Fourth UU Principle:
"How Do We Balance Freedom And Responsibility In Our Search For Truth And Meaning?

Margo McKenna  - Nov. 11, 2001

This afternoon I am continuing my sermon series with the 4th guiding principle of the 7 Unitarian Universalist principles. This principle states: a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.  I would like to explore what this might mean for us here at chalice in our diverse interests, beliefs and practices.

I believe this principle brings tension. There is tension here this afternoon, there is tension in our community, tension in the congregation, and tension in our lives. These tensions are many, but this afternoon i would like to take a look at what i believe is the core tension within Unitarian Universalism. It is a tension that has existed within our faith tradition since the first derogatory comments were made about people who chose to be non-creedal and who were referred to as "Unitarian" or "Universalist."   it is the tension between being people who honor individualism and freedom, and a people who choose to live out their faith in a community that honors the interconnected web of all existence. Freedom on the one hand and community on the other, this is the tension here this afternoon. And the same tension exists within the larger UU community.

The history of Unitarianism, though not named as a religious body of believers until the early 1800's, has a long history of independent thought and emphasis on individuality. There are 3 individuals i would like to mention as examples of this free thinking that comes down to us today. The first is servetus, an early leader in the reformation movement who rejected the orthodoxy of his protestant movement and was executed by the Christian community as a result of his rejection of "human original sin " and  "the doctrine of the trinity."   he taught that each person must find god through their own study of the bible and are answerable only to god. There

Was to be no priest, no need for mediation between god and humanity" and no religious community to whom you need be accountable.

The second person i will mention is king john seismic of Transylvania, who as a result of servetus' writings, followed in the footsteps of the radical reformation,, as it has come to be known. He converted to Protestantism, than became disillusioned when he saw protestants persecuting Catholics, Jews, Muslims, and any other non-protestant.  He issued an edict of tolerance for his kingdom, granting the right of each individual to hold to their faith tradition and practices.  He was a strong believer in the individual search for truth and the right to freedom of religion.

A third person who has influenced our rich history affirming the practice of freedom is Henry Thoreau, a man who wrote and lectured on the need of strong individualism, and the journey of humanity toward complete self- reliance.  In these 3 individuals we see our earliest uu history laying the foundation for freedom of thought and practice.

Though Universalists did not appear on the western religious scene until the late 1700's, it was also a proponent of freedom in religious thought and practice.  Universalists were more Christian than Unitarians,  yet they also firmly believed in a free search for truth, as can be seen in the work of such great Universalists as Hosea Balleau.  Over 100 years ago he fought the move among Universalists to adopt a set of beliefs to which all Universalists ministers must accept in order to occupy a pulpit.  This Universalist branch of our history was more concerned with community and the connection between believers, than was Unitarianism.  Yet within the context of this constrained time period, Universalists were believed to be without a religious foundation due to their openness to god's salvation being offered to any person who lived an ethical and moral life and was searching to find truth.

Western civilization is rich with the influence of those who believed in individual freedom, and many of these were either Unitarian or Universalists who make up our history, and have contributed to our present desire to live and worship in freedom.

Our roots in freedom and the affirmation of individuality are deep, and they continue to be deep to this day.  In fact, almost every one of us sitting here this afternoon is here because we have realized that this is a place of freedom.  This is a place in which we can each take our own spiritual or philosophical journey, and receive support and affirmation.  This is a place where we can be ourselves; atheist, theist and multi-theist; lesbian, gay, transgender, heterosexual; poverty stricken, wealthy,, or middle-class; single race, bi-racial, and multi-racial; student, homemaker, professional, and any combination of the above; with our weakness, our strengths, and our areas of averageness; we are all here, in the same place, at the same time. This is a place where we seek to work toward freedom for all living things.

However,, we are also sitting here because we desire something more than freedom.  There are many here who may, or may not, recognize that we are also here for community. Friendship, common goals, a desire to worship with persons who hold beliefs different than ourselves, and a hunger for journey, that though individual, can take place within a community of others who are also hunger for a journey.

Thus, we are here for community as well as freedom. And the tension is present between our individual freedom and our collective community.  So, the question arises, "with the strong roots of individual freedom within both Unitarianism and Universalism, how has a sense of community, stated in our 7th principle (which is the interconnected web of all existence), come to be part of our UU tradition?"

Well, since we are a mix of our Universalist, as well as our Unitarian, history, we have a tradition that was similar to traditional Christianity in its view of community.  Though each of the persons mentioned previously believed that each individual needed to take their own spiritual or philosophical journey, they continued to meet with others who were willing to be in community - in spite of doctrinal differences.  So, these individualists practiced their beliefs within a community.

