Universalism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
Given by James Covington on April 25th, 2004
Unitarian Universalists have been called “Jews without a history.” Like our Jewish neighbors we have a creedless faith that accepts Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet, but not as the Son of God. Unlike our Jewish neighbors, we do not enjoy the intimate relationship they have developed with their history. Because we are a faith composed of so many “converts” from some other religions, most of us are not readily conversant with our tradition.
And so to help remedy our history-challenged condition, I share with you a glimpse of the Universalist side of our heritage. Because we have no dogma, it is all the more important that we help sustain our faith by knowing from whence we have come. There will be a test after the service. Only those who pass will be allowed to have coffee.
I must confess I am somewhat reluctant to label myself by any name. I don’t like labels, manifested by the fact that unless there is no other choice, I never buy anything with a designer label. I like to think of myself first as a human being, complex, limited, flawed, but not without aspirations for the common good of all. Yet, we do define ourselves by names, our affiliations and relationships, but hopefully only insofar as our affiliations define our internal core commitments and beliefs. Our affiliations, our relationships, define who we are, not only to ourselves but to others as well. After all, I define myself politically and theologically, as a liberal. I am also an American. I’m a registered Democrat. I am a religious humanist. I belong to various professional groups. For example I am a clinical member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists. All of these affiliations define who I am, what I believe, what I think, what I do, and say to the community, this is where I stand, this is what I value, this is how I view the world. My affiliation with UU not only offers a place where I can freely express my values but I am also making a statement of commitment to the larger world. I tell people I am married and right away you understand a basic commitment I have made. I say I am a UU and therefore I am proclaiming what my faith commitment is. I am saying this is where I stand.
It has been a while since I have preached on our UU faith. The word faith itself poses a problem for some of us. But I speak not of faith as blind belief in religious dogma or creeds or an afterlife. I speak of faith as a commitment to values that we believe are paramount for a meaningful, responsible, responsive human life. These are values in which I have confidence. Faith is what I have confidence in. So what is your faith? In light of the world in which we presently live we should all be asking ourselves: “What do I believe in and what will I stand for?”
The values that UU’s uphold are defined by our principles which as an affiliation we have covenanted to 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 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….
These principles define our faith. And yet the sources of these principles are varied. Listen to them, think about them and absorb them: the direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life; words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and love; wisdom from the world’s religions which inspire us in our ethical and spiritual life; Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves; humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science and warn us against the idolatries of the mind and spirit. . . .
What is most interesting to me, is that these Unitarian Universalist principles reflect the encompassing faith in liberty and equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Not only that but, the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights—itself the greatest modern expression of American idealism and therefore of true American patriotism—springs from the same source. The next time you read the preamble to the Declaration of Independence or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, listen for how our principles echo them, often word for word: inherent worth and dignity; equity and compassion; peace, liberty and justice for all. These are universal principles, driven by human compassion, and rooted in all the great religions.
I must say, to me the most attractive part of our name, is, in fact, the universalist part. It matches my preference for referring to myself first as a human being, connected to all other human beings, but with a qualifier: I am a human being committed to liberty, justice and compassion. I am committed to creating human good in human community. I do not need a religious dogma to enforce that commitment.
Universalism as an idea goes back at least to the 13th century Before the Common Era (BCE) in the religion of Ikhnaton, a pharaoh of ancient Egypt. Sometimes dubbed “The First Heretic”, he believed in Aton, God of the sun, which reigned above all other gods - henotheism - a thunderbolt of heresy in a polytheistic time. It is remarkable that this monotheism came long before the Hebrew prophets, before Jesus of Nazareth and before Mohammed - founders of the three great monotheistic faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The Biblical tradition is rich with universalistic imagery: in the Noah story God makes a covenant with the whole human race after the flood. The Hebrew prophets proclaimed a God, not of a particular people, even their own, but a universal God of all earth’s people.
The Talmudic tradition expresses ethical universalism when it condemns the rejoicing of the Hebrew people with the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea during the Exodus: “(Yahweh) rebuked them saying ‘My Handiwork (The Egyptians) is drowning in the sea; would you utter song before me?’” Passover is a reminder of the humanity of all people.
Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan is universalism in narrative form, to remind the Jewish people even the hated Samaritans - foreigners - were of God. And the Apostle Paul wrote: “In Christ there is neither black nor white, male nor female, neither Greek, nor gentile nor Jew, but all are one”
In the third century of the Common Era (CE), Origin, an early church father, wrote of God as “Spirit”, “Light”, and the “Source of all Mind,” declaring universal salvation from a merciful God. Punishment was a self- inflicted consequence of sin. That was radical stuff, and he found himself constantly in trouble with the theological authorities.
