The interweb is abuzz today with Unitarian Universalists writing about a subject they should know well: Universalism. UUA President Peter Morales has written about it at Huffington Post; the Twitterverse is full of tweets hashtagged #universalism; and individual bloggers (UU and otherwise) are blogging the bejasus out of the subject here, here, and here. Why the sudden interest? The imminent release of bestselling author and megachurch pastor Rob Bell’s Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. Here’s what Bell’s publisher has to say about the book:
Rob Bell reveals a secret deep in the heart of millions of Christians–they don’t believe what they have been taught are the essential truths of their faith. Out of respect for their tradition, they keep quiet, confiding to a few close friends their doubts and questions about salvation, Jesus, and, of course, God.
Bell brings out to the open and faces squarely the questions on everyone’s mind: Does it really make sense that God is a loving, kind, compassionate God who wants to know people in a personal way, but if they reject this relationship with Jesus, they will be sent to hell where God will eternally punish them forever?
In Love Wins, Bell goes to the heart of these issues and argues that the church’s traditional understanding of heaven and hell is actually not taught by the Bible. Bell is emphatically not offering a new view of heaven and hell; instead, he closely examines every verse in the Bible on heaven and hell and shows what they really teach. And he discovers that Jesus’s most fundamental teaching about heaven and hell is, “Love wins.”
This should be, of course, good news for Unitarian Universalists who think of their congregations as places of refuge for those Christians who “don’t believe what they have been taught are the essential truths of their faith.” After all, that’s pretty much the reason a lot of us became Unitarian Universalists in the first place. It’s been my experience, however, that many UUs think that people should have taken care of their relationship to God, Jesus, Heaven, and Hell before they set foot in their local UU congregation because, well, that’s they way they did it. As far as they’re concerned, those questions were asked and answered a long time ago, which is why you don’t see many UU congregations spending too much time helping Christians work through their thoughts and feelings about some of the more troubling “essential truths of their faith.” And that’s shame.
You see, I really do believe that UU congregations should be the absolutely best place on Earth for Christians to explore their relationship with God and Jesus, Heaven and Hell. Why? Because our non-creedal religion offers each individual the opportunity to start from scratch when it comes to working out his or her own salvation—not with “fear and trembling,” as Saint Paul put it (Philippians 2:12-13), but with hope and support. But that’s not what goes on in most of our churches, fellowships, and societies. Instead you find people getting their knickers in a twist about words like “worship,” “sanctuary,” “spirituality,” and “faith.”
So, what’s a UU congregation to do? Well, if you’re seriously interested in helping our Christian neighbors explore their relationship to God and the religion their were raised in, take a look at this excellent article by Philip Clayton: “Theology and the Church After Google.” Pay special attention to these “recurring questions that every Christian wonders about as he or she struggles to be a Jesus disciple”:
- Who is God?
- What are human beings?
- How are we separated from God, and how can that separation be overcome
- Who is Jesus Christ?
- What or Who is the Spirit?
- What is the church, and what should it be doing?
- And what is our hope for the final future of the cosmos and humanity?
Now, check your feelings and choose one: Do you find the thought of a bunch of Christians coming to your congregation searching for the answers to these questions a) attractive, or b) repulsive? You can probably guess what my answer is. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me yours.
Phil's Little Blog on the Prairie 
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March 15, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Chad
Thanks for the mention, Phil!
Grace and peace,
Chad
March 15, 2011 at 3:00 pm
Phil on the Prairie
My pleasure, Chad!
March 15, 2011 at 1:34 pm
Bill Baar
Re: What are human beings?
Rev Morales was hardly going to go there after mixing pastoral care towards those who’ve undergone abortions, with the ultimate questions you’ve listed here. We’ve mixed an opinion about God’s Judgement and Forgiveness, with a suspension of our own moral reasoning on what’s right and wrong. You’ve got the right, so don’t ask me “what are human beings”, seems to be the UU stand per Rev Morales in Huffpo I’m afraid.
Somehow I think G-d takes us seriously and expects serious thought and discernment on our part. G-d help us for not using the gift and instead just listening.
March 15, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Thanks for the comment, Bill. Regarding “serious thought and discernment,” the words of James Luther Adams come to mind: “An unexamined faith is not worth having, for it can be true only by accident. A faith worth having is a faith worth discussing and testing.”
March 15, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Jaume
That is really too bad. I thought that Christians who would come and knock at the door of Unitarian Universalism would rather be interested in how to have healthy relations with other human beings, their family and friends, the society they live in, the world around them in order to make it a more just and balanced place, and their own happiness and spiritual fulfillment. But apparently they will only ask about metaphysics.
March 15, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Thanks for the comment, Jaume. I agree that we are all about helping people live lives of meaningful engagement with the world. But I also believe that there shouldn’t be a requirement that they find their own answers to those theological questions before we do that.
March 16, 2011 at 8:29 am
Bill Baar
You find “What are human beings?” a metaphysical question Jaume? It’s far from metaphisical. Get involved in bioethics and the day to day practice of it. The humanity and seeming humanity can be touched.
March 16, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Good point, Bill. “What are human beings?” is probably the most down-to-earth question on that list.
