PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Interfaith Work
September 16, 2007 on 6:20 pm | In Theological Reflection, Unitarian Universalism |I had dinner with a dear old friend (and spiritual mother/grandmother) last night who has worked long and hard for interfaith awareness and alliances within Unitarian Universalism. We discussed the increasing isolationism of UUs, who seem determined to exist alone and entirely uniquely on the religious landscape, closing our eyes and ears to the broad evidence that we are no the only progressive faith tradition going, and insisting on creating exhausting initiatives for our tiny denomination to tackle instead of joining humbly with other religious folks who are working on the same issues.
As I said to my friend, “But if we did that, we might have to hear about GOD.” She nodded wryly. “And we might have to PRAY.” We shared a moment of mutual head-shaking — she the self-described “Shabbos UU” and I the Christian UU.
Unitarian Universalists claim to have respect for the wisdom of world religions and we like to use various people’s prayers and songs in our liturgies. Yet when it comes to actual encounter with religious people where we might have to either hear “What’s a Unitarian Universalist? Never hoid of ya” or sit quietly by while other people have big and good ideas, I think we largely balk. We seem to like to climb into crises where we can “save” people or protest prejudices (not a bad thing, of course, but only one way to do interfaith work), but do we live out our professed appreciation for other religions when we’re not leading a rally? Not so much. UUs often take our 8th graders on field trips to various houses of worship as part of a popular curriculum but I’ve never known of an RE program that went beyond the tourist approach to this encounter, helping our children define “us” as entirely different from “them.” Growing up UU, I certainly came away with the impression that WE were the sane ones, and those other weird people who did things like pray on their knees and drink Jesus’ blood were to be pitied if not downright disdained. We looked at them like specimens under a microscope. I sincerely hope it’s not the same today.
My friend made me laugh when she commented last night, “I can’t imagine not reading the Christian Century religiously!” I do, too, and agree with her. But of course that title alone turns a lot of UUs off and they have no idea that the journal is rich with news and theological conversation out of the liberal religious community. She said that she “despairs” of our clergy, so many of whom prefer to travel exclusively in UU circles.
I notice that our General Assembly offerings of late have been extraordinarily devoid of interfaith programming, and I hold out no hope whatsoever for our place at the ecumenical table of Christians (although this blog is certainly an ongoing ecumenical conversation, a fact of which I am very proud).
What’s your experience, friends? Whether Unitarian Universalist or other — or no religious affiliation at all — what’s your regular encounter with interfaith cooperation? If you’re a non-religious reader, what is your perception of what’s going on out there between religious groups?
Inquiring religious minds want to know. And hope to be proved wrong!
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there is always some interfaith work. I was surprised earlier this year to read an article about an out of state UU teen group that came to my neighborhood and worked on a Habitat for Humanity house. They spent the night at a large extremely conservative church.
Comment by StevenR — September 16, 2007 #
@StevenR, that’s great to hear. On both sides.
Comment by PeaceBang — September 16, 2007 #
Last month Rev. LoraKim Joyner, the president of Unitarian Universalists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, attended an interfaith two-day retreat of religious leaders sponsored by Best Friends http://tinyurl.com/2kcp8r.
They are drafting a proclamation that addresses the moral concern (and hence the religious concern) of human actions toward other beings.
UFETA also shares information and advocacy ideas with the Jewish Vegetarians of North America, the Christian Vegetarian Association, and the Episcopal Network for Animal Welfare; and has joined them in support of legislative and other initiatives aimed to lessen the suffering of others.
Comment by Charlie Talbert — September 16, 2007 #
My punctuation “period” inadvertently made it into my tinyurl on the last post, and I think that’s the reason it doesn’t work. Here it is http://tinyurl.com/2kcp8r without the period.
Comment by Charlie Talbert — September 16, 2007 #
Both churches my husband has served have been part of a local interfaith alliance, pooling resources and ministers’ discretionary funds to provide services to homeless and others in need.
