You may have noticed that religion has been getting bad press. The historic conflict between Muslims and Jews continues unabated. Like a pernicious virus, fundamentalism infects the great Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Sunnis and Shiites murder each other daily. In our time we have seen similar violence between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. The genocide in Darfur has a religious dimension. Religious violence is part of our daily lives. (Think about how easily that phrase, “religious violence,” rolls off our tongues! “Religious violence” should be an oxymoron.)
Yet violence is just the beginning of the mess religion is in today. In an era of bursting human population the Catholic Church continues to oppose birth control. A narrow and distorted reading of ancient purity codes in scripture is used to justify the persecution and marginalization of millions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Hundreds of million women are oppressed by religious dogmas that treat them like property.
Just a few hours down I-70 religious zealots have spent years opposing the teaching of evolution in biology classrooms. A new museum has been built to promote the Genesis creation myth as science. When I see such ignorant silliness I don’t know whether to cry, or scream, or laugh out loud. Maybe we need to do all three.
The list goes on and on. Religion is a mess today. Horrible things are being done in the name of religion. No wonder we are seeing a reaction against all religion. Books like The End of Faith and The God Delusion are bestsellers.
Have things always been like this? Yes and no. Religious conflict is as old as humanity. Religion has always had a role in giving legitimacy to those in power. Yet, for most people most of the time religion has not been a source of conflict. Let’s do a little time travel. Let’s imagine ourselves living a thousand years ago, in the year 1008. Most of us would live in or near a village. Few cities of any size existed. If we lived in a village in France we would probably never meet anyone who was not a Christian. The church was at the center of village social life, a place for seeing neighbors and a place for rights of passage. If we were born in the Arab world, we might never see a human being who was not Muslim. In India, we would only know other Hindus. And there was no conflict between religion and science, for there was no science. No one doubted the myths or the dogma. A thousand years ago the earth was still the center of the universe.
We live in a new world. Just look around. Right here in the Denver area we have Muslims and Jews and evangelical Protestants and main line Protestants and Catholics and Hindus and Buddhists. It used to be that a person could live a lifetime without encountering someone from another religious tradition. Today we cannot go a week. Most of us cannot go a day.
We live in a new world, a world in which once isolated religious traditions are in constant contact. We desperately need new religion for a new world. The old religions lead to tribalism, violence, suspicion, hatred, and oppression. We need a religion that transcends divisions, religion that unites enemies, religion that points to a new future that includes everyone.
This has happened before. Christianity only became a powerful religious force when the early Christians transcended their roots in a Judaism that was bound to one ethnic group. If the early Christians had remained a sect of Jewish radicals, they would have dwindled away. But the early Christians came to see their gospel as a message for everyone and spread it everywhere.
A similar thing happened in Islam. The Prophet Mohammed created a powerful religion that transcended all the tribal gods among Arab peoples. This is the power of his teaching that there is no God but God. He was preaching that the tribal allegiances to different gods were all false, that we all owe allegiance to the same creator. It was his way of saying we are all one. It was his way of creating a new religion for a new age.
Long before Christianity and Islam, Moses helped to unite the twelve tribes of Israel by helping them to see themselves as having a special covenant with God.
The tragic irony is that today Judaism, Christianity and Islam, religions that were born by transcending the barriers of tribalism, have become bastions of a new tribalism. Today Judaism, Islam and Christianity, especially the more conservative parts of them, have become what they first opposed: narrow, rigid and reactionary. They look back and seek to recapture a fantasy of the past instead of embracing a vision for the future.
What might a religion for our time look like? What would a religion need to be today to transcend our tribal allegiances, to harness idealism and compassion, to change lives and give life meaning? This is a huge, huge issue. This affects the future of humanity.
Alas, I am not the reincarnation of the Prophet Mohammed. I am not Moses or the Apostle Paul. Yet I believe we can see the rough outline of a religion for our time. Let’s take a look at what a religion for our time might look like. Here is my rough and preliminary sketch.
