THE GOSPEL OF HUMANISM (Source #5)
Rev. Kit Ketcham, Nov. 23, 2014
During this next several months, I’m speaking on
the six Sources of Unitarian Universalism, which form the foundation for our
faith tradition and make us markedly different from most other religious
traditions.
Let’s read together the text at the top of your
order of service. This is the
formal statement of our reliance on humanistic thought as one of the Sources of
Unitarian Universalism. I’ve
chosen this Source for November because of Thanksgiving, which is a beloved
American holiday not tied to religious doctrine or war.
“Humanist
teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of
science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.”
We
sat in shock as the dreadful news unfolded, awaiting the latest developments in
fear and trembling. I’ll bet most of you have your own tales to tell about some
historic moment in your world experience and how your life was different from
that moment on.
We
tend to remember the events that shape our lives; often the more radical the
change, the more vivid the memory. I also remember a moment when I acknowledged
the shift in my religious outlook and said to myself, like Dorothy in the
Wizard of Oz, “Wow, I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore.”
It
was because of a song I was hearing on the radio, a song from a folk opera
which was gaining recognition on Broadway: Allison, sing it for us, would
you? (Allison sings "It Ain't Necessarily So".)
Hearing
this song for the first time, I thought WHAT??? Someone dares to say this in a
Broadway song? What would my conservative family think if they heard it? And
what would they say if they knew I agreed?
This
was a huge moment of truth for me. I knew I didn’t believe all the stuff I’d
learned in Sunday School; I didn’t approve of God’s handling of the Promised
Land crisis, when he told the Hebrew children just to go and take it from the
Canaanites; I had a lot of questions about the stories of water and wine and
people being raised from the dead.
But
I hadn’t challenged my parents or my teachers on any of this. I was pretty sure
I wouldn’t like the answers I got. But here was a popular song which crooned my
own heresies in an authoritative and melodious way, resonating in my young
heart.
My
opinion-forming style is to listen, rather than argue, to use my internal
morality gauge and reason to determine right from wrong, to think about
consequences, and to allow others to form their own opinions in their own ways.
I tend to look for ways we agree, rather than ways I disagree with someone.
So
I quietly acknowledged to myself, in my twenties, that I was more of a
humanist, in my heart, than I was a traditional believer. At that point in
history, humanism—particularly what was labeled as secular humanism--didn’t
have a good reputation. It was getting a lot of criticism from the orthodox
religious world as a philosophy which seemed to contend that humans were the
be-all and end-all of the universe, the most powerful and highest of creation’s
huge output, in fact, a sort of God and Master of the Universe.
But
I was still clearly a Christian in many ways and anyhow, I had more interesting
things to think about for this was during the time I was working in the inner
city of Denver as a Baptist Home Missionary. Life in Denver’s Five Points neighborhood was full of
opportunities to serve in humanitarian ways and nobody seemed to mind if I
skipped the proselytizing and saving of souls in favor of handing out food to
the hungry and providing after-school activities for the kids.
Let’s look again at the statement at the top of
our O/S this morning and unpack it a little bit before moving on. There are some things about the
language of this Source which make it different from the others, because it
contains a warning, a warning which has been quite relevant over the years, a
warning that we must not worship rationality and science to the extent that we
get caught up in a kind of fundamentalist UUism, closed minded and unwilling to
think about other points of view.
Because
when the Unitarians first merged with the Universalists, back in 1961, we were
combining two very different but equally radical concepts: the boots on the ground philosophy of
humanism and the Jesus-centered liberation theology of Christian thought.
Out
of these two separate entities, we were hoping to create something new, a
religion based in reason and open to the spirituality and urgency of
faith. A religion which sought
empirical answers to our questions about the universe and also marveled at the
mysteries which could not be answered by reason. At least not yet.
It
has taken time for this to happen, but despite the smoke and heat thrown off by
the combination of these two elements, our congregations mostly have settled
into a respectful acceptance that even within the ranks of like minds, there
are deep differences of experience and opinion.
For
many years, and still today occasionally, our human desire for our own way to
be the right way, the one way, overpowers our also-human desire for beloved
community.
The
warning expressed in this source, about idolatries of the mind and spirit,
means, I think, that we are each capable of judging different religious beliefs
as wrong and taking our own judgment so seriously that we become as excluding
and mean-spirited as te most conservative fundamentalist.
