Unitarian Universalist Meeting of
“Questions for the Minister”
Rev. Kathy Duhons
This is our annual sermon based
on your questions to me. You have given
me some mighty good questions, and even just one of them would fill a whole
sermon. Let us begin with the shortest
question.
Why? There is an old story at Harvard that a
famous professor, I believe William James, in giving his final exam in a
philosophy course asked this very question.
“Why?” was the only word on that final. While most students began furiously writing
everything they could remember from the course, one famous student, and I have
forgotten whom, answered “Why not?” and received an
“A”.
‘Why’
is certainly one of our big questions, the kind that brings us to religious
communities, philosophizing, scientific study, and sometimes to anxiety and
depression, and sometimes to resolution and transformation. Why are we here? Why do we suffer? Why are things unfair, difficult, complex? Why is love
so potent for our happiness, and our despair?
Why can’t we figure it all out?
I
have asked ‘why’ quite strenuously a few times in my life, and I believe it is
a question that does need to be expressed, even if the answer is not
clear. I have to admit, though, that I
am at least as likely, and maybe more so, to turn to
the other questions: What can I do? Where should I be? When will the dreams come true? Who am I really? How should I live? And asking the questions, pleading and living
the questions, is what leads us to the answers.
Seek and you shall find.
What
do Unitarians consider Jesus to be?
What role does Jesus of Nazareth have for Unitarian Universalists? Simply, we recognize that Jesus is among the
greatest of the prophets, saints, and leaders, and so we at times turn to him for
wisdom and example. He is particularly
relevant to us historically because our religion grew out of Christianity,
although it is a multi-faith religion now.
To some Unitarian Universalists, however,
Jesus is more than a prophet from the past – he is a redeemer, a present force
for goodness and hope in their lives.
For me, Jesus shows a Way to be that I try to follow. To some UUs, Jesus
is not especially important, and that is the amazing beauty of our religion – we
do not serve one Master, or believe we have the only market on the truth – we
are wonderfully open to many living sources of our tradition that guide us in
so many different ways.
A related question is this: Tell me more about a Unitarian Christian. What is the Christian part that is present in
an open, humanistic approach to spiritual experience?
The teachings that I
love from Jesus are open and universal – they reach out to acknowledge
the worth and dignity of all classes and types of people. The spirituality is earthy – Jesus isn’t
afraid to get dirty, to be authentic.
The Way of Jesus can take people from where they are, in anxiety and despair,
and transform their lives with great beauty and hope. It is only one way among many faithful ways,
which is what Unitarian Universalist Christians believe. We
live open to the great wisdom, truth and compassion that flows through all
religious teachings and practices, and are awestruck by our great blessing of
this amazing, universal, humanistic and spiritual religion, Unitarian
Universalism.
Do you have any books that you could recommend about a
study of world religions? Or any current
theologian that has a new book out?
I use two main books on world religions. One is old, but was revised in the ‘90’s and
is very thorough and good. This is
Huston Smith’s The World’s Religions. We have a spare copy of it in our small
library in the office, which you are welcome to borrow. The
other book is called A SourceBook for Earth’s Community of Religions, edited
by Joel Beversluis, which has a more recently revised
edition and is more wide-ranging in the types of religions. We Unitarian Universalists
have a chapter in it. It is beautifully
organized and has great information, prayers, and theologies, presented with
tremendous respect and honor for many, many forms of religious life.
I’m afraid I can’t answer about theologians with new
books – I am still working through piles of old books. But I will recommend a new quasi-theological,
smart and funny book by Annie Lamott that I’ve just
begun, called Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith. Her previous book in this area, Traveling Mercies, had me laughing out
loud, tearing up, and feeling drenched with grace, challenged theologically,
and transformed.
A couple of people asked essentially this question: What are your thoughts about intelligent
design? This is very topical. I was hoping to gain some insight from the
eminent scientist E.O. Wilson, who spoke here a few days ago, so I submitted
the intelligent design question, which was asked, and he answered that it
didn’t have any scientific use or any other value.
Let’s begin first with what intelligent design means and
why it is important to us as a religious issue.
The New York Times summed it up recently: “Intelligent design is the belief that living organisms are so
complex that the best explanation is that they were created by an intelligent
force of some kind.” Such a force may be an intelligent agent, perhaps God, whose product
is designed, rather than
natural selection being the process.