I think that on the denominational level we appear more “stand-offish” than our individual churches actually are, and that individual churches do a lot more than perhaps is visible outside of those geographic communities.
Comment by Jess — September 16, 2007 #
as with lots of UU stuff, youth are making great progress, even if the adults are slower to catch up. the youth group at my church and several other places of worship in town organized an interfaith youth group, meeting up about once a month to play games, and have discussions.
In New England there is a camp, organized by the ADL called Camp IF (Camp Interfaith) It was started as a place for Christian, Jewish and Muslim youth to get together, learn about eachothers religions, see how similar they are, and create lasting ties and friendships with the idea that peace in the world will be achieved by the realization that other religions are not weard or scary and that friendships can overcome religious difference. the first year of the camp some UUs heard about it and said ‘we want in!’ and so there are UU teens too.
it’s not all bad news!
Comment by Flo — September 16, 2007 #
I tend to agree with Jess that a lot of congregations are involved in meaningful work with non-UU congregations, even though it may not be a point of emphasis for the UUA.
My own congregation was a founding member of our local interfaith council, and we work shoulder to shoulder with the Baptists, Methodists and others in the soup kitchen and elsewhere to serve the homeless. We also work closely with a number of other churches on service projects outside the typical “peace and justice” crusades that one associates with UUs.
We have been both leaders and followers in a number of interfaith efforts, many of which are ongoing or recurring.
Comment by Jim — September 16, 2007 #
Peacebang,
You might be interested in the interfaith social justice work happening right now in Louisiana:
Justice for Jena Interfaith Worship Service and Prayer Meeting
http://allsoulsuushreveport.org/blog/2007/09/justice_for_jena_interfaith_wo.html
Louisiana UUs decry racism in ‘Jena Six’ case
http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/45260.shtml
Our minister is active in the local interfaith group that is affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation as well.
Comment by Steve Caldwell — September 17, 2007 #
I have always been involved in local interfaith groups as a clergyperson and have become quite prominent when I have stayed for a while. In my longterm settlement we led some interfaith efforts to address the war and joined the efforts of others. Within our congregations not everyone is open, but I have found most are receptive and pleased to be working with other faith groups on issues of interest. It is true that UU’s are often ignorant about other faiths and need to be educated that they may not be the only ones in the room who are not biblical literalists, nor do they corner the market on political liberalism among faith groups.
Comment by Kate R — September 17, 2007 #
I am a member of the interfaith group of UNESCO-Catalonia that is working on the UN Millenium Development Goals. We are developing together an UN-sponsored collection of articles and short essays on how religions can make a positive difference to help achieve the development goals, and Unitarian Universalism will stand on equal ground and visibility with other faith traditions. The book will be published by the end of this year and it will be available in Spanish, Catalan, and English versions.
Comment by Jaume — September 17, 2007 #
I don’t know what it’s like on your side of the pond but in England Unitarians are viewed by even the mainstream “Christian” churches as akin to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. Of course, this is disgusting but it a hurdle that will be placed in the way of any brave Unitarian wishing to initiate conversations over here.
What I would really like to see happen is the initiating of conversations between open-minded humanists from all the faith traditions and, most important, with secular humanists who do not define their humanism as aggressively anti-religion. I think such a grouping would find that it was united by a morality based on the Golden Rule and from such a base I think great things could happen. At the very least we might end up respecting each other more and, of course, with you involved, the gospel of contextual fashion would end up being proclaimed in every corner of the world.
Comment by MadPriest — September 17, 2007 #
I can think of lots of particular UU interfaith experiences, but I’m more interested in speculating about possible patterns. It seems to me that there are various different UU approaches to interfaith dialog and action.
Many ministers, at least those that are involved in social action work, often seem to appear in public alongside clergy from other denominations/religions. I don’t know if this results in much actual discussion of various religious viewpoints, but it certainly shows a willingness to rub shoulders across the aisle.
