Heart of Unitarianism/Universalism

Transcription

1 Heart of Unitarianism/Universalism KEYNOTE ESSAYS ICUU Conference 2018 Kathmandu, Nepal Authors Rev. Diane Rollert, Canadian Unitarian Council Mr. Rupaia Lamar, Unitarian Union of Northeast India Rev. Rácz Norbert Zsolt, Hungarian Unitarian Church Ms. Dorothea Kaufmann, Unitarian - Religious Society of Free Faith, Germany 1

2 The Heart of Unitarian Universalism in My Nearly Canadian Heart Rev. Diane Rollert ICUU, Kathmandu, 13 February 2018 I was truly surprised and very honoured to have been asked to step in as one of the keynote speakers. I m sorry that Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt couldn t be here. I would have loved to have heard her! Where I Come From I speak as a Unitarian Universalist minister who is originally from the US. I also speak as someone who has spent the past twelve years serving the Unitarian Church of Montreal in Canada. I m a dual citizen of the US and Canada, but these days I consider myself more Québécoise than anything else. I ve had the good fortune to become a citizen of Canada in the province of Quebec a place that often calls itself a French-speaking nation within the English-speaking nation of Canada. The relationship between Quebec and Canada is complex. It isn t always easy, but it definitely provides a richly challenging context in which to be a Unitarian. I also speak as someone who sees my deepest Jewish roots as central to my Unitarian Universalist faith. I was raised by Jewish atheists who were social activists. At a critical moment in my spiritual development, my parents decided to send me to the synagogue. I fell in love with the Torah and the Temple. I fell in love with God. A few years later, my family abruptly left the Temple and revealed to me that they didn t believe in God. I was only eight years old when I began a long journey through a lonely spiritual desert. Martin Buber writes that, according to Jewish myth, we know the universe in the womb but forget it at birth. We begin as children, seeking that reconnection with the eternal mother, and we never stop looking. That s the journey that has shaped my faith. I was a young adult when I finally discovered Unitarian Universalism. Since my beloved was raised as a Christian and I as a Jew, we needed to find a place to get married that would make his religious mother happy while making my Jewish/atheist parents comfortable. The compromise was a Unitarian Universalist Church in Brooklyn, New York. A few years later, with our infant son in my arms, we joined a warm and welcoming Unitarian Universalist congregation in New Jersey. There, in that church s sanctuary, I found myself finally coming home. Tears came to my eyes as I felt myself reconnecting with God for the first time in so many years. I found my faith again among the Unitarian Universalists, and I have never let it go. The Three Paths to the Heart of My Faith 15 years later, I entered seminary. When I began my studies for the ministry, it was difficult for me to say how deeply the roots of my Jewish upbringing were planted. Drawn into a fairly Christian world through school, and through the Christian roots of Unitarianism and Universalism, I began to wonder if Christianity could be my path. Where did I fit myself along the Unitarian Universalist spectrum of faith? Was I meant to be a rabbi, or should I jump ship all together? These were the three paths from which to choose: Judaism on one side, Christianity on the other, and the middle way, the one that intertwines the other two into one spiraling path. In the end, I chose the path of unanswerable questions. 2

3 During my last semester in seminary, my mother became gravely ill and I took a leave of absence to be at her side. I stayed with her for five weeks. My mother s illness and death solidified many things for me. In her final hours, I read to her a modern version of the Jewish mourner s Kaddish, a mourner s prayer: I have tried to love You with all my heart and with all my soul, And even though You come to take my soul, Even though I don t know why You come, Even though I am angry at the way You take me, For Your sake I will still proclaim: Shema Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai Echad. These last words in Hebrew were the words of blessing I had learned as a child: Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. They were as much a part of me as they had been when I said them with all my heart and soul at the age of eight. I had struggled for years against the word God. As Buber writes, Certainly [God] is the most burdened of all human words precisely for that reason it is the most imperishable and unavoidable. As my mother let go, I realized that my theology was the oneness that connected us. You can call it God, you can call it the Spirit of Life, you can call it Thou. Words could never fully explain the connection I felt in that moment to the mystery that is love, that is life, and is that death. After my mother died, I returned to seminary knowing that I couldn t let go of my deep connection to Judaism. As a child I was taught to distrust all things Christian. We had lost a whole branch of our family in the Holocaust. All of this was complicated by the fact that my father s mother was a Ukrainian Catholic who had married a Jewish man. I learned through my studies that I could love and admire the Jesus who preached the Torah and spoke of loving your neighbour, but I could never comfortably accept the Jesus who called himself the light and the only way. At the same time, traditional Judaism often left me feeling like an outsider to my own childhood faith. After my mother died, I went back to school where I had to complete my rotation as a hospital chaplain in a cancer hospital in Boston. In those days, when the loss of my mother was still so fresh, patients would often ask me to say the Lord s Prayer. Strangely, the soothing power of those words connected me to the sick and dying people I served. The words, which I had never known or said before, became lovely to me. As I prayed, I took the words apart. Spirit of Life. Eternal Source of all. Mother and Father. Nameless one who told Moses, I am who I am. Help us to realize justice on earth. Sustain us. Forgive us for hurting others. Forgive those who hurt us. Help us to do what is right. Help us to keep going, even in the face of all that is painful and unspeakable. To this day, the Shema and the Lord s Prayer are two harmonies that I am still weaving together into one song. I chose the way that enables me to intertwine my childhood faith into other experiences to form a faith I am always growing into. This is where the heart of my was when I was called to serve as minister of the Unitarian Church of Montreal in Quebec. Once I arrived, I had to navigate an entirely new culture. My Current Cultural Context Far away from here, in cold, cold Canada, in the province of Quebec, where I live, the people were once ruled by the Catholic Church for hundreds of years. At the same time that Spain was colonizing much of South America and the Philippines, France was colonizing the Eastern parts of North America. The French sent their priests and friars to Quebec. They said they were there to civilize the people. For hundreds of years, the Catholic Church had complete control over Quebec society. It ran the schools, the hospitals, the social service institutions and, by influence, it ran the government. 3

