Unitarianism by Rev June Pettitt

Note: with the exception of a few minor alterations this is a transcript of the address given in the service at Fulwood Old Chapel
on May 23rd 2004

You may hear me say, from time to time, that our chapel here, Fulwood Old Chapel, is what we make of it, what we contribute to it, the friends and members, plus the minister, and let me mention too, the visiting worship leaders. ………… Fulwood Old Chapel, is what we all make of it………… that is perfectly true, and yet we must remember that Fulwood Old Chapel cannot be understood or explained without reference to the wider picture, why we are here in the form we are here is only because of the tradition which we now call Unitarianism.

I want to put across this morning something of the essence of the tradition and faith of Unitarians. Some of you may have heard sermons before about Unitarianism, but I think you will nevertheless be interested to hear what I have to say, how I explain it, what I choose to emphasise.

I want to emphasise the idea of freedom, freedom with responsibility, the privilege of freedom to follow our own spiritual path, and here at Fulwood Old Chapel, and in other Unitarian churches and chapels, to do that in community, not as isolated individuals. The upholding of the idea of religious freedom, and practice of it, is the common thread that holds our religious tradition together.

One place to start is the word itself: Unitarianism. 'Uni' meaning One, its origins sixteenth century. It referred to the idea that God was one, and meant that the position of Jesus was not equal to that of God. Those who in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries first put forward these ideas were heretics. They got their views from reading the Bible closely. My text from the Bible this morning Luke Chapter 18 verses 18 and 19, is an example of what they could have read. I'll remind you of the passage.

'A certain ruler asked him, Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No-one is good but God alone.'

It is true we cannot be sure exactly what Jesus said, as the Gospels were written sometime later. Nevertheless such a text could have been significant for anyone in the sixteenth century who was trying to understand who Jesus was. The text challenges the idea that Jesus was a superhuman figure, co-equal with God, one person of a Trinity, because in this text Jesus says, 'No-one is good but God alone.' Jesus is therefore reported as having said, in effect, 'I am human, God is something more'. Some scholars think this may well be a text which does go right back to the person of Jesus.

So I come back to the idea of religious freedom. In order to claim a belief for yourself which contradicts the established church's ideas, one needs religious freedom. Unitarian ideas, which stressed the unity of God and the humanity of Jesus, developed slowly, but as they developed, those holding these ideas had to champion religious freedom, freedom from the established church….in emphasising the Oneness of God and noticing that Jesus was less than God, they were in effect challenging the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.

In the case of Hungarian Unitarians in Transylvania, in Eastern Europe, a whole group of people claimed religious freedom to hold the idea of the Oneness of God. In other places I would say that it was, for some time, individuals who claimed religious freedom to think for themselves, as they looked to the Bible and found there Jesus, the man.

We have therefore, a strong strain of valuing the individual in our British Unitarian religious tradition. A strong strain of recognising people as individuals - with their own beliefs, their own 'conscience' - but I think you will appreciate that the community too, is, valued. The idea is that the individual is valued, but we have faith that individuality can exist in community with others, as we all seek to deepen our spiritual journey, as we all seek meaning on our life's path.

So, Unitarianism has stressed that God is one, as opposed to the Trinitarianism of orthodoxy, that God is three persons in one, (the orthodoxy of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) Now a days, disputing about the unity of God, as opposed to the Trinity of orthodoxy, is no longer a central concern. The freedom to explore spiritual ideas does remain central. Freedom from creeds.

Whilst in the beginnings of our tradition we see that thinkers claimed the right to follow their own interpretation of the Bible, in subsequent centuries, the freedom which Unitarians claimed became a different sort of freedom. At the time of the Enlightenment, it was especially the freedom to use one's reason in matters of religion. Reason and conscience. It was and is the freedom to explore scientific ideas, not to be frightened of the truth should science appear to contradict established religion. Unitarians remember that Joseph Priestley was both a scientist and a Unitarian minister. Unitarianism became a very optimistic religion…………..with a concern for education and a dislike of the doctrine of original sin.

What about Unitarianism in the here and now, the C21:- we now speak of the freedom to draw from our own experience, which can be our own life experiences, our reason and our feelings, our own knowledge of religion, which may include knowledge or experience of religions other than Christianity.

This freedom means that we will interpret words in different ways; we will understand the word 'God' in different ways. Some Unitarians choose to say they are humanists, because they reject the traditional idea of God. Some may come and they may say, 'I just know that there is something important here, though I'm not sure about God and religion'. Unitarianism is now the freedom to explore and deepen our sense of meaning in life, to develop faith and not be afraid of doubts, to celebrate life and our experience of wonder.

We can wonder at the world around us. We had today the hymn 'A World of Wonder'. …wonder at this world and bring that sense of wonder to our chapel, with you.

I would say, too, that the freedom Unitarianism brings is not only about exploring beliefs, but also about an exploration of our values, to look at our responsibilities towards others, and our responsibilities to the earth and to future generations. It is not meant to be a free-for-all-anything-goes sort of religion, because with the privilege of personal freedom comes the recognition of responsibility towards others, including future generations. Our tradition has stressed taking action in this world, we do not really know about the next world.

I would emphasise that our spiritual forefathers and foremothers did not take lightly this privilege of claiming the right to think for themselves. I would emphasise that it is not about adopting the first idea which comes into our heads, it is about listening to others, too, what they think, it is about learning and evolving, journeying rather than being at a fixed point. We can draw on a wide range of sources of wisdom…Unitarianism is an evolving tradition which accepts that each generation will give something of itself to that tradition. It is not something to be worshipped, it is a path to walk upon, with others.

Unitarianism in the C21 is about having people in our spiritual community who will have different religious ideas from our own, and it is about believing that it is possible to love alike, even though we don't have to think alike. to love alike, even though we don't have to think alike. I am not saying that is necessarily easy, and it is not certainly not automatic.
You need not think alike to love alike

Finally:
I should say to you, if you find this all very serious, it is serious, but Unitarianism is also about having fun, having fun is part of celebrating life, and there are various events we have which are about having fun. So I end with these two thoughts, we try to love alike even though we don't have to think alike, and Unitarianism is about celebrating life, and all that means.

Amen.

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