Progressive Christianity
A
Unitarian View
The Unitarians
in
The 2000 edition of the Chambers Dictionary defines a Unitarian
as "a member of a religious group originally comprising Christians who
believed God to be a single entity rather than a trinity, [but] now including
members holding a broad spectrum of beliefs", for contemporary
Unitarianism is a religiously liberal, nondogmatic
and creedless faith that draws on the wisdom of all world religions, as well as
the insights of science, philosophy and literature.
Origins of Unitarianism
With its
historical roots in early Judaism and Christianity, the religious philosophy
and movement known as Unitarianism came out of the Protestant Reformation when
many people began to claim the right to read and interpret the Bible for
themselves and the right to set their own conscience as a test of the teachings
of religion. The theological roots of
Unitarianism may be found in 16th century
Unitarians and Christianity
Unitarians, who
have always believed that every idea is to be tested, every stone turned over,
generally acknowledge that there is something of value in most, if not all, of
the world’s religions, provided their teachings are interpreted and applied
rationally and humanely. Insofar as
Christianity is concerned, Unitarians have traditionally stressed that the
books comprising the Bible are written in figurative, metaphorical,
allegorical, symbolical and spiritual language, and must be interpreted and
applied in that manner in the light of reason and contemporary knowledge. Unitarians do not accept that the Bible,
which contains history, folk tales, fables, myths, legends, parables,
allegories and symbols, is infallible and inerrant, but they generally admit
that it still provides many valuable insights into the world and
humankind. Unitarians would nevertheless
agree with the view expressed by the famous English Methodist minister Leslie D
Weatherhead in his seminal work The Christian Agnostic (1965) that “a statement is not true because
it is in the Bible.” It is true only
when it authenticates itself to the individual.
There was, in the United States of
America, a common formulation of Unitarian faith from roughly 1870 until the
late 1920s known as “The Unitarian Covenant”, that went like this:
We believe in:
The Fatherhood of God;
The Brotherhood of Man;
The Leadership of Jesus;
Salvation by Character;
The Progress of Mankind
onward and upward forever.
Although many Unitarians today
would construe the content of that Covenant differently from the way Unitarians
generally did in the 1920s there are still a number of important statements in
the Covenant that have enduring meaning and significance today.
The Fatherhood/Motherhood of God
The
As Sir Julian Huxley pointed out, the word “divine” did not originally imply
the existence of gods. Unitarians have
always rejected simplistic notions of God and tend to see God in naturalistic
terms, such as the ground of being, the very livingness and oneness of all life,
and the givingness of life to itself. God is not some vast and shadowy being but
rather the name behind a fairly consistent set of phenomena. Unitarian minister David Usher had described
as “the poetic evocation of all that forever eludes our comprehension.” For many, God is that power-not-ourselves
that represents the highest good to which we can aspire. Many Unitarians would identify with Rabbi
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s view that God is the
question put to each of us at our birth to which we live our lives as an
answer. The beautiful old expression,
the “fatherhood of God,” reminds us that we are all one and interdependent,
that there is only one order or level of reality to which we all belong. For Unitarians, to call God “personal” is to
use a very limiting human expression.
However, God works through human personalities and is thus made known in
ways that can only be described as “personal.”
The
Brotherhood/Sisterhood of Humanity
As we all have a common source (“Father”/”Mother”), a Unitarian believes
in the supreme worth and dignity of the individual and that all people on earth
have an equal claim to life, liberty and justice, and equal rights free from
discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, colour,
nationality, religion, political opinion, social origin, marital status,
impairment or sexual preference.
Throughout the ages, Unitarians have traditionally affirmed the innate
divinity of all humankind, indeed, the divinity of all creation. “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of
you” (Ps 82:6), a view affirmed by Jesus himself (see Jn
The Leadership of Jesus
For many Unitarians Jesus Christ,
although not God, is nevertheless a most important figure in human history, if
not the archetypal prototype of what humanity is intended to become - the
Way-Shower - who came to awaken us to the inherent possibilities of our own
nature and to an awareness of our essential divinity that we might have life,
and have it more abundantly (see Jn 10:10), leaving
us an example, that we should follow in his steps (see 1 Pt 2:21). Jesus taught that the
For Unitarians, the life of Jesus
is much more important than his death.
The way that Jesus taught and walked is the secret to abundant
life. Jesus’ way is the way of service,
self-sacrifice, joyfulness and brotherly love.
Unitarians, in their diverse ways, have tried to follow the spirit of
Jesus, believing that every person has the potential to express goodness,
kindness and compassion, as Jesus did, by being more Christlike
in their everyday life, laying down our lives for the brethren (see 1 Jn 3:16). For those
Unitarians who seek to follow Jesus, he is the Great Example, not the Great
Exception.
Unitarians continue to reject the
view that Jesus, who reportedly prayed to God, was God; such a view demeans
Jesus’ teachings as a human being, undermines his achievements, and is contrary
to what he himself said about God. (“Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone?” Mk 10:18.)