4 The majority of non-indigenous French-speaking settlers in Quebec were raised as Catholics. They knew no other religion. But all of that changed in the 1970s, when we had what we call the Quiet Revolution. The French-speaking majority took over the government. They took over all of the institutions that had been run by the English and the Church. Basically, they threw the Catholic Church out of power. They did it quietly, without violence, through a democratic vote. Overnight, hundreds of thousands of people angrily abandoned the Church. Today, when you talk to older francophone women who grew up during the days when the Catholic Church controlled Quebec, they tell bitter stories. They remember how the village priests had forced them to have many children often as many as 20. People remember the cruelty of the priests in the small villages, how they took their money and their lands, how they abused and shamed women. It s hard for many Quebecers to imagine that religion can be good. They remember too much of the bad. At the same time, the English-speaking population lived in its own solitude. The Unitarian Church of Montreal was founded as a Christian Unitarian congregation in the 1840s and its identity was decidedly anglophone. When I arrived in 2006, the congregation was facing a time of shifting identity. They had survived the 1970s and 80s when many of its members moved west to Ontario and beyond in response to a French separatist movement that had passed strong language laws to protect the French language. The members of the church who chose to stay were divided between traditionalists who still felt a connection to the church s Christian roots and Humanists who had decided to throw out all references to the old traditions. At the same time, younger members were arriving, searching for deeper spirituality. Some came from other religious traditions, while others had never been exposed to any religion at all. They simply knew they were thirsty for faith. Wounded Words and the Great Divide I arrived hungry for the opportunity to share my faith journey with others who did not necessarily see or experience the world the same way I did. Why else were we here, but to show the world how people with very different perspectives could create loving community? So it was a bit of a shock to encounter resistance. I stepped into a place where there were many taboos, especially when it came to language. It seemed that almost every word I cherished was a wounded word. Faith, God, spirituality, worship, holy, sacred : all these words seemed to be triggers that many did not want to address. One day, a newcomer arrived asking if this was where the mass was held. The anxiety in the entry hall was palpable. Someone came and nearly grabbed me by the arm, There s a man here who is looking for the mass. What do we do? Why is everyone so upset? I asked myself. Maybe the poor guy doesn t know another word for Sunday service or worship service. It seemed like a very sad way to welcome someone into your home, by saying, Sorry, you don t know our sanitized vocabulary, so you aren t welcome here. I worried about all the people who had come seeking a spiritual home, a sanctuary of tolerance and acceptance, and found themselves shut out in their hour of need. So I introduced the borrowed concept of wounded words. Wounded words are the words of religion that may have been used to wound us or they can be words we love whose definitions have been co-opted by others. I asked the congregation to name the wounded words in their lives. Faith was number one on the list, followed by God. We spent much of the next year exploring all those words during our Sunday worship services. 4