First, I do not believe that a religion for our time can ask people to reject the religious traditions they grew up with. We can, however, create a religion where we draw wisdom and strength from our religious pasts even while we transcend them. I need not reject the precious gifts of community, compassion and passion for justice from my conservative Christian upbringing. Yet I must transcend the narrow theology that would have me think of everyone else is condemned to hell. I need to learn to be open to the great spiritual gifts of other traditions. A religion for our time must draw upon many religious traditions while transcending them all.
A religion for our time must see science and human learning as a partner, not an enemy. We must move beyond treating myths and poetry as if they were history or science. A religion for our time is open to learning and delights in discovery. This tension between science and religion is madness.
And just as a religion for our time respects humanity’s diverse traditions, so too must it respect human diversity. It must begin with the premise that each one of us matters. Women matter. People of all racial backgrounds matter. Poor people matter as much as the rich. Uneducated people matter as much as scholars. People of all sexual orientations matter. Children matter. The aged matter. A religion for our time does not merely tolerate human diversity, it celebrates it.
A religion for our time must be about wholeness, integrity, and engagement. It must promote the spiritual practices that give us depth and insight: meditation, prayer, spiritual guidance, small groups, and music. It must touch our hearts as well as our heads.
Our new religion must promote deep reflection, but it must never, never, become an escape from life or descend into navel gazing narcissism. A religion for our time must be prophetic. It must speak truth to power. It must raise a powerful voice against violence, injustice, racism, economic exploitation, and the destruction of life on our planet. A religion for our time is not afraid of power. It uses power. A religion for our time must strive to transform the world.
Beyond this, our new religion must have a vision of the future. It must invite people to come together in love to help create new world—a world of peace, justice, equity, compassion and stewardship of the environment. It must draw upon ancient and undying human longing for harmony, for beloved community, for bringing the kingdom of God to earth.
Just imagine such a religion! Imagine a religion that believes in the inherent worth and dignity of all people; that seeks justice, equity and compassion; that draws upon the wisdom and insight of many faith traditions; that is open to new learning; that respects human diversity; that promotes peace; that demands good stewardship of our planet.
Wow. Wouldn’t that be great.
You would think that such a religion would take the world by storm. This is what millions of people want.
You, of course, are two steps ahead of me. You can see where I am going. I just finished summarizing our seven principles and the sources upon which we draw.
This is us!
We can be the religion for our time.
Why then, why, are we a microscopic part of religion today?
We should be the religion for our time. We should be embracing and empowering hundreds of thousands—nay, millions—of people who are longing to transcend religious tribalism and to create a new world.
But we’re not.
And it simply drives me nuts.
Let me share some grim facts. I hope they drive you nuts, too.
It has been almost fifty years since the Unitarians and the Universalists merged. Today our membership is about the same as it was then: a little more than 150,000 adult members. The population of the country has grown by 68 percent. We are a much smaller part of American religion now than we were half a century ago.
In the past nine years our congregation has been one of the half dozen or so fastest growing churches in our Association. We have grown by 90 percent. If the entire movement had grown at the rate of this church, it would have added almost 140,000 members. The movement has grown a little, but it amounts to about one person per congregation per year. That’s right: one person per congregation per year.
When I talk to people joining our church they often assume that this church is typical, that our liberal religious movement is thriving. They are surprised that this isn’t the case.
At a deep level I am surprised, too. I know that our church is far from perfect. We mess up all the time. I mess up all the time. Yet in the last nine years we transformed our church. We serve hundreds more people. We make much more of a difference in the outside world. And I mean a real difference. A few days ago I got an e-mail that made tears well up in my eyes. It was from Juan de Dios, leader of a small organization of Mayan survivors of massacres in Guatemala 25 years ago. JUC has sent two delegations to Guatemala with the UUSC. I was part of the first group. Juan’s e-mail was an update, with photos, of 13 impoverished Mayan students we are supporting to get an education. Their lives will never be the same because of us. We also just finished housing homeless families last week. We are involved in so many ways.
We could not have done this nine years ago. Now that we are bigger we are stronger. And we’re making a difference.
