AboutJon Bond Expertise Will answer all questions regarding Unitarian Universalist (UU)church; including ancient history (Universalists go back to at least 250 A.D.) and medieval history (Unitarians look to 1553 A.D. as their beginning) up to merger of the two movements in 1961 and continuing up to present. Am familiar with Christian church organizations and relationship of UUs to traditional churches.
Experience Currently member of Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Colorado. Past vice-president of Board of Trustees and currently on Membership Committee. Have taught UU history for over 20 years. Have attended Unitarian Universalist General Assemblies (annual meetings held in June) for past 15 years.
Organizations Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Colorado
Expert: Jon Bond Date: 8/16/2004 Subject: Two Questions
Question First Question: How do we know right from wrong?
Second Question: What are your problems with the Christian view of reality?
Just curious about your thoughts and thanks for your time.
Answer Hello John :
I'll try to answer your two questions. Remember, I'm one of over 250,000 people and, if you ask another UU (Unitarian Universalist), you may get a different (but, hopefully, not conflicting) answer. I'd like to divide my answer into three parts: first, a background of our association, then secondly, a brief discussion of how we know right from wrong. Then, thirdly, I'll discuss your query of: What are your problems with the Christian view of reality?
First: a background (including when the two groups originated):
The concept of Unitarianism generally looks to a Catholic priest, Michael Servetus, as a spiritual originator. Servetus was born in Spain in 1511 and died in 1553, after attacking the doctrines of the Trinity. Unitarianism is a doctrinal system characterized chiefly by a belief in the unipersonality of God and the normal humanity of Jesus, as contrasted with the Trinity and the eternal deity (divinity) of Jesus. Most Unitarians I've spoken with reject the divinity of Jesus, but do recognize him (Jesus) as a great moral teacher
Universalism is the theological doctrine that all souls will ultimately be saved and that there are no torments of hell. Universalism has been asserted at various times in different contexts throughout the history of the "Christian church"--e.g., Origen in the 3rd century. The Universalists also denied the miraculous element in Scripture, and rejected such important Bible doctrines as the total depravity of man and the Trinity.
The Unitarian Universalist Association was created in May of 1961 as a merger of Unitarians and Universalists.
Second: how we (UUs) know right from wrong.
Less than 10% of UUs follow the path of Christianity. There are no creeds, only statements of purpose, in the UU church. We pride ourselves in welcoming atheists and humanists. So, I believe the very short answer to your question is: we don't necessarily categorize actions as right or wrong; rather, we might say some actions are different from other actions. That is not to say that many of our fellow UUs wouldn't say "that is right" or "that is wrong." An indicator of this is our wide spectrum of beliefs. Recently (in the last five years), the UU organization took a survey to find out what we believe is important in our religious lives.
Almost 10,000 Unitarian Universalists took the time to fill out and return the survey, giving us all an invaluable snapshot of who we are. Our association has been enriched by the knowledge gained from the answers many UUs provided.
This survey began a process designed to reach out to all UU individuals and congregations called "Fulfilling the Promise." This Concept was set in motion by the Unitarian Universalist Association's Board of Trustees. Its goal was to help us move toward agreement about why we come together as congregations and as an association and what we hope to accomplish.
The survey questions came from individual UUs, as did the suggested responses. More than 500 people helped create this survey. We hope you will find your own experience reflected in the questions and answers, even if the exact language you would use is not perfectly captured here.
What follows are the total tabulations for the first 8118 surveys. At least one question deals with theological perspective. Question number 30 results follow:
Please check the one of the following which best describes your theological perspective:
The balance of the questions (age, sex, length of church membership, etc.), gave us a picture of who are demographically and as church persons. They provide a picture of what we say our values in religious community are.
John, in summary to your first question, let me now give you what can only be described as a long answer. Rather than "right" and "wrong" we seek to act as a moral force in the world, believing that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion. The here and now and the effects our actions will have on future generations sincerely concern us. We acknowledge that our relationships with one another, with other peoples, races and nations, should be governed by justice, equity and compassion.
Thirdly: you ask "What are your problems with the Christian view of reality?"
You did save the most difficult for the last. I wouldn't even attempt decide what is the Christian view of reality. Oh well, here's my take on the subject: UUs have an acceptance of agnosticism, humanism (see survey results discussed earlier), even atheism, as well as Christian. So, I would imagine that a Christian UU (less than 10% of UUs) would probably answer this question differently. But, for me, one must first define "What is a Christian?." For this, I will assume that a Christian, in the context of your question, is one who believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the "christ", i.e. the annointed one. Regarding Jesus, within our group I know that many UUs regard Jesus as one of the highest models of the religious life: At the same time, there is an interpretation of Jesus that equates his ministry with that of Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Socrates, and Mohammed.
John, the other point I would like to bring us is that you are probably referring to a Christian view of reality as outlined in the Bible. I, personally, do not believe the Bible is a valid form of reality, either in the modern or in the ancient classical sense. Back of all the gospels is the oral tradition out of which they grew. One must remember that the entire Bible (King James version) contains 136 biblical contradictions, so it is hard to place any credence in a book (or individual gospels) that has so many contradictions. Therefore, I would tend to discount a lot of what is in the Bible as "reality." Having said that, I must also say that some UUs, who may still suffer from a religious education based upon teachings from the Bible that inspired fear rather than love in their hearts, have little desire to return to the Bible as a source of "reality" and, therefore, reclaim its essential teachings as part of their own faith. Others, like the UU Christians I mentioned earlier, may center their faith and their devotions on the scriptures. But however we gauge the nature of the Bible's authority (or "reality",) nearly all of us as UUs can embrace the principle of neighborliness at the heart of the Judeo-Christian tradition.
John, you have asked some serious questions. Remember that my answers are my own; the UUs would never dictate what to believe to member churches. Good luck in your search - you're on the right track!
Thank you for taking the time to question what UUs might believe regarding "right, wrong, and reality" For more information, please feel free to check out our web site http://uua.org/ A good book to check on is:The Unitarian Universalist Pocket Guide ISBN 0-933840-45-4