5 It s taken years, but we ve gotten much better at asking each other what we mean when we use religious words. Yet, I m still surprised and frankly saddened, when I hear people in my community proudly announce, We don t believe in God here! I know that some people are simply sharing the joy of being freed from the painful and oppressive religious experiences in their pasts. I know we provide an important oasis for people who crave religious community without God. But my faith, calls me to open doors rather than shut them. I m aware of the woundedness around me that works in all directions. A few years ago, one of our members gave me a book entitled Regaining Balance, by Michael Werner a Humanist who angrily left the UU fold. Werner scathingly critiques Unitarian Universalism for having lost its Humanist identity. He blames women, baby boomers, second career ministers, the UUA, our seminaries, religious language and Process Theology for having lost touch with reason and science and for creating a movement that has turned tolerance and religious pluralism into idols. In other words, we have actively welcomed people into our midst who espouse a variety of religious beliefs. As a result, Werner says, anything goes: All beliefs have become equal; now it s all about love and feeling good. We ve lost our brand, he says. I can hold up my hand and say, Guilty as charged! I m a woman, a baby boomer, a second (maybe third) career minister, a lover of language of reverence, and sometimes a dabbler in Process Theology. But I also believe in science, and I value reason. When I was called to the Unitarian Church of Montreal, there was a lot of anxiety. Were we going to become a congregation that only welcomed rational humanists, or would we be overtaken by an emotional and spiritual agenda that was overly religious? What do you do with a minister who says Amen at the end of her meditations? It takes intention and a lot of work to create beloved community, and I just keep asking over and over: if we can t be in dialogue with each other, then what hope do we have for the world? Some of us choose to live more through the heart while others of us choose to live more through the head. But what we need to do is move beyond the thinking, the talking and the emoting to doing something together. We need to get our hands dirty creating something that has integrity and dignity that can bring us to a place of real, shared meaning. Finding that shared meaning is not easy, especially in a community like mine that exists within a complicated social context. My Faith as My Lens As time has gone by, our congregation has become increasingly multicultural and bilingual. Remember what I said earlier about Quebec s rejection of the Catholic church? That history has played a significant role in shaping the work I do in my congregation, as well as the interfaith work I do in the city of Montreal. In my very first year in Montreal, Quebec was deeply questioning its relationship to new immigrants and reasonable accommodation. In other words, how much legal accommodation should you give to people who come from different cultures and religions? Let s face it, most of the talk was really focused on Islamophobia, with Jews and Sikhs thrown into the mix. Veiled Muslim women became the central target. This reached a fever pitch in 2014, when the then standing government tried to pass regulations against the wearing of ostentatious religious symbols. This meant that anyone wearing a hijab, a niqab, a Jewish kippa, a Sikh turban, or a large cross could not work in the government or be served by the government. Of course, the government is our largest employer, which meant that doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, as well as people who worked in government offices would have been affected. 5

6 Despite the arguments that were being made that this new law would actually liberate Muslim women, I saw it as something that was taking away the rights of one group of women to express themselves as they chose. I understood that for many women in Quebec who grew up remembering the veiled nuns of their childhood, and the abuses of the priests, it simply wasn t possible for them to imagine a woman freely choosing to live according to a faith that seemed so foreign. I reached out to the surrounding interfaith community of Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Christians and others. I formed a diverse group of female clergy to speak up for the rights of Muslim women. I testified against the proposed law at the Quebec National Assembly. To me, this was a matter of religious conscience and the right to religious expression. Some people in my congregation were shocked. It took a lot of conversation that is still not complete. But we ve come a long way since then, and I was so proud of our community for creating and hanging a huge banner outside the church with many religious symbols and the words Vivre ensemble. Live in Harmony. Thankfully, the law failed, though it has been recently resurrected in a new form, and we have more work to do. I believe that it is possible for us to have very different understandings of faith. I believe that these differences do not have to divide us, but can enrich us, whether within our own movements as Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists, or within the wider societies we live in. But it takes a tremendous amount of work to let go of our intolerances, so that we can truly hear each other. Opening my mind, my heart and my hands to the world around me is at the core of my Unitarian Universalist faith. Amen! 6

7 INHERENTLY UNITARIAN WE ARE: To Nang Roi Rupaia Lamar Unitarian Church Jowai, North-East India How the Unitarian Church in North Eastern India began is a fascinating story; it s a story affirming that the core values of Unitarian Universalism (UU) is implanted in every liberal person whether living in a traditional or modern society. What we need is the support we give to one another. Our Unitarian Church was founded in the year 1887 by Hajom Kissor Singh in Jowai whose territory was annexed in 1835 by the British. To better understand the cultural and religious ethos of the Khasi-Pnar (The indigenous tribes living in the region of what we today know as Meghalaya) it is essential to take a look into history. The Khasi-Pnar had no written script and the language was reduced to writing by the Welsh missionaries through the use of the Roman Script only in But their legends, narratives (literature), folklore and mythologies had been preserved through oral traditions and other structures of their culture. The culture, philosophy, theology and wisdom (sayings and proverbs) of our elders are embedded in these stories which have and continue to be told night after night whilst sitting around the hearth. During the period of British occupation, the British believed that the land was inhabited by the barbarous people worshipping stocks and stones, who are still in their matriarchal age! 1 The Christians missionaries started to call them as pagan who have no religion no culture who know not of God. Their reverence for sacred rivers, lakes and sacred groves (forests), their festivals and dances were all treated with derision and disdain. The public hanging of U Kiang Nangbah 2 their freedom fighter in 1862 was meant to teach them a lesson the one they will never forget and they should be taught in their own language- the language of blood 3 That gruesome incident was followed by a long and oppressive rule which divided the community into chnong and skur the traditional and the new (Christian mission led) settlement. For long people from the two divides looked at each other as us and them. The young ones were conditioned to look at each other with antagonism. To the chnong the skur is a turn coat while to the skur the other is a pagan (Sadly this antagonism still exists to a small measure even today which affects the way of how we see the community and each other). 1 Rupaia Lamarr, Kiang Nangbah His Blood Moans, Souvenir of Meghalaya Government College Teachers Association Conference, Tura, Meghalaya. 2 U Kiang Nangbah was a freedom fighter of the Jaintia people. The British Colonial era had led to the levying of taxes and degrading the culture and traditions of the local people. This led to two major resistance movements the second of which was spearheaded by U Kiang Nangbah. He was a commoner who rose to the occasion to fight for the freedom of his people from the atrocities of the British Colonial Rule. He was one of the most revolutionary figures of that time whose thoughts and ideals still inspire and lead us today. 3 Rupaia Lamarr, U Woh Kiang Nangbah: His Prophesy, Political Ideas and Strategy, Sesquicentennial Souvenir of U Woh Kian Nangbah ( ), Sein-Raij, Jowai,

