To Touch Inward Springs ©
Reverend Janet Parsons
Gloucester Unitarian Universalist Church
May 5, 2019
Two hundred years ago, the arguments between liberal and conservative Congregationalists in New England were almost as intense as the conflicts between political liberals and conservatives today. Granted, 200 years ago there was no Internet, no 24-hour news cycle, nor vitriolic cable news hosts. Instead of Infowars, they had pamphlet wars – arguments that would go on and on for months and years in newspapers and in published pamphlets. It all sounds so – quaint.
Two hundred years ago a debate was raging between religious liberals and conservatives about the nature of God – whether God was loving and benevolent, or a judging, vindictive deity. There was also a fierce debate about the nature of humans – were people born sinful and destined to live in sin, ultimately consigned to eternal damnation? The Calvinists, the conservatives, said yes. Few people – only the Elect – would escape damnation and be allowed into heaven. Liberals believed that people had the capacity to be sinful but also to grow spiritually and to become righteous. Liberals believed in salvation – in the potential for grace – for anyone.
Liberals, or liberal Christians, as they called themselves, were often referred to disparagingly as ‘unitarian’ because of their unwelcome habit of pointing out that there is no mention of the Trinity – father, son, and holy spirit – in the Bible. For that reason they sometimes referred to themselves as the ‘pure Christians’. It’s possible that they could be slightly insufferable.
Regardless, despite all the name-calling and the conflict, for many years the liberal Christians considered themselves very much part of the Congregational fold in the eastern United States. But over time the gap between the two wings of the denomination grew. To the consternation of the conservatives, the liberals gained power at Harvard. To try to isolate and weaken the liberal wing, conservatives began to refuse to exchange pulpits with liberal colleagues – the ultimate 19th century insult.
And so, the liberals reluctantly came to the conclusion that they were growing into a separate religious denomination. It was time for a positive declaration of their beliefs, and time to adopt the name ‘Unitarian’ as their own.
And so, at an ordination of a brand-new minister in Baltimore on May 5, 1819, the Reverend William Ellery Channing delivered a sermon entitled “Unitarian Christianity,” as a platform – a manifesto – for the new denomination. The sermon lasted for an hour and a half. (Do you all appreciate how lucky you are in 2019?) The sermon was rushed into print, and the demand required multiple editions. The religious landscape changed forever in the United States that day, 200 years ago today.
It’s easy to think that because of the name Unitarian, that Channing’s major focus was on rejection of the Trinity. And he did talk about that. Over the course of an hour and a half he addressed several issues besides – including the loving nature of God and the humanity of Jesus. But in fact, what was most important to the early Unitarians was their understanding that human reason was an important part of religious belief. It was not enough to simply accept the words in the Bible as completely true without question. Unitarians believed that the Bible should be carefully studied and analyzed. Biblical study should be made into an academic discipline, almost like a science.
Because of this insistence on scholarship, and on the role of human reason, American Unitarianism evolved quickly. Soon there were debates on whether Jesus performed miracles, or if miracles actually could have happened at all. Thomas Jefferson, sympathetic to Unitarianism, produced an edition of the New Testament in 1820 in which he cut out any mention of miracles performed by Jesus. Jefferson took apart the pages of a Bible and literally cut and pasted the portions he approved of back together again.
Within 20 years the Transcendentalists, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and a host of others, challenged the Biblical basis of Unitarianism. They believed in their own reason and emotion. Emerson put it this way, in his essay, The Oversoul: “Let us learn the revelation of all nature and thought; that the Highest dwells within us, that the sources of nature are in our own minds.”
The evolution of American Unitarianism is fascinating. Once the traditional restrictions were removed: the Calvinist view that humans were mostly doomed and that the Bible was the only authority, new voices and viewpoints crowded in and created an always-changing menu of different beliefs. Ideas about the nature of the divine, and if there really is in fact a deity changed constantly. Was Jesus divine, or human, or both? Darwin’s theory of evolution set off an earthquake in all religions, but the Unitarians accepted the science and adapted. By the end of the 19th century humanism was included under the Unitarian tent. To sum up the rapid changes in belief, in less than a century the debate changed from the nature of the divine, to whether or not the divine even exists.
The question becomes, what held all this together? What kept the denomination from splintering into 87 different factions? The short answer is: what held the Unitarians together was an agreement that there would be no creeds, no dogma, and that freedom of belief was permitted, wherever it led.
