ArticUUlating UU Faith

LUUrning by Nick - As you know from Keith's introduction, I'm Nick Swan. Though I've only been coming to this church since I was 7 or 8, I consider myself a lifetime UU because, well, I've never been anything else.

When I first started coming to church, the religious education program was geared towards teaching us about other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. Then, in 4th and 5th grade, I experienced the Time Machine curriculum. For those of you who don't know what the Time Machine Curriculum is, it's where the children get to put together a "time machine" with card board and decorate it however they like. Every class time, they walk through it and travel back through time to learn about UU history, specifically about the people who helped spread our religion. Next, in middle school, came the Neighboring Faiths curriculum, in which we, again, learned about different religions. This time, however, we visited the places of worship we learned about in class.

Now, by the time I'd gotten to high school, I had been asked many times what my religion was and if I believed in god. I had gotten tired of giving long explanations as to what exactly I believed and just given them the short, "No, I'm an atheist," answer.

Though I had been coming to the UU church religiously for years up to this point, I had no idea what being a UU was. What was I supposed to believe? What did it ultimately mean to be Unitarian?

I then started my journey through high school, which also happened to be a journey of self discovery and rediscovery. I began contemplating what exactly Unitarian Universalism meant to me. The more I thought about it and went through the high school curriculums, particularly the Articulating Your UU Faith curriculum, the more I realized I WAS a Unitarian Universalist, and I always had been!

I have finally learned that it isn't which god or goddess or gods I worship or which books I read and follow, but my actions and my values that make me Unitarian Universalist. I have learned that there are a few things that bind us all together, but at the same time make us a unique religion as a whole.

We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person;

We believe in justice, equity and compassion in human relations;

We believe in the acceptance of one another and encouraging spiritual growth in our congregations.

We believe in the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;

We believe in the goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;

We believe in respecting the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part;

And, in my opinion, one of our most important principles, we believe in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Without a free and responsible search for truth and meaning and this church community, I do not believe I would've learned who I am and what my religion is all about. I thank all of you for being a part of this community and for coming to our service today. With that, I encourage all of you to go out and search, learn, discover, and rediscover who you are, and what this religion and this community means to you.

ComUUnication by Brenna - What do you believe? It's a question that I'm sure we've all had asked of us at some point…probably many different times. And I'm sure that we've all realized how hard it is to communicate our particular faith.

Many of us do not believe the same thing, and I've always felt that it's very difficult to try and tell people what I believe. I can never quite get the right wording…and I always find myself citing the first principle without anything else to say. "We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person." Yeah, that really explains a lot, doesn't it?

Most people don't get it when I tell them that. In fact, I have this one friend who I've tried to explain it to many times…and he just doesn't understand. He is a fundamentalist Christian, and he doesn't seem to be able to grasp the idea of a religion without a certain set of rules and beliefs. He doesn't think that I even have a religion because I don't go to a church where everyone worships the same God. I'm usually forced to pull out our red "What do UUs believe?" card and tell him to read it. Again. On this card is a handful of other stuff that I actually have not read. And he says, "I still don't get it."

The course of action I've had to take is show him what I believe through what I do. "We believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person." – when he starts talking about his own beliefs and opinions, I sit and listen…and I definitely argue when I feel like I have to, but I am very respectful of him, while others that disagree might brush him aside and interrupt when he goes off on some tangent that they don't quite understand – something that he does rather often. "We believe in justice, equity, and compassion in human relationships." – My friend's own intolerance pushes many people away from him, and although I have to deal with that as well – maybe more so than others – I communicate my faith by showing compassion towards him and pushing past his negative traits to find the redeeming qualities that every person has.

In my life, Unitarian Universalism shapes the way I live and the way I interact with others, and that is how I communicate my faith.

The UUA does a fantastic job of communicates our faith to the world through the UUA website or Live Oak's homepage. In fact, many visitors to the church have recently commented on how they were attracted here by our website.

We also tell people across the globe what we believe by taking actions that reflect our principles. Twice a year, Live Oak gets involved with Hands on Housing, and we show others that we take care of the people around us. That's one thing I've always loved about our church – we don't just help others because we want to show everyone how good we are, but because we care. Last summer, youth and RE teachers from all over the United States went to the UU church in New Orleans and helped with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. While our youth were there a woman from New Orleans told us about how we were one of the only churches that were actually sending people in to help, and it made me feel so very proud of what I believe. I couldn't think of a clearer and more direct statement than helping out there that said, "We are the UU church and we care."