Laypeople, on the other hand, seem to have a different vector for interfaith exchange. If I were feeling snarky, I’d say one main way UU laypeople engage in interfaith activities is by converting to other religions. Certainly an awful lot of folks who spend their time engaging deeply with some other religion/denomination end up as members of that other group. Less dramatically, a lot of UUs engage in interfaith activity by attending services at other churches or groups. They aren’t involved in showy “Interfaith Dialog(tm)” but they themselves are the arena of multi-religious contact.
Another demographic are people raised UU. Except on Sundays, every day of my life has been an interfaith encounter with other religions that outnumber me dramatically. Frankly, that sometimes inclines me away from overt interfaith discussion and toward the desire to rest among others of my kind. There has never been a day in my life when I wasn’t made to hear about their Gods; I don’t feel too guilty about not always seeking out yet more opportunities to do so.
The average UU church has or has had an outside religious group using its building as a meeting space, typically for low or even no rent. In many cases these are folks whom other churches wouldn’t let in the front door. That’s one particularly UU expression of our appreciation of other religions that seems like it might count as interfaith work.
Comment by Jeff W. — September 17, 2007 #
Our pastor sits on the interfaith pastors’ council in our neighborhood, and also on the neighborhood strategic planning council. Our youth group meets with the youth of the local United Methodist church, and is doing OWL with the UCC youth. Our 4th-6th-graders study our Judeo-Christian heritage one year, world faiths another, and UUism the third. Last year we had clergy from other faiths come and speak in our services. And we have some interfaith couples in our church, including me and my girlfriend Holden. We try to be very visible and model interfaith citizens.
Some people are still really rude or insensitive about other churches, but I see signs of hope. I think a lot of their apparent bigotry stems from trauma and pain, and I’m always glad when they seem to be working through that. And they’re outnumbered by the unchurched people among us, who don’t have as much pain or prejudice.
It’s always very refreshing and reassuring to me when we go to Holden’s Catholic church and my UU church and hear the same homilies. The music is different, the architecture is different, the language is different, but the message is the same. That’s what we tell people, over and over and over again. And most of them seem to get it!
Comment by Ellis — September 17, 2007 #
A few different thoughts:
Yes! We must find ways to work with others, even when the differences in beliefs can feel like two or more different planets. I think establishing personal relationships and doing work for the good of the community are the best ways to connect.
Regarding the program where youth visit other faith communities: I agree the first thing we must cover in the curriculum is a strong understanding of Unitarian Universalism. I hate to say how many times I hear of the youth having a good visit to the local mosque or Greek orthodox church, but getting tripped up when asked about Unitarian Universalism, or even what they believe. When I led religious education programs, I stressed the grounding before visiting.
In a similar line, I wonder if perceiving a reduced amount of interfaith conversations at GA is related to my sense of seeing an effort, conscious or unconscious, to focus on what we’re about and then be better able to communicate that after we go home.
To make a broad observation, I think there is a lot of interfaith work happening - and sometimes it can be more implicit than explicit, in a way similar to Jeff W.’s comment that being in the world with a certain level of self-awareness can feel like an interfaith encounter.
As for helping Unitarian Universalists get over the rampant twitchyness at hearing words such as God and Christian, there is a long way to go. As a minister, I find many times I enjoy the translation because I know I will gain from it. Unfortunately, I feel most Unitarian Universalists are lazy or are too reactive because of their own experiences to do the work of finding a relationship. I am more aware of how many members of at least congregation I serve have to handle hostile or uncomfortable situations dealing with differences of religion on a daily basis and being at church is a place to get a break from that effort. As a minister I am willing to step into that kind of situation at any time as part of my vocation. Also, one of the more important ministries Unitarian Universalism offers for our society is a space for people to heal from painful past relationships with religion. However, I feel the negative feelings that come from such pain have really poisoned our ability to be positive and respectful of other faiths. I had to unlearn a negative attitude towards Christianity and language referring to God or even words such as benediction. I just offered a sermon with a story of my experience of how I had to find the difference between Unitarian Universalist values and what I learned from the culture of the congregation and then determine if I would remain in the church. I wish I did not see a demand for that message.