In other words, Unitarians embraced curiosity. As we heard in our reading this morning, “Our way in religion is not the way of ease. We are called to be sailors…” (Charles Magistro, “It’s Not Easy Being a Unitarian Universalist,” https://www.uua.org/worship/words/reading/183751.shtml)
Channing himself, one of the most renowned and beloved preachers of the early 19th century, embraced the need for curiosity. (And by the way, Channing’s portrait is hanging out in the hallway, right by the lift. Take a look on your way to coffee hour.) Let’s listen again to his words about how to teach children: “The great end in religious instruction is not to stamp our minds upon the young, but to stir up their own; not to make them see with our eyes, but to look inquiringly and steadily with their own; not to give them a definite amount of knowledge, but to inspire a fervent love of truth; … to touch inward springs.” (William Ellery Channing, “The Great End in Religious Instruction,” in Singing the Living Tradition, #652)
Channing, writing in the early 19th century, was asking people to foster curiosity. He was asking people to stride fearlessly into the future, not knowing where it would lead them. Frankly, he could never have imagined where his bold words would lead – to a faith tradition where no one holy book or no one belief system was considered to be the final authority.
Channing set our feet upon the path of religious curiosity and openness, but he would not have been able to accompany us much farther along the path. The path quickly became a relay race – others would take up the baton and forge, driven by their own curiosity, further into the unknown.
Much is asked of Unitarian Universalists. We are asked to follow our seven principles as a guide for ethical living. And we are asked to always remain curious, to open ourselves to different beliefs, different ways of life. We are asked to embrace the search for truth and meaning in our daily lives. This is intended as a lifelong pursuit – to seek, to consider, to perhaps reject a belief for ourselves, but at the same time to uphold the right of others to keep a belief.
This is very hard to do. This has always created difficulty within our denomination, and within our individual congregations. Certainly this congregation has struggled over the years, with its Universalist Christian heritage, to decide how to embrace humanism and atheism. How do we make room for these beliefs? How do we authentically include Judaism? And Buddhism? And Islam?
As we explore curiosity this month, you will be asked in different ways to find the curious places within yourselves. For this is what will hold us together – as liberals and conservatives, as Christians and Muslims, as theists and atheists, as Americans – learning to listen to one another, and learning to maintain a certain curiosity about one another’s beliefs. Staying in that place of curiosity makes it possible for our minds to remain open. Curiosity can prevent us from becoming defensive and angry. Curiosity calls us to examine our own beliefs, and to examine our own reactions. It calls us to ask ourselves, “Why did I react that way?” “What is making me angry?” This is deeply religious work, and difficult work. It is not easy to be a Unitarian Universalist. We are asked to consider all we encounter, with deep respect.
We reject some beliefs, of course. After all, to paraphrase Unitarian theologian James Luther Adams, it is good to remain open-minded, but we don’t want our minds to be open at both ends. We are called to a “responsible” search for truth. We reject hatred. We reject violence committed in the name of religion. We are called to learn about other beliefs and practices, but we also are called to listen to the still, small voice within us to know whether what we are hearing is true for us. For us there is always a balance – between scholarship and intuition, between heart and mind.
Our third principle is to promote “Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.” Our fourth principle is to promote “A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” We have been given a road map for growing spiritually, and learning throughout our lives about our own beliefs and about those of others. All along the path, along the journey, curiosity must be present, undergirding our search, and upholding our support of one another. This is what it means, truly, to be a Unitarian Universalist. The journey was begun 200 years ago today, articulated by a diminutive man with a huge spirit and presence. To be a Unitarian Universalist we are asked to nourish and develop our inward springs through study, through questioning, and through listening to our deepest thoughts and yearnings.: “…the Highest dwells within us, the sources of nature are in our own minds,” wrote Emerson.
My friends, the history of American Unitarianism over the past 200 years shows us the vitality, the creative force of curiosity in human lives, once the artificial limitations of dogma are removed. Curiosity fosters growth, fosters learning and innovation, and fosters connection and ultimately love between us as it breaks down barriers. We are a religion of curiosity. “Our way in religion is not the way of ease. We are called to be sailors; for many worlds exist waiting to be discovered.” (Magistro, op. cit.). It is not easy to be a Unitarian Universalist.
Sail on.
Amen.
Happy Birthday!
