Exploring Unitarian Communities

Unitarian communities are places where one can work out what one believes and holds sacred in a safe, holding space. These communities may be congregations or fellowships or engagement groups or societies. They will often include members with differing beliefs, but shared values. There are several different types of Unitarian community prevalent in the UK in the 21st century.

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Twenty years ago, Andrew Hill published The Unitarian Path, in which he identified three distinct faith communities within Unitarianism, with the proviso that these were positions on a spectrum, rather than contained or mutually exclusive. In summary, they were: Unitarian Christian, religious humanist and those who recognised transcendence of one kind or another as being at the heart of most religious traditions.

I think that these definitions are still relevant today. Hill concludes that "There are many touching areas and crossover points within these three faith communities. Unitarian Christianity so easily finds common cause with a universalised theism; and a naturalised Christian theism is less problematical for religious humanists. Humanists also find common cause with Christians and theists in values which transcend individual persons, and in appreciating the importance of symbol and myth. All of which brings these three different faith communities to common ground and a shared community."

I believe that there are more than these three faith communities within Unitarianism today: for example, one that has moved away from Christianity altogether, and one in which the earth and the spiritual are at the centre, rather than humankind. And of course there are the agnostics and spiritual seekers, and those who call themselves atheist (in the sense that they do not believe in any divine being). In terms of belief (or lack of it) we are a diverse bunch indeed.

Over the last couple of decades, there has been a move away from the intellectual approach of earlier times, towards a more heart-centred or emotion-centred approach to our faith. Many Unitarians are acknowledging that some mysticism has its place within our panoply of beliefs too.

The existence of these very diverse faith communities, this religious pluralism, is one of Unitarianism's strengths; this ability to accommodate people of differing beliefs. Today, most Unitarian communities in the UK aver what Hill calls "an open acceptance and co-existence of different theological positions." This is evident if you look at the various different societies affiliated to the General Assembly, from the neo-Pagan Unitarian Earth Spirit Network , and the spiritualist Unitarian Society for Psychical Studies, to the Unitarian Christian Association (to name but three). All their members are also Unitarians, and all believe in something beyond the human / natural world. I believe that the great thing about Unitarianism is that there is room for all of us. Even within a small congregation, there could be Liberal Christians, religious humanists, universalists and experientialists. And some of us fall into more than one of these categories. But what matters is that we truly believe that Unitarianism is "the Religion of the Larger Affirmation" and that the values that we share are more important than our diverse beliefs.

I leave you with Michaela von Britzke's vision for  the future of Unitarian communities, when she writes:

"The times require us to move beyond our emphasis on the intellect and our dependence on the pulpit-based hierarchy, to become more expressive, egalitarian, and inclusive. We need to spend more time on holistic learning. We need to deal with shadows and projections, learn to deal with conflicts, work in groups, encounter each other deeply, in pain and joy. Sunday sermons, I believe, are the celebratory sauce for the bread pudding of daily living with integrity." 

In other words, we need to become truly welcoming spiritual communities, places where our individual spiritual and religious quests can safely be undertaken, in an atmosphere of freedom and respect and acceptance. A base from which we can go out and live our faith, not just talk about it.

Unity in Diversity

One of the most oft-quoted Unitarian aphorisms is "We need not think alike to love alike" by our Transylvanian founding father Francis David. Our fierce defence of freedom of belief, within the denomination, and in the wider world, boils down to our belief in this one phrase "We need not think alike to love alike."

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It is a concept sometimes explained by the phrase "unity in diversity", a seeming paradox which many outside the denomination, and indeed many inside it, struggle to comprehend. How can we claim to be one religious / spiritual movement, if we all believe different things?

Alfred Hall maintains in Beliefs of a Unitarian that Unitarianism is an attitude of mind. And this attitude is the key to understanding why, despite our wide-ranging and sometimes mutually-exclusive religious and spiritual beliefs, we manage to hang together as a movement.

