As most of my readers know, I was raised as a Christian in the Church of England: for the most part a liberal and inclusive denomination, and one in which I was generally very happy. Nonetheless, I reluctantly abandoned Christianity in my late teens after a great deal of intellectual searching, and for a time I identified with the movement which is often labelled – perhaps unhelpfully – as the “New Atheists” or the “atheist movement”. But I find that my religious standpoint has changed considerably over time.
This is not going to be a post criticizing organized atheism, by any means; I have made some very good friends in atheist circles, I think that the atheist and humanist movements have plenty to contribute to society, and I will be the first to say that there are many atheists and humanists doing important work for social justice. And I should also stress that I remain a non-theist and an agnostic, as conventionally understood. I do not pretend to know whether a God exists, in any sense, or even what “God” might mean; and I find myself unable intellectually to sustain a belief in the divinity of Christ, the prophecies of Mohammed, or any of the other foundational beliefs of the major theistic religions with which I am familiar.
But I find that organized atheism is not for me, personally, and that my personal values and beliefs fit better into a different paradigm. I feel an equal tie of kinship with people of all faiths and of no faith who share my moral values, and I am much less interested in debating religion than in working together with others, across the religious spectrum, who share a common commitment to unconditional love and compassion as the guiding moral principle of our lives. And although I am not a theist, and I will be the first to recognize that there is much which is bad and harmful in religious texts and narratives, I also find that some religious themes can provide inspiration, both moral and aesthetic. For instance, I find Tolstoy’s Christian pacifism, founded on his understanding of and fealty to the teachings of Jesus, to be very powerful, and an important influence on my own political thinking.
Of late, I have been attending the Unitarian Universalist First Parish in Cambridge, and have found myself more and more drawn to Unitarian Universalism as a religious tradition. Historically, Unitarian Universalism grew out of the Christian Unitarian and Universalist movements: Unitarians being, traditionally, those Christians who did not subscribe to a belief in the Trinity or in the literal divinity of Christ, and Universalists being those Christians who believed in universal salvation and rejected the idea of “heaven and hell”. Unitarian Universalism today is a non-creedal religious tradition, no longer exclusively Christian, but open to people of many differing beliefs. There are seven principles which Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote:
The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.
There are two distinct features of the Unitarian Universalist faith which I find particularly attractive. The first is their religious liberalism and openness: theists and atheists, agnostics and mystics, Christians and pagans are all welcome; and their worship services explore a variety of religious traditions and spiritual paths. Speaking as someone who does not believe in a “God” in the traditional Judeo-Christian sense, I have never once felt uncomfortable or out of place at a UU worship service; some Unitarian Universalists profess belief in a God or higher power, others do not, and there is room for a broad spectrum of personal belief about who or what God is or might be. No one is told what to believe or how to think; it is for each person to find his or her own path, based on her or his own reason and conscience. I should say that I feel a strong sense of kinship with people of all faiths, and of no faith, who share my belief in unconditional love and compassion, as the guiding principle of our relations with our fellow humans and with the natural world. For me, if there is a God, and She or He is just, I trust that we will all attain “salvation”, whatever that might mean to each of us. And if it turns out that there is no God, we will, hopefully, have lived compassionate and fulfilling lives in this world, and have worked to build a better society for those who will come after us. Rather than debating the existence of God or arguing points of theology, I find that I am more interested in what we can do to make our world a better place, and to help one another find fulfilment in our own lives.
The second attractive feature of Unitarian Universalism, for me, is its passionate commitment to social justice and equality. Speaking as someone who is personally strongly committed to equality for immigrants and to ending xenophobic prejudice, and who intends to work in the field of immigration and asylum law, I am very pleased to support the UUs’ policy of immigration justice, including campaigning for reform of immigration laws and working on behalf of immigrants and refugees. Similarly, UUs have long been at the forefront of campaigning for full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, performing same-sex marriage ceremonies, ordaining LGBT people to the ministry, and welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender identities as equal participants in community and fellowship.
I will leave my readers today with a piece of music which I find to be very powerful: Simple Gifts, composed in the nineteenth century by the Shaker Christian elder Joseph Brackett, and often sung today by Unitarian Universalist congregations. The tune will be familiar: it was popularized by Aaron Copland, being the theme of his composition Appalachian Spring, and is also known as the musical setting for Sydney Carter’s Lord of the Dance.