March 17, 2011 at 8:01 pm
k
Great post. I came to be a UU one year ago after finding myself at odds with too many opinions/teachings/general assumptions in the Christian church. When I began my search, the UU church near me was the perfect answer! Our UU congregation does have that welcoming “Christian” vibe but I agree that we could reach out more. I think the world is full of closet UU’s and we just have to encourage them to step out. The journey of faith is the greatest adventure, ask and ask and ask 🙂
March 17, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Thanks! I have to say that I feel pretty fortunate that my experience as a Unitarian Universalist gave me permission to study the teachings of Jesus without a lot of “dogmatic baggage” (possible band name?). In the end, I feel like I’ve been able to incorporate the best parts of my Christian upbringing into my current beliefs. My wish is that everyone who needed the same kind of permission would get it from their local UU congregation. Heck, even more than permission: encouragement!
March 18, 2011 at 11:02 am
Robert
I’m happy to have found your blog. Having been a member of a UU congregation for all of a month, I came precisely because I have a joyful personal experience, however idiosyncratic it may be, of God. I didn’t want to spoil it by continuing to recite creeds I never did really believe. My experience of the Deity is personal, subjective, and emotional, but for me, real. And positive.
What I am encountering is some church members who are angry that others believe in God and are happy about it. They walk up to me an introduce themselves, frowning, “I’m (name) and I am an atheist” and the tone of the conversation is everyone else better agree with them, too.
I’m thinking that as long they don’t stab me with their fork if we sit next to each other at the church supper, I’m fine with their developing their spirituality in their own ways in their own time, our interacting as may be mutually beneficial–but what is it with this anger at belief (and not a loudly announced, evangelical belief) in God? Is this common among UU’s? Or is it just something I’ve run into in my own congregation?
March 18, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Glad you’ve found the blog, Robert. I’d say the majority of UU congregations have some old school atheists like the ones you describe. They usually don’t stab people with their forks, as you’ve learned, so the door remains open for us to learn and grow together, which I think is one of the main reasons for gathering in religious community.
March 22, 2011 at 11:01 am
Ken Mattsson
Phil!
Glad to find you again! I like your post a lot and I think that much of what we are discussing here is the issue between reaction and pro-action. Most people live life out of reaction, and we UU’s attempt to say that you can be proactive about your faith and come to your own conclusions. The type of response Robert got is a more reactive response, and I don’t think that serves anyone. I’m bumping up against this all the time in my work with having a career where you’re guided by your spirit, but I’ve been finding this distinction in about every area of my existence.
I may write a post in response to this! Keep up the good work at prodding us!
Ken
March 23, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Phil on the Prairie
Good to hear from you, Ken! I like your reactive/proactive view of this. It reminds me a little bit of how some people approach their relationship to family. There seems to be a number of people who feel that the only way to get over a difficult relationship with their family of origin is to cut themselves off more or less permanently. That initial reaction serves to keep the pain of their situation to a minimum, so they find it’s best to leave it at that. Proactively dealing with their past by beginning to reconnect with members of their family in small doses is not an option. I get the same feeling from UUs who want to keep their religious pasts out of church. But that is definitely not a one size fits all solution. And any congregation that promotes that approach is like a therapist who advises all of his or her patients to cut all ties with their families forever.
March 27, 2011 at 6:57 pm
Don Erickson
Thanks for the post, Phil. It seems to me UU has a major dilemma when it comes to being involved in the resurgent Universalist conversation. Once UU left the Christian household and became merely Christianity’s neighbor, he (UU) lost any sense of ownership in the conversation in his old home, even though the conversation involves one of his old rooms (Christian Universalism – CU). In fact, neighbor UU’s input into the Christian household might be seen as an unwanted intrusion by CU herself. Other more traditional roommates might use the UU neighbor’s defense as a counterargument against lonely CU. They will point to the example of UU and say you’re on the slippery slope of going the way of our neighbor, the way of a new religion and relativism. In other words, CU will not find UU’s defense helpful. CU will likely say, while UU used to live here, he and I are two completely different things now.
March 28, 2011 at 7:46 am
Phil on the Prairie
Interesting metaphor, Don. Yes, UUs moved out of their Christian room some time ago. I don’t necessarily think that we should be trying to move back into that room, however. I’m thinking more of the “unchurched, dechurched, and underchurched” group of people who may have some sense of God, Jesus, Heaven, and Hell, and who think that religion means having some understanding of where those concepts fit into their personal beliefs. We can offer those people a room in our house if we were so inclined. Thanks for the comment!
April 13, 2011 at 8:48 am
Jon
The trouble with offering a room is that UU churches perpetuate the half way house identity. Once people come to terms with their beliefs most will go to a nice theistic church that matches or appeals to those beliefs. UUism, by not standing for anything, will never keep those who spend searching time within its doors. Once grown, they will (and do to this day) fly away.
UUism, in my opinion, must reassert its roots.
April 13, 2011 at 8:50 am
Jon
The trouble with offering a room is that UU churches perpetuate the half way house identity. Once people come to terms with their beliefs most will go to a nice theistic church that matches or appeals to those beliefs. UUism, by not standing for anything, will never keep those who spend searching time within its doors. Once grown, they will (and do to this day) fly away.
UUism, in my opinion, must reassert its roots. Atheists, pagans, wiccans, Buddhists etc. in my opinion, should have separate guest rooms in the house. Not the main floor.
April 13, 2011 at 8:55 am
Jon
Jaume, I don’t understand how one can separate spiritual fulfillment from the metaphysical. Unless you are using the term spiritual in a totally corrupted secular meaning; if so, then you wish UU churches to be social action centers.
April 13, 2011 at 10:53 am
Phil on the Prairie
Thanks for the comments, Jon.