First Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans
Sunday, February 6, 2011
You know there’s a problem with the term “liberal” when you Google the phrase “liberal is a bad word” and you get about 4 million hits. I’m serious, 4 million. There’s even a book for conservative parents to explain to their children why being liberal is horrible – significantly, it’s entitled, “Mom! Help! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!” How bad is that?? (No matter how awful conservatives think liberals are, there’s no equivalent book for parents on the left.)
But it’s not just conservatives – many liberals are themselves running away from the word, preferring to say they are “progresssive” or some other moniker. It’s hard for me to know whether this is done because the liberals themselves dislike the word, or because they feel it’s been redefined by conservatives. I’m preaching on this topic today to reclaim our proud heritage as religious liberals, and to make it easier for us to use the ‘L’ word when referring to our faith tradition.
In our words used for Chalice Lighting, we heard a few of the standard definitions of “liberal,” and we learned of its many positive connotations. Look in any dictionary, whether print or online, and you will find that liberal is a great thing to be. To be liberal is to be generous, tolerant, free from prejudice and bigotry, broad-minded, open to change and new ideas and reform of the status quo. To be liberal is to be in favor of progress, to be unorthodox, non-dogmatic, and non-literal in one’s thinking. To be liberal is to promote greater individual freedom and participation in one’s own affairs. Who wouldn’t want to be liberal?
Our faith tradition has been identified with liberal theology since at least the 19th century. The Protestant clergymen (and they were all men and all Protestant then) who accepted the new rationalist ideas of Biblical criticism that originated in Germany in the mid-1800s were of different Christian denominations, but Unitarians and Universalists were in the majority.
It is important to note that our religious ancestors did not reject the Bible, only a literal reading of it. They professed to find in their reading of scripture no evidence of a Trinity, or eternal punishment or hell, or vicarious atonement (the idea that Jesus died for our sins). Indeed, the liberals found the concept of blood atonement – the notion that God needed the blood in order to be appeased and reconciled to humanity – barbaric and repulsive.
This rejection of orthodox Christian dogma led to accusations of heresy and dangerous heterodoxy – charges that were serious in the 19th century and could lead to loss of pulpits and livelihoods and removal of fellowship as ordained clergy. So religious leaders with the new ideas dubbed themselves “liberal Christians” in order to proclaim that while they had some new ideas, they were still within the Christian fold. It was at this time that the more conservative Christians began to view “liberal” as a negative term.
There’s an advantage to being a religious conservative that is summed up in the familiar bumper sticker “God said it, I believe it, that settles it.” A conservative accepts the creed or dogma handed down, and then needs no further exploration or examination. This does not mean that conservatives do not think about their religious position; there are many thoughtful religious conservatives – this morning’s reading before the sermon comes from one. It is not my intention to demonize conservatives – it is a legitimate philosophic position, and there are many things that I too believe ought to be saved or conserved. I don’t think it solves our problem to try to make conservative into a negative term, the way some conservatives have done with the word liberal.
A religious liberal has a harder time of things. I can explain to you what positions were held by religious liberals in the mid-1800s, but I cannot ask you to believe them, unless you are moved to do so by your heart, mind and experience. Religious liberals are always in the dynamic position of re-examination – of the past, of their own beliefs, of new information and new experiences. As has been said, we Unitarian Universalists are more of a religious movement than a static religion.
This idea that liberals can’t be pinned down to a permanent theological position leads to a critique by conservatives that we have no core beliefs. But we do. Go back to the definition of liberal – we believe in the importance of the open mind, that new information and new experiences must call into question old verities, old so-called truths. We believe that revelation is not sealed – that God or the Universe is not finished speaking to humanity, that we are not done with learning and expanding our minds and horizons. And we believe that religious truth, like scientific truth, must evolve and grow as new things are learned and new data is gathered. That is one of the reasons why education, both secular and spiritual, for all ages, is so important to us religious liberals.
The movement that characterizes liberal religion has led Unitarian Universalism from liberal Christianity in the mid-19th century to acceptance of the truths found in non-Christian world religions at the turn of the 20th century, to an embrace of humanist principles in the mid-20th century, and to rediscovery of pre-Christian pagan nature-based traditions in the late 20th century. The acknowledgment of the movement of the Spirit in our midst also led to our being the first major religious denomination to ordain women and to welcome them into pastoral (as opposed to only chaplaincy and educational) roles, and later, the first to recognize the rights of b/l/t/i persons and to ordain openly gay, lesbian, and transgender clergy.
As civil rights for African-Americans, second-wave feminism, and equal rights for gays and lesbians came to our awareness in the second half of the 20th century, liberal religion changed and grew. Over these years, we incorporated liberation theology, feminist spirituality, and queer theology into our understandings, into our preaching, our worship, and our training of new ministers. For us as religious liberals, this is as it should be. Our spirituality is not set in stone for all time, but progresses and adapts with new knowledge and insight into the human condition.
I am proud to be a religious liberal, and I have no problem with using the word. In fact, I wish “liberal” was an official part of our title. As merger between the Unitarians and Universalists was being discussed in the mid-1960s – this year marks the 50th anniversary of the merger – one of the issues on the table was the name of the new denomination. It is a lingering regret for me that the Merger Commission did not go with my favorite of the names on the proposed list: The Liberal Church of America. Now, that would have been much easier to say and much easier to explain!
We need to reclaim the word liberal. Since so many of us find it hard to explain what Unitarian Universalism stands for in a few words and a few minutes – the famous “elevator speech” challenge – saying we’re a liberal church is easy shorthand.
Last November, my colleague Rev. Dr. Jim Nelson preached a sermon for the 125th anniversary of the Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena, California, in which he addressed his congregation’s concerns about being called “liberal” –
…Liberal has come to be a bad word these days, but we carry it proudly. We are a liberal faith community; liberal religion is what we profess. Liberal as in generous or bountiful; or befitting a free person, as opposed to servile, as in open-minded and free from prejudice. Liberal. We are liberals here.
Liberal, liberal, liberal! Got it? Not progressive, though we are that too, but liberals. So when people ask who Unitarian Universalists are, tell them we are liberals, that we believe in the freedom of belief; in inclusion, not exclusion; that we believe in justice and equity for all; that doubting is as important as believing; that we should use our mind in faith; that it matters what we do; that no faith has an exclusive claim to the truth; that God is a liberal too. When they ask you what kind of a church you go to, tell them you go to a liberal church.
Well, all I can add to that is, Amen. Tell your friends you go to a liberal church – and invite them to come check us out. Liberal is a good thing to be. AMEN – ASHE – SHALOM – SALAAM – NAMASTE – BLESSED BE!