8 H. K. Singh our founder who was born on 15 th June 1865 at Cherrapunjee, studied in the Welsh Calvinist Missionary School and was converted to their faith at an early age of fifteen. However, his enquiring spirit and wide reading made him to question certain aspects of the Calvinist faith. He felt and declared that the message of election, damnation and salvation was incompatible with the teachings of Jesus as he read it for himself in the Gospels. He further felt that the message, based as it was on fear, was not the one that would redeem his people. He said that When they (the British) did away with the Khasi s fear of demons they substituted the fear of hell 4. Mr. Singh while appreciating the missionaries of the Welsh Calvinist Methodist for their good work however expressed his regret that they have brought a religion which in some of its features is so God-Dishonoring 5. While still in his quest he came across a Brahmo friend who directed him to get in touch with Rev Charles Dall, an American Unitarian missionary in Calcutta. Rev. Dall in turn replied by sending Mr. Singh some Unitarian literature including a volume of Channing s writing. When he went through the Unitarian writings, he was overjoyed and even surprised that there were likeminded people in other parts of the world who called themselves Unitarian. He adopted the title Ka Niam Unitarian (The Unitarian Religion) and wrote in his diary In the Khasi Hills at present there is not anyone I think I know who knows of this religion of the living God. In this manner he set about founding the Unitarian Faith in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills and called it Niam Mane Wei Blei (The Religion worshipping One God). Today, 18 th September the Unitarian foundation day is now a public holiday in the Districts surrounding Jowai and Shillong and is celebrated as the day when the Gospel- a faith of Joy and light that we are children of the one true God who is both our Father-Mother-U Ba Long U Kpa Ka Kmie Ba Shisha. That this new religion is the religion of love which is to love man and love God and that all human beings are brothers and sisters. It was a combination of theological and cultural factors which led to the growth of the Unitarian movement in North-east India despite the oppressive nature of the colonial regime. Original sin, damnation, fear of hell and emphasis on God-hood of Jesus instead of his teaching on love did not give comfort to thinking Khasi Christians like Heh Pohlong and David Edward Lapasam who joined H.K. Singh and founded succeeding Churches in Nongtalang and Mukhap. Superstitions, evil spirits and the Missionary Christians contempt and insults towards the indigenous mores, customs and culture brought in many Khasi people to join the Unitarian movement. A Khasi Unitarian hymn by Job Solomon 6 announcing the coming of liberal faith in the hills gave a call to come and worship for: This one is our God God also of our forefathers God of the Pnar and Khasi Lord of all the lords. 4 Mary Lawrance, Khublei, Privately Printed for the Friends of Margaret Barr, California USA, p 23, Hajom Kissor Singh in a letter which appeared in The Unitarian, p 527, December, Hymn No 7 (Ha Ri Lum Jong Ngi La Nangroi) of the Khasi-Jaintia Hymn Book-Ka Jingshai Blei. 8