I
initially had assumed that this is merely a
clever re-packaging of “creationism”, the belief that the world was created as
described by the book of Genesis in the Bible.
The Supreme Court says it is illegal to teach creationism in school,
because it is a religious belief. Very few
educated people would argue that the world, and all the beings that exist, were
created in a handful of days, a few thousand years ago, by God. But, many faithful people, educated or not,
have trouble relying only upon evolution as the basis for understanding our
world, particularly the origin of human life.
Intelligent
design has several proponents, including a few PhD scientists, and it is not
one clear theory, but a cluster of beliefs and ideas. They are largely rejected by the scientific
community as being science. This is not
a theory, and no one is researching it.
If intelligent design is science, then
it may be taught in school, as is happening currently, and this is why there is
a court case right now. I believe
intelligent design is a matter of faith, and my faith as a Unitarian
Universalist demands that matters of faith not be taught in public school, for
we are a free, open and inclusive society.
My 7th grade Biology teacher, Mr. Mouton,
explained to us quite simply that evolution teaches us about how our living
world unfolds, but that it did not contradict faith in God as the Source of
power behind the world. (Mind you, Mr.
Mouton didn’t advocate for God or religion or Creationism) This is a form of the consonant approach –
you can have science and religion and eat your cake too. Unitarian Universalists
tend to be consonant, to believe we can have both science and religion, that
our intelligence and faith do not threaten each other.
Intelligent
design is different. Sometimes it is
used to contradict evolution, especially natural selection, and it is used as a
default position to say that there are some problems, some things not fully
explained by evolution, and the explanation is that an intelligent design is
behind Creation, whether by God or an alien, or whatever.
What do I believe?
Honestly, I don’t reflect much on questions of creation or origin,
scientifically or theologically. I still
have a basic 7th grade understanding of evolution, and it seems like
good science. Charles Darwin was a
Unitarian, you know.
Theologically, my understanding and experience of God has
very little to do with the function of Creator.
I much more resonate with the nurturing, compassionate, Oneness of the
Holy known through Beloved Belonging, Meaningful Peace, and Transforming
Joy. Creativity makes more sense to me
in terms of process theology – we are ongoing co-creators with the great power
of the universe, always becoming, emerging - one might say - evolving. I do not own the story on God. There certainly may be no God, and I absolutely
respect that viewpoint, as well as all the many flavors of belief in God or
Goddess that flourish in our great diversity.
I experience the universe as being powerful and having a design that is
beautiful, more than intelligent, but I am not drawn to explain it.
What is much more important to me, religiously, is that
we take care of creation, our Mother. We
need more than a reverence for life; we must cultivate a reverence and respect
for the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part. E.O. Wilson said that we need to agree to
disagree among our various religious beliefs, and notice our great similarities
that can bring us to the common ground of saving creation. He said that the two most powerful forces on
the planet are science and religion, and we need to bring them together for the
good of our world.
Our
religious values demand that we open our minds and make plenty of room for
others to open theirs, and in that free and expansive place, we can learn and
grow and do the best science possible, which will help us to protect and
preserve our planet. Our questions about
our origins, about the universe, and humanity, will also lead us to areas that
are not scientific, that are better explored in our faith communities and in our
homes. And as we wonder and seek and
notice, the issue of how this all came to be will not be as important as the
issue of how it will continue to be.
When we truly behold this endangered creation, then we are called to
hold the whole world in our hands, to offer compassion and hope and a
tremendous faithfulness.
The final question is: In this age that feels more polarized than
ever, in many areas, how can we reach common ground? We have a unique and remarkable gift to offer
the world in our religion, Unitarian Universalism, because we are terrifically
skilled in finding common ground. We
welcome diversity of belief and practice and family styles. We embrace the universal good and the oneness
of creation. We keep working on our
religion, on listening and accepting and challenging and improving. We don’t do “either/or” as much as
“both/and”. And so we have good news for
the world – it is possible to live in harmony with multiplicity. Polarization, with its elements of hatred and
fear and judgment, does not have the final word. We can find unity in diversity; we can follow
a common dream. We can change the world
for the better, starting right here, right now.
And so may it be.