious beliefs, could disagree.\u00a0 In other words, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others can all agree with them, and most importantly – and this is a key idea – all can BELIEVE<\/i><\/b> in them because reason and experience tell us each principle is true.\u00a0 The UU denomination is one of the few places (the Gathering being another) in which true religious cooperation and acceptance are goals that members, however imperfectly, attempt to meet.\u00a0 Is this not a vision of a society to which all aspire – a place of coexistence between persons of every color, gender, sexuality, religion and ethnicity?\u00a0 Is this not a vision of an earthly heaven, a kind of kingdom of God that Jesus and other prophets advocated?\u00a0 I assert that it is.\u00a0 (Next slide)<\/p>\n

If you recall from my review of Unitarianism last week, in 1819 William Ellery Channing delivered a sermon which quickly led to the establishment of the American Unitarian Association.\u00a0 In it, he stated his desire to establish a church that was purposefully non-sectarian – one that members of all faiths could find fellowship in a joint effort to practice the ethics of the human Jesus.\u00a0 This church would not claim to be the one true church, as Catholics assert, but instead be the one human church in which all people, of all religions, find freedom, acceptance and respect.\u00a0 The only way this could be achieved, Channing said, was to abolish all creeds.\u00a0 He foresaw the problem that was revealed in Galileo\u2019s heresy trial.\u00a0 Creeds divide.\u00a0 They are factual assertions that are implicitly non-factual because they cannot be proven.\u00a0 But religions say they are fact and that very claim creates divisions because other people make similar claims about their own creeds.\u00a0 Hate, conflict and violence follow.\u00a0 Unitarianism, on the other hand, was founded on the very same ideals which we hold at the Gathering: we welcome everyone but, in order to promote peace, we will not assert a particular religious creed or dogma.<\/p>\n

After my message last Sunday, Mary Anne Berry shared with me her insight that belonging to a Unitarian church is more challenging than belonging to a traditional church.\u00a0 One has the responsibility<\/i><\/b> to determine one\u2019s own beliefs – to search, study and think one\u2019s way through multiple theologies and philosophies to arrive at a spiritual path that is personally meaningful.\u00a0 That is not easy, she said, because one is not told what to believe.<\/p>\n

And that echoes a Reformed Jewish understanding of God.\u00a0 If you recall the Biblical Exodus story of Moses encountering God at a burning bush, Moses is startled when the bush speaks to him.\u00a0 \u201cWho are you?\u201d Moses asks.\u00a0 \u201cI am who I am,\u201d God, in the form of a burning bush, replies.\u00a0 That translation from ancient Hebrew has been shown to be incorrect by several Reformed Rabbis.\u00a0 The Hebrew, \u201cEhyeh asher ehyeh\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 is more appropriately translated as \u201cI am becoming whatever I am yet to be.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 And that is a totally different statement of God\u2019s self-identity than \u201cI am who I am.\u201d\u00a0 In the original Hebrew, he is not claiming to be unchangeable.\u00a0 Instead, the updated translation has him saying he will change, he will evolve, he will continue to become whatever he will finally be – a truth yet to be finalized.\u00a0 He\u2019s not locked into being, as the Christian dogma asserts, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He might become god the gay drag queen, god the impulse to love and be loved, god the dirty homeless woman crying on a street corner.\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 But let us endeavor to find out!<\/p>\n

Whatever it is that people believe defines ultimate Truth, or god, this has yet to be finalized according to Unitarian Universalism.\u00a0 We say the same here at the Gathering.\u00a0 And that is uncomfortable.\u00a0 We must live with uncertainty about an afterlife; uncertainty about the existence or non-existence of God, about if there is a supernatural creative force, about a reason for life.\u00a0 As much as we can believe certain things about a creator, existence and an afterlife, we are nevertheless uncertain.\u00a0 Nobody has the evidence to claim their religious or non-religious beliefs are facts.\u00a0 And that ought to fill everyone with profound humility in what we do or don\u2019t believe.\u00a0 We could all be terribly wrong!<\/p>\n

What I find attractive about Unitarian Universalism is that it offers a spiritual identity within the confines of a historic church.\u00a0 It has a long history of rigorous philosophical thought and struggle behind it.\u00a0 I like that the UU church emerged from western and Christian roots – of which I am familiar by tradition – and it has now also embraced eastern and other streams of spirituality which I find attractive.\u00a0 I can worship the transcendent and the ineffable, I can personally pray or meditate, without needing to fully understand what I am experiencing.\u00a0 I can rest in uncertainty and still find spiritual beauty, wonder and awe.\u00a0 For me, Unitarian Universalism embodies three short phrases: Open minds.\u00a0 Open beliefs.\u00a0 Open hearts.<\/p>\n

Too often I find that dogmatic religious beliefs become arcane discussions much like the debate Thomas Aquinas is said to have had over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.\u00a0 Ultimately, what is the point?\u00a0 We at the Gathering and our UU friends say much the same.\u00a0 There are starving kids outside these doors.\u00a0 There are people who hurt and grieve.\u00a0 There are the defeated and forlorn who have given up on life.\u00a0 There are millions of oppressed who are denied rights of dignity, freedom and justice.\u00a0 These are things that really matter.\u00a0 People everywhere ask the very same question: how can this life and this earth be improved for the one human family?\u00a0 No matter what any of us believe spiritually, that is an eternally true creed ALL people can accept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(c) Doug Slagle, Minister to the Gathering, All Rights Reserved   To download and listen to the message, please click here. \u00a0To read it, please see below. Will you donate $5, $10 or $20 in appreciation for this message? Your online tax-deductible donation will help us continue our charitable outreach work to homeless children and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}