9 These incidents is perhaps one of the reasons that the later generations of Unitarians are less Biblical. Thus the Unitarian movement set out to liberate two sets of people. The Christians from the fear of damnation and hell and the non-christian (the indigenous religion Niam-tre/Niam Tynrai ) from the traditional superstition and spiritually empower them to counter insults with authority. While education was most needed, the missionaries set up schools to receive instruction in the four R s, the fourth being the zealously taught Christian religion 7 It is in the liberal spirit of Unitarianism that the Jowai Church opened a Unitarian Free School in August 1893 under a woman teacher 8 which did not include religious instruction. H.K. Singh is known to be one of those who encouraged and was instrumental in the formation of Seng Khasi (1899) which today is a strong Religious and Cultural organization of the Khasis. There was a good interaction of ideas between the Unitarians and the Niam-tre and every member would co-operate and help each other. Miss Barr wrote that these men, father and son, (Jeebon Roy, Chandra Nath Roy and Sib Charan Roy) who were the intellectual giants of the Khasis were H.K.Singh closest friends. Is it remarkable that inter religion fellowship should be one of the keynotes of the Khasi Unitarian movement, however dimly it may be recognized by the majority of the present generation belonging to it? 9 The Khasi philosophy of Nature, environment, sacred groves, and reverence for river, spirit and deities has greatly enriched us in viewing the present issues of concerns. It is the grounding on the Khasi ethos which form the basis for To Nangroi (keep on progressing / ever better) which can be seen as a contribution to Unitarian theology. Although salvation has been a much talked about concept these days as salvation by deed or salvation by character, it is significant to note that H.K. Singh did not include it in the statement of beliefs as adopted in Sept He actually included The Khasi concept of God which is that God can never separate from his children for He is always loving, compassionate, generous. Any time and any place is overflowing with his care. 10 In Hymn 1 stanza 4 God has created us so that we may never die but rather live forever progressing. Turn then to God, he calls you now; he saves, forgives and comforts. 11 In one of my interaction with our brothers from Transylvania in Laban Church (Shillong, North-East India), a question was asked to them on how they have salvation when there is no original sin? Salvation is a big promise and in fact many a times I face snide remarks as a faith without salvation. I suppose for a guilt-ridden soul salvation surely must have a positive effect, a feeling of being cleansed-after a bath! Spiritually one needs to be refreshed and it is salvation which is the source of enthusiasm among the Christians. 7 Mary Lawrance, Khublei, Privately Printed for the Friends of Margaret Barr, California USA, p 23, G. J Sparham, Khasi Calls, Lindsey press, London, p 5, Mary Lawrance, Khublei, Privately Printed for the Friends of Margaret Barr, California USA, p 75, Jeebon Roy, Shaphang U Wei U Blei (About One God), A translation by Bijoya Sawian, Ri Khasi Enterprise, Shillong p 33, Hymn No 1 (To Duwai Ba Kynshai) of the Khasi-Jaintia Hymn Book-Ka Jingshai Blei. 9

10 For us, To Nangroi our motto which instills in us to be constantly aware and to strive to be ever more better ever is what forms the pith and substance of our progressive religion. It means to be eternally vigilant, to guard freedom as progress can thrive only in freedom. To Nangroi implies change and it is most suited for a non-credo faith like ours. Creed means a set of beliefs; and when we normally say I believe it means something I am not sure of implying I do not know. In other words when I do not know about the state of things but feel shy to admit I would say I believe it is like ; otherwise there is only either of the two things I know or I do not know. Once I accept I do not know it opens up a whole possibility. It s only when one says I do not know that one starts seeking and asking questions. Hence a non-credo church is a church of seekers who would be working to be better ever more that is to be- nang roi. In a society with a history of schism between turn coats v. the pagan, my Unitarian values help me to have a fair view of two worlds. While the Christians have been taught to condemn the belief that disease was caused by the spiritual guardians of Sacred groves as superstition; I see instead the wisdom of the community to deter from wrong doing by creation of moral lies for achieving common good. Khasi society is based on two principles- know man know God (tip briew tip Blei) and earn righteousness (kamai ia ka hok). Jesus teaching of the love of God when placed in the Khasi culture gives us the Religion of love to man love to God. Ieit I u briew, Ieit I u Blei. This is the heart of Khasi Unitarianism for it calls upon us to love what we see here in the world. It is a religion stressing the importance of here and now. In today s world we are bombarded with many evidence and signs of the apocalypse making many to talk of things prophesized and resigning to their fate. As a Unitarian who stands on the principle of To Nangroi, we are in a position to see the world with hope that good times are still to come (Por babha tam kin sa wan - Response No 30, Readings from Ka Jingshai Blei ). Environmental degradation, mining, exploitation and destruction of forest and water system, women, health old age and orphanage are some of the issues which our church and quite a few Unitarians are in the forefront of in our state. The church has undertaken health camps, White Ribbon Campaign, awareness programs on drug abuse, AIDS, etc. Being a Unitarian has made me work with joy with the JTES (Jaintia Tourism and Environment Society) to be able to highlight the importance of conserving the environment and developing a non-polluting industry of Tourism. I am proud to mention Rev H. H. Mohrmen a minister from my church who through his column has brought various issues of concern especially with regards to mining and forest. We also have an active women s wing who go to the field highlighting several social issues many of which concern women and children. Dr. Rica of Laban church a qualified physician works with the problem of drug abuse, AIDS and with women issues such as sex-workers, gender justice, besides involving with a charitable clinic run by Laban Church. In less than three years we lost two members of our Union Mr. D. Pale and Ms. Sambha Lamarr who lived with the faith even as they were just ordinary members. Mr. D. Pale was a successful business man dealing with construction work. When the coal mining started to grow he put in some investment which would have given him financial profit. He however withdrew 1