The excesses of individual freedom when he wrote, "the impoverishing philosophy of ages has laid stress on the distinctions of the individual, and not on the attributes of all man.  We are morally enriched when we see ourselves through the eyes of reason, and through the lens of others with whom we interact. (the gospel of Emerson, pg. 73)

1

The influence of the transcendentalist movement on Unitarianism, and later on the combined uua, I believe, has been that of a pendulum. Swinging toward the freedom and individualism taught by many transcendentalists, and away from freedom to well-defined expectations of a person calling themselves Unitarian and/or Universalist. The most recent swing seems to have been occurring since the merge of these two traditions in 1961.

There was a huge societal swing that occurred in north America at the time, and Unitarian Universalists were definitely influenced by the events of the 1960's. Musicians, poets, philosophers, professors, and many others were celebrating the emphasis on individualism, after decades of conformity.  During this period of time, UU's moved into a radical individualism, with a strong emphasis on humanism, and moving away from anything that resembled "church," or "religion," or "external influences upon the individual."  this is the perspective of what UUism became during this time.  We were known to the larger religious community as 'swingers," having no morals or ethics, and "corrupters of Christianity."

During the 1970's  many UU leaders came to believe we were dying as a community.  If there is no sense of connectedness, no commitment to the future generations, no moral or ethical imperatives, and no UU identity, we would be faced with extinction.  We would no longer be a voice for liberal religion and philosophy, we were less influential as individuals than as a community, and we realized that we needed some kind of centering influence beyond our own reason/rationality.

The need for community became increasingly clear to many UU's, not just to UU ministers, religious educators, and UUA leaders.  Since the time of the 1980's we have moved toward living responsibly in community, while trying to maintain individual freedom in our search for truth.  The present desire of many UU's is to prevent a pendulum swing that moves us into any kind of doctrinal orthodoxy, or places limits on what an individual can believe

5

Within this community - short of saying that any individual within this community must respect the worth and dignity of each within this community. And the opposite swing of the pendulum, one of reverting to the excesses of personal freedom.

Once again, we are faced with tension:  the tension between our free search for truth and the need to respect the beliefs of others.  I hear this tension frequently - from the frustration of our youth and young adults on how bureaucratic our decisions have become; to the leaders in this movement who want to be democratic, and know that democracy is messy and takes time; to the fear of humanists in our increasing use of religious language and symbols; to the hunger for more spirituality from those who come in from a world without ethics and morality; and the list could go on. We are a people who choose to be in a community that lives with tension. The tension caused by where our freedom ends and another's' begins.

Yet, this very tension can be the catalyst for world transformation.  As the weaving the fabric of diversity program states: "regardless of how one understands the sacred or the divine, theology and philosophy are influenced by human will and religion is rooted in social reality.  A belief that is both social and spiritual has its foundation in real community that fulfills the deepest longings of our human spirit - the need for connection to one another and to all that is.  Faithfulness to our principles can lead to the building of new communities - communities in which people of diverse racial, ethnic, cultural, personal, gender, and religious,, identities join together in transcending differences, prejudices,, and other barriers, in order to find connection within the universal family." (pg. 1)

It is out of this tension that we can dream and create the future.  I believe that we do not need to solve the tension, nor do i believe we need to continue on the pendulum of extremes between individual freedom and community responsibility.  If we are truly a people of diversity, if we are truly a people who wrestle with the difficult questions of existence, if we are truly a people who want to transform our world into a place of peace and justice, than we must acknowledge our individual and community struggle to live with the shifting line between ourselves and others.  It is a tension that has existed within UU history, it is a tension we presently live, and it will continue to create tension as long as we remain non-creedal and

Affirming of the individual freedom to search for truth within this UU community.

During my ministerial internship at San Diego first church last year, a young man walked into the meeting house for the first time.  After the service was over he came up to me and spoke for about 1/2 an hour. He shared his hunger for a place to be authentic as an agnostic, spiritually hungry, socially conscious, professional, and openly gay, man. He read the principles, he participated in the U affirmations, he was warmly welcomed, and said, as so many of us have said, he knew in UUism he had found a "home."  he loved that being UU meant that he could search for truth, following his personal convictions, within a community that provided opportunities and resources for such a search.  He loved that UU's are activists with a sense of the larger whole of humanity.  And he loved that he could get up and come to be all he could be every Sunday morning.

This young man, aged 42 was killed about four weeks later while diving off a diving board at a friend's swimming pool. Though i only knew him a short while, and first church enjoyed his company only a few weeks, he embodied the dream and reality of living both individually and communally.  I will never forget his words as he left that Sunday, "I want to be free, and i want to be accountable in my freedom.  I believe that UUism is a way to live out that tension and make it into an aspiration."