Not Mere Puppets on a Divine String Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert Rev. Suzanne M. Marsh September 13, 2015

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1 Not Mere Puppets on a Divine String Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert Rev. Suzanne M. Marsh September 13, 2015 As part of a sermon series on our Principles, today we will be considering our Fifth Principle which says: "We covenant to affirm and promote the right of conscience, and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large." Folks who are new to Unitarian Universalism often express surprise that our principles, which they often see as our only statement of faith, contain references to conscience rather than scripture and to what they consider a specific form of governance, democracy. I am rarely able to stop myself from first explaining that our principles are not really a statement of faith, but rather a statement of our shared beliefs and values and that the root to all of our principles come directly from the history of our founding denominations, the Unitarians and the Universalists. The fifth principle is perhaps the one for which a direct line can be drawn far back in history, to see the conditions which existed that gave rise to these foundational ideas, that still stand in our denomination today. Those denominations are directly descended from Christianity, which in turn is directly descended from Judaism. For many centuries religion consisted of specific rules that people were to follow, with great penalties if they did not do so. You have likely heard of the Ten Commandments, given, as the story goes, to the Hebrew tribes, by Moses, directly from God. They were considered to be perfect and there was no way to argue with them. Later, as Christianity developed from a communal cult structure to a religion and then a church hierarchy, scripture and papal pronouncements were added to the body of Jewish law, sometimes seen to supersede or replace, other times to supplement the Hebrew Scriptures, which were eventually incorporated into the Christian canon. All of these were also seen to be perfect and to be followed without question or argument. There was no room in these traditions for personal conscience or democracy. It was the opposite of a democracy, in fact, the power who was said to have made them, God, would not even present himself to hear any arguments. For much of the next 1500 years, when individuals or groups questioned or rejected the idea that some power could dictate how they think and what they are allowed do, they were dealt with by the authorities swiftly and often violently. As their world literally expanded and access to great thinkers grew, eventually the church authorities were not able to suppress all of the dissenters and many of them, our religious forbears, came here, to the New World seeking a place where neither religious or 1

2 political leaders or Kings and Queens would be able to dictate to them what to believe or how to worship. Now in truth The Puritans came to found a place where everyone would be required to believe their way, but that is for another day. The first Puritan immigrants settled the Mass Bay Colony in 1629 and in the next 10 years, an estimated twenty thousand settlers came here, most of them where non-separating Puritans, which meant that there was a great homogeneity of theologies among those earliest settlers. In 1648 a group of these forbearers gathered in a meetinghouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts, mostly to talk about governing all of these new churches. From this meeting emerged a document known as The Cambridge Platform, with is full name being A Platform of Church Discipline Gathered Out of the Word of God and Agreed Upon by the Elders and Messengers of the Churches Assembled in the Synod at Cambridge in New England). The document was a structure for churches founded on New Testament descriptions of early churches and defined such things as church officers, ministry, membership, and cooperation between churches. Most importantly it established the churches as having congregational polity, which is essentially a democracy of all members in the matters of the church. It s fun to note that of the 65 congregations that voted to ratify the Cambridge Platform in 1648, 21 are members of the Unitarian Universalist Association today. The newly forming American Universalists adopted congregational polity in 1790, when they met and drew up articles of faith and an organizational plan. The plan of church government adopted by the delegates was described as "nearly that of the Congregational Church," and a church was defined as consisting "of a number of believers, united by covenant, for the purpose of maintaining the public worship of God, the preaching of the gospel, ordaining officers, preserving order and peace among its members, and relieving the poor." The right or freedom of conscience was symbolized by the socalled Liberty Clause, which was attached to the required Declaration of Faith, which enunciated the beliefs of the church as a whole; but made allowance for a variety of individual interpretations, stating that neither this nor any other statement shall be imposed as a creedal test, provided that the faith thus indicated be professed. 1 Between 1800 and 1825, New England congregationalism split into liberal and conservative wings. Churches were deeply divided, generally about theological issues, one of them being whether scripture was the final word or that one s inner voice was the ultimate authority. By 1825 the split was complete 1 Holt 2