For us, being Unitarian means having the freedom to believe what we will (so long as it is consonant with our reason and conscience, and doesn't harm anyone else) whilst simultaneously being a member of a religious / spiritual community, whose members share the attitude that we are all on a spiritual journey together. We come together in community, providing a safe and sacred space in which all can explore what gives our lives depth and meaning. For some this may involve a belief in a divine presence, which they may call God; for some it may be more of an internal process; or a faith in humankind; or a reverence for the natural world.

But the important thing is that we are united in our diversity; united in the mutual provision of this safe and sacred space, in which we may explore our diverse beliefs and faiths, knowing that our doubts and questions and beliefs will be held and respected, and that we will be welcomed just the way we are.

And it is precious.

By Whose Authority?

In the 21st century, the Unitarian commitment to reason and conscience as arbiters of our religious and spiritual thinking is fairly much taken for granted. However, it was not ever thus. When Unitarianism started to take off in Britain in the 18^th century, its leading lights were Joseph Priestley, Theophilus Lindsey and Thomas Belsham.  And they believed that religious belief should be consonant with reason, and that reason should also be used when interpreting scripture. But they did not go so far as to tackle the question of what you should choose to believe if reason is found to contradict scripture.

James Martineau

It was not until the 19^th century that scholars really began to question the infallibility of the Bible. But as both scientific and biblical scholarship began to progress, many parts of the Bible came into question. Biblical scholars were able to demonstrate fairly convincingly that the Bible was a collection of books written over many centuries by many human beings, with many internal contradictions. So scripture could no longer be relied on as a source of authority.

Most Christians, and members of other religions, choose to believe that spiritual authority may be found in one or more of three places: in holy words (scripture, a creed, or a confession of faith); in a holy institution (for example, the Church or religious leaders such as priests or rabbis or ayatollahs); or in a special leader or person with authority (e.g. Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, the Buddha). This authority may be seen as divine.

It was James Martineau, the celebrated 19^th century Unitarian scholar and theologian, who finally addressed the problem of possible conflicts between reason and scripture, in his book The Seat of Authority in Religion, which was published in 1890. He looked at the traditional sources of authority - scripture, Church tradition, and leaders such as Jesus. And he came to the radical conclusion that actually, none of these should have ultimate authority over what someone should believe. And that the only valid sources of authority were the individual's own reason and conscience.

Martineau’s book marked a watershed in Unitarian thinking. It opened the door to a wider view of what religious authority means, which has evolved into our present questioning faith. Unitarians today believe that although we may develop spiritually within a particular faith tradition, we will never close the door on new revelation or stop questioning our beliefs. This is the antithesis of the traditional view of authority, which requires unthinking submission to a particular creed or set of beliefs.  It means that Unitarians can be open to inspiration from whatever source it comes – in the natural world, in the sciences and arts, in our work and friendships, in our sorrows as well as in our joys. In our services, we are free to draw inspiration from many sources.

Our view of authority has modified over the centuries, from a dual belief in reason and scripture, to our current position that, as Cliff Reed says, “each person is his or her own final authority in matters of faith.” The authority of individual reason and conscience is held to be supreme, but it is important to be a member of a religious community to which you can bring your questions and your doubts, in the sure knowledge that they will be met with a broad questioning tolerance. The interplay of individuals’ beliefs is one of the great strengths of a Unitarian congregation – the bouncing of ideas off each other means that we can never be complacent about what we believe. It is stimulating to belong to such a congregation, but can be very hard work. Nothing is set in stone, and each individual is responsible for keeping his or her mind open to new ideas, so that our faith can grow.

Revelation Unsealed

 Like many Unitarians, I believe that the religious and spiritual development of the individual is dependent upon an openness to progressive revelation – the Quakers would say “Are you open to new light, from whatever source it may come? Do you approach new ideas with discernment?” So revelation is vitally important to the Unitarian approach to religion and spirituality.

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In traditional Christian terms, revelation may be defined as something that is revealed by God to humans. This may be done primarily through the medium of the Church and tradition, if you are Catholic, or through the medium of the Bible, if you are Protestant. Of course, this is not to say that Catholics don't believe that the Bible is the revealed word of God, but they don't lay as much emphasis on it as their Protestant brothers and sisters. Or similarly, that tradition is not important to Protestants.