11 himself from the business because of the environmental damage honoring our Unitarian pledge to save the environment at the cost of his personal loss. I am sure he died a fulfilled Unitarian. Sambha Lamarr was the person responsible for running the CALM (Creative Arts Literature and Music) festival in Shillong. A high quality literary festival which combines with dialogues and issues like old age home, cancer, LGBT, Mental Health which no forum has ever taken up in our State. It is life s irony that she herself became a victim after supporting survivors. It is a big loss for Shillong Society as after she passed away in March 2016 there has been no CALM festival. I mention these two because I hope they would be a source of inspiration for many of us who are living with the faith to bring a message that I am not alone. Summing up I can say that the UU principles are at the core of every thinking being as we are the imprint of God. Each and every one of us is a divine speck and has the potential to evolve to be ever more better ever to be ban nang iai roi. Gods hand has been continuously guiding us; indeed since the time when H. K. Singh was seeking for the light which he received through Dall and Sunderland from Ann Arbor. Let us act as worthy Children of God helping and inspiring each other in order to fulfill the mission of ICUU to sustain and grow in global faith. To Nangroi 11

12 Keynote Speech at the ICUU Conference in Kathmandu, Nepal February 2018 Rev. Rácz Norbert Zsolt It is a great honor for me to stand here, before you and deliver this keynote speech at the ICUU Conference, organized as far as I know not without worry. My sense of honor is fueled also by the fact that the date and the place do have symbolical implications. We celebrate the 450 th year of the Declaration of Religious Tolerance, presented at the Diet of Torda in Transylvania, which marks the birth of the Hungarian Unitarian Church, but it also presents one of the core values of our faith worldwide. This special year gives every event a sense of festiveness, which primarily means a reflective approach to our self-definition. Secondly the place is also symbolical, for here we are, standing literally close to the top of the world. This place might make us feel compelled to gaze at a spiritual level as well to the history of our faith and communities. The dually special coordinates presented earlier might render this meeting a very important role in the life of our communities, so I am compelled to dig as deep as possible in the tradition that we call Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism, in order to find the core tenets of our common faith. The festive and highly symbolic time and place of this conference compels me to give up as much as possible the diplomatic façade that usually surrounds such events and focus my attention to bring forward crucial questions about who we actually are. I do not wish to hide that my intention is to provoke this community, and through it the communities of Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists in the world, to pose questions related to who we are. It is my strong belief that our faith is part of one of the great traditions of thought that humanity has so far presented, thus it does have a calling to develop and nurture what has been given to us, yet somehow, we lose ourselves in time and theology, thus needing to stop and ponder. One might logically deduct that the open, accepting attitude of Us and UUs, the fact that we do not wish to hide our ears from what science tells us should make our communities grow and thrive. Yet this is by far not the case. In my experience a vast majority of people will tell ideas that are very close to unitarian tenets of faith, yet we can see, that traditional communities dwindle. How can this be? Why is the voice of Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism basically unheard, while fundamentalism is rising in almost every part of the world? Although I do not have the clear answer to these questions, I think that through real and honest self-scrutiny we might get closer to present some important remarks on the issues. As said earlier, my scope with this speech is to return on this symbolic moment to the deepest, most relevant questions of us humans, and outline the basic Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist answers, in order to show the common ground that stands at the root of our global faith. So, when one wishes to understand something, then one might take other similar things, and compare them, in order to see the differences and the 12

13 similitudes of the objects at hand. A car, for example is similar to a boat, because they both serve transportation, yet they are quite different for obvious reasons. The same applies to religions as well. Unitarianism is similar to Roman Catholicism, yet they are different because a Unitarian will not believe that bread and wine are transformed during holy mass to become body and blood of Christ. When we search for similarities, we usually keep in mind the scope of finding common ground, to group objects, people and communities on the basis of what is common to them. On the other hand, when we look to the differences of some objects, the focus of our enquiry is on what is specific for one object, that makes it apart from others. The purpose of this speech is to find the things that makes Unitarians special in the map of world religions. So, I will be focusing on the difference rather than the similitudes, because at this moment this seems to be more important and appropriate. This focus is by no means self-centered or collateral. In my opinion the answers that we give to these questions will help us understand what is the message that we want to tell the people of the world. What are the specific answers that Unitarians and Unitarian Universalists say is the guiding force of their existence. If a church is unable to give clean, straightforward answers to some very important core questions, then that church is doomed to be forgotten. Who wants to be a member of a community that has no answers, no basic moving force, no scope? Probably nobody! Sure, having the sense of security, of a safe place, or being part of a tradition might keep some people in a church, but on the long run most of us will try to search for a community that gives more then haven or history. But before we actually embark in the task ahead, one more thing needs to be said. No matter how we look at it, each and every one of us here present are religious people. So as religious people there must be a ground, a foundation, or in the words of Paul Tillich, a point of ultimate concern, on which we can build our further line of thought. The theologian named before marked this foundational situation in the words of the Scripture: The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these. From this standpoint we must deduce the foundational theological outline of our further line of thought. Love in this sense is not just a sentiment, a feeling, but rather a way of relating fueled by feeling. Love is the creational forcefield in which every relation finds its ultimate explanation and purpose. There are clear bonds of love that tie us closer to God and to our sisters and brothers. Furthermore we, as religious people understand to have a very special sensory system, dubbed by the famous 20 th century theologian Alvin Plantinga as sensus divinitatis or 13