Many
Unitarians would identify with what the Presbyterian Samuel Angus wrote in his Jesus in the Lives of Men (1933):
Jesus is not accredited to us today by his
miracles, or by a virgin birth, or by a resurrection from an underworld, or by
a reanimation of his body from the grave, or by fulfillment of prophecies; he
is accredited by his long train of conquests over the loyalties of men, and
chiefly by the immediate, intimate and inevitable appeal made by him to
everything that is best and God-like in each of us, and by his ability to “make
men fall in love with him”, and “to win the world to his fair sanctities”.
Salvation by Character
Unitarians have a realistic view
about human nature. They believe that
human beings are neither evil beyond measure nor good beyond credibility and do
not accept the view that Jesus died to save us from our sins. The doctrine of vicarious atonement is, for
Unitarians, not part of Jesus’ original, as opposed to interpolated, teachings
and more properly belongs to Mithraism and other pagan mystery religions.
Unitarians have always affirmed
that the world is not to be divided into the saved and the unsaved, the chosen
and the unchosen.
Salvation comes from the same Latin root as
the word salve; it refers to a healthy kind of
wholeness. Unitarians have always placed
great emphasis on the development of character and healthy-mindedness. We are not saved by Jesus’ shed blood on the
Cross. It is what that blood represents
that saves us – the power of suffering love and self-sacrifice in the form of
the givingness of oneself to others. Unitarians don’t talk much about sin, but is
should be remembered that the word sin has an “I” in the middle. The essence of sin is selfishness,
self-absorption and self-centredness - an attempt to
gain some supposed good to which we are not entitled in justice and
consciousness - and we all need to be relieved of the bondage of self. That is what salvation is all about, and we
must “work out our [own] salvation with fear and trembling” (Pi
The
Unitarian importance on salvation by character, and not by other means, cannot
be overstated. In Christianity and Dogma (1933) Samuel Angus wrote:
The world realizes that character is the supreme
possession of man and believes that religion should steady man in his purposes
and guide him in the arduous task of character-building; whereas this
controversy has given the impression that the Church exists not primarily to
promote Christian character but to produce and conserve dogmas.
Insofar as the
development of character is concerned, there are three great calls for
Unitarians: think truly, act justly, and speak bravely.
For Unitarians, worship, which can take several forms, can greatly assist in
the shaping of character. Worship means
showing reverence for life, which is the basis of morality. Prayer is important as well. Unitarians pray in their own way, though many
would simply call it meditation. In the
words of an old hymn, “Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, uttered or
unexpressed.” It is a matter of
concentrating one’s entire intellect, emotions and will on that which is seen
to be of ultimate importance and value.
In prayer and meditation, particularly in the time of quiet known as
“the silence,” we focus on a power-not-ourselves that leads us to righteousness
(right thinking and right action), lifting our consciousness to the level of
the answer (which, in many cases, is a calm acceptance of that which is). Many Unitarians believe that, as we raise out thoughts in loving obedience to those of Jesus and
other inspiring figures, enormous spiritual power and dominion, as well as
peace of mind, becomes available to us.
Unitarians also believe in the power of forgiveness, affirming, as did
Jesus, that our claim to forgiveness is conditional upon our having forgiven
others.
In short, most
Unitarians would agree with the view expressed by John Baillie, Professor of
Theology, University of Edinburgh, who said, “What makes a man a Christian is
neither his intellectual acceptance of certain ideas, nor his conformity to a
certain rule, but his possession of a certain Spirit, and his participation in
a certain Life.”
The Progress of Humankind
Unitarians, who
believe in the authority of reason, have always been fairly optimistic about
the potential of human beings to improve themselves and our world. Human problems are of our own making and can
only be solved by human beings, working collaboratively, and digging deep
within themselves for the answers to our problems. We are all, individually and collectively,
responsible for our planet and its future, and life should be as satisfying as
possible for every individual.
Unitarians believe
that there exist in each of us enormous powers which can revitalize our lives
and recharge our spirits. Sadly, we tend
never to fully realize our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
capabilities and wander from the path that leads to righteousness.
Onward and Upward Forever
Unitarians have
always believed that this life, rather than a future life, is our main
concern. To quote Dr William F Schulz
again, “the paradox of life is to love it all the more even though we
ultimately lose it.” Some Unitarians believe
in life after death, many do not. A few
Unitarians have embraced reincarnation.
Most Unitarians believe that, although we may ultimately vanish from
view, the effect of our lives can be felt long after we have died. Life may change forms, but it remains
basically indestructible. Although
Unitarians tend to reject the view that there is a supernatural dimension to
life and that there is a supernatural power to guide us, most Unitarians
believe that, despite all the turmoil and strife, “To those who love God
[however defined] all things work together for good.”
As Unitarians we
come together to worship, to learn, to support and care for one another, to
share our concerns for social justice, and to enjoy fellowship together. Our foundation is reason, tolerance and
freedom. Our reverence is for the Spirit
of Life. Unitarianism brings the
The
The
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THE
UNITARIANS IN
Located within a block of
Refer to map below for more details
A liberal home for those who want to continue
in the Christian or other belief system
Services are held every Sunday at
(refreshments afterwards)
Infoline and Messagebank: (02)
9360-2038
Website: http://www.sydneyunitarianchurch.org
Although we meet to inquire,
we meet even more to share with,
enrich and care for each other.
If you are looking for such a community of people,
and for spirituality without superstition,
we invite you to celebrate and journey with us.
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