3 and American Unitarianism had been established as a denomination. Included in its founding documents was this statement on the right of conscience: The [American Unitarian] Association recognizes that its constituency is congregational in polity and that individual freedom of belief is inherent in the Unitarian tradition. Nothing in these purposes shall be construed as an authoritative test 2 In the book With Purpose and Principle, Rev. Earl Holt examines the 5th principle in the context of its seeming intertwining of the political rights into our religious principles: the political notion that a people have a right to self-government grows out of a religious conviction that human beings have the capacity to shape their own destiny, that they are not mere puppets on a divine string. Democracy.is more than a mechanism of governance. It is an expression of faith in the power of human beings to shape their own lives, a faith that is most explicit in the ideals of our religious tradition. [In the first half of the 20 th century influential Unitarian minister Rev.]A. Powell Davies seems to have coined the phrase, the democratic process in human relations as one of our key principles. Democracy in his view is the social and political expression of [a] religious principle, that all human beings are kin and humankind a family; and at this higher level, he said, the spiritual unity of the human family is declared to be unrestricted by nation, race, or creed. This Religion of Democracy, as it has been called, or The Faith Behind Freedom is obviously not intended to be the unique possession or treasured value of a single sect or denomination, ours or any other. Its application is universal, and so we commit ourselves to its implementation not only among ourselves, within our own congregations, but in society at large This first part of the Fifth Principle -- "the right of conscience" is a declaration of our belief that each person has an inherent right to think and believe whatever they choose, that no person should be subject to any authority who would dictate to them any prescribed way of thinking, believing, or acting in the world. This is something that sets us apart from many the world religions, and makes us a faith that that embraces a wide range of beliefs about ultimate reality. We do not hold to any particular sacred scripture or creed, no church hierarchy exerts any authority over us, we are each accountable solely to our inner voice, our conscience. 2 Ibid 3

4 In reality, it is also a very difficult principle to uphold in community. Sometimes in our zeal to uphold our own rights we may momentarily forget that all those around us also have that right and likely have a different belief, sometimes one that is radically different than ours. It is helpful to remember that when we affirm and promote the "right of conscience," that we are not only claiming the precious right of freedom of belief for ourselves but also acknowledging our personal obligation to fulfill the responsibilities inherent to such freedoms. We do not have freedom to act or to behave in any manner we choose and when we do, that makes for dysfunction, conflict and even chaos in whatever community we are in, be it the smallest community such as our family or a very large community such as our country. All rights come with responsibilities and freedoms come with obligations. We can clearly see this lack of responsibility in the exercise of freedoms in our country today. I think it is well summed up by this quote, from a voter on election day 2012, as published in the New York Times: I d like to get to the bottom of what s really right for this country, and that s kind of hard while they re all calling each other names. I believe that sort is why we need the second part to be included in the 5 th principle: the use of the democratic process in our congregations and in society at large. Within our congregations the democratic process is the way we work against settling into a smug certainty that our way is the only right way, because that is what our forbearers came here to escape. Absolute certainty is how we got so many religions that kill and wage ware and deeply wound those who come to them for solace. Instead of certainty we must be in constant dialogue about what we believe and challenge it, ask questions, think for ourselves, and above all listen to each other. We use the democratic process as a tool to ensure that every voice is heard. I can t claim freedom of conscience for myself if I don t also claim it for you. I m responsible for bringing my own insights and understandings to our relationship, but I m also responsible for hearing yours, even when they re different. Especially when they re different. That s how we stay in relationship, in community. Conscience and democracy work together, that is why they are together in this principle. 3 It has been written that "Democracy is the art of thinking independently, together." I think that idea, beyond the words and concepts of freedom of belief and the right to have a voice and a vote, in which we all believe, is what our 5 th principle calls us to do. To hold to the democratic principles and further it beckons to remind us to extend to ALL those rights which we hold sacred for ourselves. 3 Meeker 4

5 As our congregation, our community, our country and our world, so desperately need us to do. I leave you with the words of UU Minister Peggy Meeker: What holds us together with all this diversity and change is our understanding that what is more important than any set statement of beliefs is how we act toward each other and how we act in the world. 4 May it Be So Sources and Inspirations Earl K. Holt III. With Purpose and Principle: Essays about the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism. Skinner House Books. Kindle Edition. Rev. Peggy Meeker. The Fifth Principle as Holy Work, a sermon. 11/7/10. 4 Ibid 5