14 the ability to sense God. This is the way a religious person understands her faith, without necessarily having scientific proof for the existence of the reality in question. For a religious person faith is not merely accepting the existence of a divine power. Faith is the relation system that has been presented by the biblical text named earlier. It seemed important to remark these two things before we embark in scrutinizing who we as persons and communities are. One should keep in mind at every corner and point of this speech this epistemological and metaphysical context in which the divine is apprehended. In the following sections I will try to reflect shortly on three questions that seem important: Who am I? referring to the universal and personal essay of self-definition of the person; Who are we? Which tries to answer the communicational question, and also speak of what we call community, from the family to the global perspective, and finally Who/What is God? Touching on the transcendental aspect of our belief. Or in other, more formal words, my scope is to outline the definitive epistemological system of Unitarians and Unitarian Universalist, in order to find the answer to some of the most fundamental existential questions that are universal for every human being. So, let us embark on this little trip, and try to face some fundamental issues! Who am I? There is no more fundamental question for a human being then this one. No matter from where you start your path in wisdom, you will definitely arrive here, and you will see, that without having a clear answer to this question, the rest of the spiritual system will crumble as a house of cards. Obviously, it is in vain to hope to find a universally acceptable answer for all, but this does not mean that one should not strive to find the answer best suited to that person, and strive toward universality, not in the sense that the answer might be good for everybody, but in the sense, that it gives a solid fundament for further development. Basically, the answer to the question comes down to two very different and competing approaches. Some believe that humans are inherently broken, unable of doing anything, and the life of each individual is guided by a prewritten destiny. Humans thus are mere marionets in the texture of existence, without the possibility of breaking free from their bonds. This view of humanity sometimes will add, that we are all under the influence of sin, uncapable of doing good. They will usually tell some myth about the fall of man, the work of one or more transcendental maleficent power which tries to guide us toward even more sin. Obviously only God through Her infinite grace is able to free us from this. Yet we as individuals are powerless. The other perspective on man will say that humans do have some amount of dignity and freedom, able to do good as well as evil, and our path is written by the decisions that we make during our time on this planet. This view presents human life not as the 14

15 mere tool in the war between transcendental good and evil, but as the autonomous existence that strives to fulfill itself. Unitarian theology from its very early forms has stood on the second belief, attributing human life free will and dignity. In our view a human being receives from God (whoever this God is) all the capabilities of a full life, and our scope is not the involvement or disinvolvement from the metaphysical war between good and evil, but the fulfilment of the possibilities inherent in the life of the individual. In this view we are something like an acorn, which has the possibility to become an oak. Yet we are different, for the acorn has no way of denying its growth, while humans do have this possibility. The purpose of the life of one person is to consciously grow in order to fully develop the possibilities of the individual. A paramount example of this growth is the parable of the talents, thought by Jesus, in which the only servant that is scolded is the one who digs his talent into the ground. To summarize this first part, in our belief humans are born bringing some possibilities to develop their life. We also are born in this world with some gifts given us by God, like our mental capacities, the capability of speech and our feelings, which help us in making sense of our lives. Moreover, God loves us so much, that He / She will not take away our freedom even in when we do wrong. If God would do that, then He / She would show distrust for us, yet this is not the case. The purpose of our existence is thus developing the possibilities that we inherently own, in order to fulfil that. This is exactly what becoming wise means. Wisdom is not something that you are born with, yet the possibility to become one is present inherently. Wisdom is not something that has a clear purpose. You can t eat, or drink it, and we have seen this several times in the history of the world many times the wisest of our race are left behind in poverty and distrust. Yet without it human existence can never reach its full potential. Wisdom is the thing that changes you, by incorporating all what you learn in an everchanging process, which is called a human being. The purpose of our worldly existence thus is to become wise, that is fulfilled and enriched. This view of humanity has a very long history, dating back to biblical times, and finding ever new forms of expression in world history. The teachings of Jesus as presented in the Gospels, medieval renaissance humanism, the philosophies of the enlightenment and the tenets of modernist theology all point in this direction. Yet this fulfilment of the individual cannot happen without community. The great myth of creation in the Bible presents us with a fascinating description of who we are. Unfortunately, many people see in this story the fall of humanity, rather than its birth. After eating from the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve, for the first time in their life realize their own existence. They look unto themselves and realize that they are naked. Before that it did not struck them, it was natural, obvious and neutral, but after seeing themselves, and realizing that they are individuals, they looked at each other, and felt shame for being naked. Obviously, this is a metaphor, a parable that 15