Historically, Unitarians did base their faith on the Bible, but when the science of Biblical criticism started in the 17th and 18th centuries, and came to full flower in the 19th, they came to accept the findings of Biblical scholars wholeheartedly. They came to believe that the Bible had been written by different human beings over many centuries, and therefore could not be the revealed word of God. Today we believe that it can still be a wonderful source of wisdom, but not of divine origin, and not infallible.

The important thing to realise is that revelation is a progressive thing – as humankind develops intellectually, morally and spiritually, we can understand more and more of our place in the universe. And insights about God / the Divine / our place in the universe can be found not just in sacred texts, such as the Bible, but also in the natural world and in the actions and words of other living beings, or in poetry, or scientific texts, or journal articles.

So while the traditional Christian concept of revelation shows the Bible as being the only revealed word of God, modern Unitarians would give revelation a much wider meaning. Vernon Sproxton's words from the Introduction to Mister God This Is Anna, give a wonderful definition of how the written word can be a source of revelation: “Ah! Books are those which induce a fundamental change in the reader’s consciousness. They widen his sensibility in such a way that he is able to look upon familiar things as though he is seeing and understanding them for the first time.” 

Unitarians are so lucky in that we don’t have set rules and creeds to tie us down and blind us to new revelation, from whatever source it might come. So we are able to try to make sense of our world according to our own life experiences, through what we read and learn in our everyday lives, and our reflections thereon.

Tolerance - Spirit and Practice

Freedom and Reason are two of the keystones of British Unitarian thought; the third is Tolerance. Outsiders may find it difficult to understand how the Unitarian movement holds together, placing, as it does, so much importance on the freedom of individual belief based on reason and conscience. But tolerance, this openness to new thoughts and ideas, is a key concept in Unitarianism; indeed it is what has kept it green and growing down the centuries.

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Our movement has been underpinned by a process of continuous and continuing revelation. At different times and in different countries, different ideas have been considered to be most important. But tolerance also means a tigerish determination to fight for the right of others to enjoy the same freedom to worship in whatever way they choose, so long as it doesn’t harm anyone else. Our “fellowship in diversity” (happy phrase) aims to be tolerant towards others. As Joyce Grenfell beautifully puts it, we believe in “loving in spite of human imperfection.”

Unitarian tolerance is the value which people outside our movement perhaps find hardest to understand – is it just another way of saying “anything goes”? Well, no, it certainly is not. It has both the spiritual and practical aspects, a distinction which it is important to stress.

On the spiritual side, we meet together for Sunday worship, and in discussion groups and engagement groups at other times. And it is understood that each person in the congregation or group will have his or her own beliefs, doubts and questions. The spiritual aspect of Unitarian tolerance is the provision of a safe and supportive space in which these beliefs, doubts and questions may be expressed, and will be listened to respectfully, and without judgement. As Sarah Tinker writes: "we affirm the right of individuals to express themselves fully and to be heard and accepted for who they are, unique human beings.” 

The pragmatic side of Unitarian tolerance concerns how we define it, here in the 21st century. What does tolerance actually mean, in practical terms? I have said earlier that it means wholeheartedly accepting and respecting the right of others to believe what they wish, according to their reason and conscience, so long as it does not  harm anyone else.

We should extend this tolerance not only to our fellow Unitarians and spiritual seekers, but also to the members of other religions. It is not tolerant to rubbish the religious beliefs of others, or to speak disrespectfully about other faith systems. That is spiritual arrogance. True religious tolerance is about recognising that other people's beliefs are different from ours, and being happy that their beliefs give their life meaning and validation.

We also need to recognise that there are limits to tolerance. We should not tolerate beliefs that advocate or condone the oppression of particular members of society on the grounds of their sex, sexual orientation, race, or religious beliefs. And where such intolerant beliefs are held, we need to make our voices heard, standing up for true, inclusive tolerance.