What I do know is I expect to enjoy myself at an interfaith program tomorrow. The group organizing the program consists of lay leaders from many churches work on projects to benefit the city. I am enjoying the chance to meet members of different congregations, rather than focus on meeting just the ministers.
PB, thank you for your post.
Comment by jinnis — September 17, 2007 #
“Unitarians are viewed by even the mainstream “Christian” churches as akin to Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormon”
I think this is because all of the three groups mentioned have Christian roots but do not believe in the Trinity. For most Christian, not believing in the Trinity is heresy at the most basic level. There is an aversion for things that look like Christianity but don’t hold to this fundamental belief: the Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Comment by Canadian — September 17, 2007 #
Thank you for this post! It resonated with me as I think of my own religious upbringing (UU, Catholic *and* Protestant, whee!). As a Starr King student, it also excites me to hear this well-articulated critique of UUism as I better grasp the need for multi-faith theological education, which the school has made a priority. (There’s a brief and informative article on SKSM’s news and events page, http://www.sksm.edu/info/news_and_events.php, called “Andalusia and Beyond”.)
Thanks again!
Betty Jeanne
Comment by Betty Jeanne — September 17, 2007 #
I tend to agree with you. As a candidate for UU ministry, I have found that Interfaith circles are the best places to practice public ministry, what we UUs often call Acts of Prophetic Witness. I have found that walking for peace with members and leaders of Lutheran and UCC churches, or protesting state executions of the incarcerated with Catholics and Shakers, or living among among the impoverished in Latin America with Franciscans have brought me not only incredible learning opportunities, but have brought the best question I can hear: “what is Unitarian Universalism?” I get to educate and evangelize (gasp!) while discovering the the best (and often most demanding and challenging) parts of other faiths.
That’s why I am an Associate of the Franciscan Community of Little Falls, MN (formerly called a convent) and have not relinquished my identity as a Catholic, just because I have this calling to UU ministry.
The best question I can get from a UU? How can you be Catholic AND Unitrain Universalist? (Actually, they usually just say Unitarian, a shorthand that says a lot about them…) It gives me the opportunity to do more educating about the similarities between liberal Catholicism while listening to stories of religious wounds unhealed.
That’s ministry.
Comment by Denis Paul — September 17, 2007 #
Here’s the latest press coverage about on-going interfaith work in our community:
Religious groups unite, pray for Jena Six
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070917/NEWS01/709170314/1060/NEWS01
or use this tinyURL to view the story:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yrd858
Comment by Steve Caldwell — September 18, 2007 #
I am a UU who volunteers annually in El Salvador sharing my professional skills to help improve the quality of life of others who lack access to resources. I go down with a group of other professionals, primarily ucc from vermont. I have been enormously impressed with the work that many christian groups are doing down there, and find liberation theology fascinating. We have used the organizational resources of various willing christian groups to help us provide our services in the community. Where the lutherans help us provide care we generally end up caring for many evangelicals who live close by.
Although I do not consider myself christian I have developed a huge respect for the folks I see
living out the love in their faith,under incredibly challenging circumstances even including a nun originally from New Jersey.
When I return home from these trips, and hear a fellow UU making blanket derogatory statements about the christian faith, I ask them where it says accepting the wisdom & faith of all religions except christianity. That usually gets my point across.
Comment by Juana la loca — September 18, 2007 #
I am betting that local congregations differ in their composition; I think if a congregation is comprised mainly of those who are seeking a way to find spiritual community that allows them to escape severe wounding at the hands of other faith traditions (perhaps mainly Christian) it is probably much harder to initiate discussion about interfaith cooperation. I have also been around a number of UUs who seem to be very intellectually-focused, both because they are profoundly intellectually gifted and as a way of coping with past religious abuse, and sometimes that goes along with very strong emotional reactions. On the whole though, the UUs I have known have been very concerned with social justice issues in the wider community, which I admire lots.
Comment by Terri C — September 18, 2007 #