16 should not be misinterpreted as to say that it is against human nature to be naked. The point of the story is, that you need another person to see yourself. We do not exist only in the mirror of others, but in the ever-going communication that goes on between at least two people. This is why after sketching the ideas on the individual I will continue to say a few words about the community, outlining some of the things we believe on this topic. Who are we? The natural state of the primate called homo sapiens is being part of a group. Selfdefinition always happens by evaluating who we are in a community, and we basically do this from the moment of our birth. Yet in this speech I do not wish to present all the possible forms of living together, but focus on what is of interest for us: our Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist community. The primordial question that raises itself is whether there is or not a real global community of Us and UUs. In order to answer this, we need to look on what makes a community tick. Then we need to present the members of this larger family and after that summarize the findings. So, what makes a community work? It is the bondage that is present between the individuals that keeps a community strong. A family is a real community if the members feel accepted, nurtured, taken care of, and also left alone. The tying between them is not only blood, but also the equalized values of that family. A family becomes toxic when the members are not listened to, feel marginalized or are not taken care of. Then family becomes a burden. It is the same with churches and congregations. Why do you go there? Because the people there present share your core values. Because you know most of those people and feel some kind of affection towards them, and you are also aware that if in need, some will rush to your aid. In this case it is not blood, but belief that holds the group together. Certainly, a community can work, even work well without its members sharing the same crucial tenets of faith, yet it takes a single theoretical or moral question in order to shatter even the strongest bonds. My concern in our global Unitarian community is, that the lack of theological debate and search for common ground will lead us into heated debates about some specific problems. My opinion is that plurality is something that stands at the basis of Unitarianism and Unitarian Universalism. Any attempt to uniformize these groups would attack the very core of who we are, but plurality does not mean total difference. There must be a point on which we agree, or put in the eternal words of the 17 th century Lutheran theologian: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnes caritas (in the necessary matters unity, in secondary ones freedom, and love in all). The main purpose of every Unitarian congregation worldwide is worship. You can have the best concerts, Sunday schools, social programs, if your worship is superficial, boring, or it lacks to present the core message, you are a member of a club. A good and 16

17 helping club, by no means, but still a club. What makes a congregation and a church different from a club is, that the members of said church worship God on the specific date, in order to harmonize their personal existence through the community with who or what is considered to fulfill and give meaning to human life. So, what are the theoretical specifics of a Unitarian and UU worship? My opinion is that our worship needs to be uplifting, inspiring and ennobling. It should help the ones present to uplift their existence to the ineffable, it should inspire to do good, and should call out to make us better persons. After a service one should feel purified, sent out to spread a message through action and should be more noble then before it. These three points are what make U and UU worship special and unique. Others might focus on teaching, on harmony or on divination, but the three tenets presented earlier are the one that must be ours. Who is God? The last point of inquiry will focus on our definition of the transcendent. Whether you pronounce this word with a capital or small t the word focuses on the ultimate of human existence. Our modernist theological approach focused in earlier times on defining God. The total failure in doing so has brought some to give up this search or God whatsoever. Yet God is, by definition, indefinable. One can only talk in metaphors about She or He. Regardless if you call God the Parent or Lord or King or Creator etc. you are using metaphors, images that try to grasp the ineffable. Thus, I will give another metaphor in order to clarify my point on this topic. God is like the mother for the child. No child will ever try to define the mother, to understand her biological functions, to present the scope of her motherhood, and if asked what she means to the child, then the response will be aggravatingly simple and shallow. A child will say that the mother takes care of him, feeds him, or scolds him. But these actions of the mother obviously do not represent who the mother is, and also say almost nothing about the immensely deep relationship between the two of them. The same is true about God! The only thing where we can find God is in the action that God does, and in the relationship between the deity and the worshiper. Thus, Unitarianism and Unitarian Unitarianism should stop trying to define, to prove or deny the existence of God, or in a pure theistic manner to present some characteristics of the Creator. What Us and UUs should do is worship more, pray more and to find God s presence in the world more. We are slowly arriving to the end of this speech, and it is high time we try to summarize all that has been said. What makes us Unitarians and UUs special, different from other religions and churches of the world? The answer is seminally found in our way of seeing humans as ever-changing creations of God, who strive in their best moments to find wisdom. This wisdom is the scope of our existence, which will anchor our life in the eternal existence of God. These individuals are naturally hardwired to rely and live 17