Of course, we can talk about it too. Our curriculum this year in the high school RE class was called "Articulating Your Faith", and we had some pretty…interesting experiences with that. On the other hand, I feel that I, personally, learned a lot from it. Simply the title of the curriculum forced me to really think about how I would tell people what I believe. I've gone with the same thing for years. "I believe in universal salvation."

The fact of the matter is that we all believe different things…and the only thing holding us together are our guiding principles.

So my answer: Just give them the handy little red card and if they have a question, answer with your actions.

TrUUthiness By Miriam - Steven Colbert, and now the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as well, define the word “truthiness” as “truth that comes from the gut, not books.” Now, when he first coined this term in October 2005 on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, he most likely had no intention of using it in relation to Unitarian Universalism. However, as it turns out, truthiness ties in very closely to our religion. It highlights what I believe is the most unique, fundamental aspect of UUism – our concept of truth. Because this acts as the root of our religion, our ability to effectively articulate our faith depends on our understanding of it.

Many other religions consist of rigid doctrines, explained in detail in their holy texts and enforced by their ecclesiastical figures. They present their tenets to their adherents as absolute truths that make up the single, correct way of viewing existence. In terms of the definition of truthiness, one could view this as truth that comes from books. This is not to say that the people of these religions don’t actually believe in them. It is simply a matter of where their faith originates – often from the ideas of men centuries ago.

What distinguishes Unitarian Universalism is the relationship between the individual and his or her beliefs. While we as UUs draw inspiration from a wide range of external sources, our faith stems largely from each of our hearts. We compile information from what we observe, hear, read, and feel to create a set of beliefs that allows us to draw the most meaning from life. Because we all have different experiences, this varies considerably from person to person. Take this sermon, for example. I decided what to talk about in my segment based on my own beliefs. You may very well disagree with the message I send or simply feel that it has little value in your life, even though we both call this church our spiritual home. This idea extends to the religion as a whole. While the Seven Principles connect us, we each profess a unique combination of viewpoints. If you did a survey of everyone in this room, or even of every self-proclaimed UU in the world, you could end up with as many different versions of the religion as there were people in the sample.

In contrast to the idea of absolute truth, I argue that UUs believe in personal truths. We each engage in a “free and responsible search for truth and meaning” that leads us down a diverse array of spiritual paths, depending on our individual truthiness – what “comes from our gut.” This notion of deciding for yourself what you believe is a novel concept for most people. Our faith is flexible – it grows as we do, branching into new territory with each passing day. When describing UUism, centering ourselves on this idea can be very helpful.

Most UUs have encountered this situation: someone asks you what religion you are. You say, “I’m a Unitarian Universalist.” The other person says, “A whata whata?” And thus, the explanation ensues. Articulating your faith is never easy, but it’s twice as hard for UUs. We have to address two linked, yet distinct, topics: our personal beliefs and how these fit into the religion as a whole. Thus, having a full understanding of UUism often requires a redefinition of religion in the mind of the listener, whose background may consist solely of exposure to so-called absolute truths. You have to present yourself as a single representative of a religion whose followers each have a unique set of beliefs, yet remain connected to one another through their faith in a set of core values and their commitment to living these out in the choices they make each day.

Over the past few years, I have had the opportunity to engage in weekly discussions about religion at a club at my school called Interfaith. This forum gives students of all faiths a chance to broaden their horizons by listening to others talk about their beliefs. Every year, we host an annual event called World Religions Night, which is happening this year on the evening of Thursday, March 22nd, and is open to the public. A panel of “experts” from almost a dozen different religions addresses the audience, each one giving background information about his or her faith and then answering questions posed by students. This inevitably sparks an interesting exchange between the representatives about current controversial issues or esoteric principles. In this setting, the distinctiveness of UUism always hits me. Chuck has appeared as the UU scholar for several years and will again this time around. Don’t get me wrong – I think he does a great job on the panel. But sometimes he says things that I don’t completely agree with. He is the selected UU representative of the night, and the beliefs he expresses apply to him and him alone. My friends whose ministers, rabbis, and imams come have not been taught to question what their religious leaders teach. I see this as a necessary and healthy part of my spiritual development.

Only through recognizing this dichotomy of the individual and the collective can we paint a clear, rich picture of Unitarian Universalism for those who meet it for the first time. It is a mosaic whose tiles must be examined up close, on a personal level, as well as from a few steps back, revealing how they connect to create a profound, cohesive image. As Kahlil Gibran said, “Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'”