We have become leaders of our movement. Most of you don’t see this, but those of us who go to district and national meetings see it all the time. Let me mention a few examples of our leadership:
We produced a video on growth that became the basis for a series of workshops at the first “UU University” at General Assembly in 2006. That video was sent to every congregation in the country. As a result of that our staff is consulted constantly by other churches. I am asked to go all over the country to speak and lead workshops.
Keith Arnold is the new president of the national UU Musicians Network. Keith has also led choirs at General Assembly. He is among the best known musicians in our movement. Our own Quadratic Equation quartet has sung at General Assembly. A couple of years ago we hosted the national musicians conference.
Our social action program is growing in prominence. We are one of the very few churches who have a minister for social responsibility.
We have led a number of district workshops. The latest was a wonderfully successful day devoted to pastoral care. It drew a hundred people.
A feature story on JUC is going to highlight the next issue of Interconnections, a newsletter sent to all ministers and lay leaders in the country. The editor was here several days last month researching the story. In a few weeks we will be even better known than we are now.
At a time when the light of our movement is flickering, our light is shining. People look to us for leadership. We never sought this kind of exposure. Yet here we are. Jefferson Unitarian Church is one of the best known and most respected congregations in our movement.
We have been called to serve. We have been called to lead. We are in a rare position to help shape the future.
What a gift this is! What shall we do with this opportunity?
Our movement is at a natural point of transition. In a year and half, at the June, 2009, General Assembly in Salt Lake City, we will elect a new president. Because of JUC’s growth and our visibility in the movement, nine months ago a couple of national leaders suggested that I run for president. At first I laughed, then I said something to the effect of “What did I ever do to you?” I told them I would give it serious consideration. I did, but decided not to run. I like it here. The presidency is a tough job. Besides, I was sure someone else who is passionate about our movement and who understands the kinds of fundamental changes we need to make would step forward. I knew there were half a dozen people considering running.
Then all but one dropped out. The one left is a distinguished minister, but someone without experience leading major organizational change or significant leadership experience outside the parish. We face having an election with no choice and with no discussion about our future.
I have reconsidered. After much reflection, I have decided to be a candidate for the presidency of our Association.
I am convinced that what has happened at JUC and at dozens of other thriving congregations can happen in hundreds of our churches all over the country.
We are not called to be a tiny, declining, fringe religion. We are called to feed the spiritually hungry and open our home to the religiously homeless. We are called to heal and empower people so that they can in turn help transform our world. We are called to teach our children compassion, understanding and respect—not indoctrinate them with fear and prejudice.
We live in dark times, times filled with hatred, injustice, prejudice, ignorance. Sadly, obsolete religions created for another time contribute to the darkness.
You and I are called to shine the light of compassion, the light of openness, the light of acceptance, the light of justice, the light of truth, the light of hope.
I cannot sit by while we continue to drift into obscurity. I cannot sit on the sidelines and wonder whether I might have helped to turn things around. I may not win this election. I cannot foresee or control the outcome. I can shape the debate. We desperately need someone to do that.
If I win I will have to leave this beloved church in a year and a half. However, there is no reason for anxiety. We have plenty of time to plan for a transition and to find a distinguished interim minister who will come if I win. Otherwise, I plan to continue.
Look, the only reason people approached me about running for president, the only reason I have any credibility as a candidate, is because of you. You and I are in this together. And, in a very real sense, you and I together are running for president of the UUA. Do not doubt this. It will be my name on the ballot, but I am a symbol for what we have done here together. Our entire movement needs to do what JUC did: unleash the passion, idealism, and commitment of our people.
This campaign is an extension of our mission to grow Unitarian Universalism.
I ask you to join me in this campaign to revitalize our movement. We need so many more thriving religious homes for the liberal spirit. Together we can lead change. Together we can make a historic difference.
We live in a new world—and we have a religion that is perfect for that new world. Our playing small will not serve the world.
Let’s let our light shine. Let’s help spread it all over the country.
Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.
Amen.