There is a myth from Bernard of Clairvaux in the Middle Ages about a woman seen in a vision. She was carrying a pitcher and a torch. Why these? With the pitcher she would quench the fires of hell, and with the torch she would burn the pleasures of heaven. After these were gone, people would be able to love God for God’s sake.” There is a similar story from Readings from the Mystics of Islam.
The universalist impulse is another way of promoting the importance of being good for - nothing. Universalism rejected the Calvinist idea of pre-destination - the concept that some at birth were destined for heaven, some for hell. It replaced a vengeful God of judgment with a merciful God of love. Or, in the words of the old cliché: one gets Universalist holy water by boiling the hell out of it.
Hosea Ballou, the pre-eminent 19th century Universalist preacher of universal salvation, was riding the circuit in the New Hampshire hills with a Baptist minister one day, arguing theology as they traveled. At one point, the Baptist looked over and said, “Brother Ballou, if I were a Universalist and feared not the fires of hell, I could hit you over the head, steal your horse and saddle, and ride away, and I’d still go to heaven.” Hosea Ballou looked over at him and said, “If you were a Universalist, the idea would never occur to you.”
This was a difficult gospel: to practice what one preaches - to take the love of God for humanity and to live it in the world by including all people in the human family. Universalists found their hells in the evils of this world. They tried to practice what they were preaching about the love of God, endeavoring to create a heaven on earth.
Universalists figure prominently in the history of social reform in America. John Murray, George Washington’s chaplain during the Revolutionary War, had taken in a slave as a member of the first Universalist Church in America, Gloucester, Massachusetts, and championed the separation of church and state. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was father of American psychiatry, founder of the first anti-slavery society in America and promoted a Department of Peace. Adin Ballou was a Christian pacifist who influenced Leo Tolstoy, Gandhi and King. There was Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross. Olympia Brown was the first woman ordained by a denomination, the St. Lawrence Universalist Association; she was an ardent suffragette and worked with Susan B. Anthony.
The Universalist impulse - to save humanity - to include all people in the human family - is alive and well, but it has changed its beat. Instead of being focused theological on being saved by God, it has more to do with ethical life—how we live with one another, treat one another.
Ethical universalism, summarized by what I call, “A God’s eye view of the world”, however appealing in the abstract, is far less so when it means equal treatment of one’s immediate neighbors of every race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, class and nationality. It is simply hard to love one’s neighbor, near and far. Or, as one wag said, “I love humanity; it’s my next door neighbor I can’t stand!”
In theological Universalism it was the love of God for humanity which was decisive for heavenly salvation. In ethical Universalism, it is we who are required to be the agents of an earthly salvation.
Universalism is a powerful word in our fragmented society with its culture wars, its ethnic and racial separation, its partisan bickering. In a world of increasing divisions, the Universalist impulse to include everyone in the human family is imperative.
This universalist impulse stands in prophetic judgment over divisions of class and speaks the religious word to those powers and principalities, public and private, which increase the gap between the haves and have-nots in our land and abroad.
It stands in judgment over those policies and policy makers who increase divisions of race in our land. It rebukes homophobia wherever it surfaces.
Its breadth of moral concern compels us to consider nature, not as a commodity to simply be used, but as a revered community in which we live and move and have our being.
It enables us to take a God’s eye view of the world, in which all nations and peoples are worthy of respect as children of God - children of Humanity. The planet is our parish.
Theological universalism tells me we are one human family of earth - all more human than otherwise. Ethical universalism mandates that I do something to include everyone in that human family.
An ultimate concern must express itself ethically, socially. We walk with a Bible –or our principles, in one hand and a daily newspaper in the other.
Now it is true that the ideals we embrace are lofty ideals. We will never live up to them fully. But, if we devote our lives to them, they challenge us daily to hearken to what Abraham Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. Jefferson himself said, “It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.” As a slaveholder he suffers the consequences of being judged by such high ideals to this very day. But his definition of religion remains valid. Deeds not creeds: that is what we stand for as Unitarian Unviersalists.
So is Universalism an idea whose time has come? The author, Walter Henry McPherson said that “you Universalists are sitting on the biggest word in the language. It is time to improve the premises or get off.”