Just
as there are “flat-earth” conservatives, who deny evolution and other
scientific discoveries like climate change, there are “flat-earth” humanists as
well, who ridicule anything that smacks of nonrationality. Those are idolatries of the mind and
the spirit, I believe.
St.
Google offered up this definition of humanism: humanism
is a broad category of ethical philosophies that affirm the dignity and worth
of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appeal to
universal human qualities, particularly rationality. It entails a commitment to the search for truth and morality
through human means in support of human interests. It rejects the validity of supernatural events as a basis
for morality and endorses a universal morality based on the commonality of the
human condition.
Last
summer, I had a conversation with my son about the idea of God, in which I
found myself trying to impose my own views on him. Our views were similar but just different enough that we
could not come to an agreement at that time, but later, as I watched that
wonderful series of COSMOS programs with Neil deGrasse Tyson, I realized that I
had shifted once again and, if I was honest with myself, I would have to come
to terms with that new idea, because it made better sense than my older view.
That,
I think, is one of the gifts of the philosophy of humanism---that it gives us
permission to change our minds based on new insights and perspectives, and, in
fact, demands that we do so, if our experience reveals something new.
As
my colleague Tom Owen-Towle has observed, “We come to our religious values
experientially. The beliefs we
hold are not so much revealed to us as experienced by us.”
When
Arline and I were preparing this service, we talked a bit about our transitions
from traditional religion to a more humanistic approach to religious
faith. After she had a chance to
study the Bible as literature in college, she felt challenged to explore and in
her search for a non-creedal faith, a faith which reflected her own truth, she
found Unitarian Universalism here at PUUF.
We
acknowledged that we had both evolved in our thinking over our lifetimes, as
all living beings are inclined to do.
Rigidity of thought or of ability to adapt to changing circumstances can
thwart the natural process of evolution.
Now,
we all know that Arline is a locally renowned person, someone we know and
support as Mayor of Astoria. But
who else is or has been a humanistic person? Again, St. Google to the rescue. Here’s a partial list of some other notable figures who have
advocated humanism as a world view:
Isaac
Asimov, author; Margaret Atwood, author; Leonard Bernstein, composer and
conductor; Niels Bohr, scientist; Johannes Brahms, composer; Helen Caldicott,
anti-nuclear activist; Confucius, ancient Chinese scholar; Aaron Copland,
composer; Ann Durham, President Obama’s mother; Albert Einstein, scientist;
Buckminster Fuller, architect; Che Guevara, revolutionary; Katherine Hepburn,
actress; Bill Nye the Science Guy; Ellen Page, actress; Gene Roddenberry,
author and screenwriter; Carl Sagan, scientist; Charles Schultz, creator of the
Peanuts comic strip; Dr. Benjamin Spock, pediatrician; Mark Twain, aka Samuel
Clemens, author; Neil deGrasse Tyson, scientist and TV star; Kurt Vonnegut,
author; and, one of my personal favorites, Pete Wernick, Doctor Banjo of the
bluegrass band Hot Rize.
Several
years ago, the editor of the humanist publication “Free Inquiry”, Paul Kurtz,
wrote and published a statement of humanistic principles which are clearly
reflected in our own UU values.
His list includes such affirmations as our preference for natural,
rational explanations of the universe, rather than supernatural ones, our
advocacy of the separation of church and state, the democratic process, justice
and fairness in society, and the worth and dignity of all living beings.
In
addition, his list includes supporting the disadvantaged and disabled,
transcending divisive loyalties based on race, religion, gender, nationality,
sexual orientation, class, or ethnicity, working together for the common good
of humanity.
I
like his closing paragraph, at the end of a list of 21 affirmations: “We believe in optimism rather than
pessimism, hope rather than despair, learning in the place of dogma, truth
instead of ignorance, joy rather than guilt or sin, tolerance in the place of
fear, love instead of hatred, compassion over selfishness, beauty instead of
ugliness, and reason rather than blind faith or irrationality. We believe in the fullest realization
of the best and noblest that we are capable of as human beings.”
Each
of our sources calls us to act
on the wisdom of that Source. Our
belief in the value of direct personal experience, which we discussed last month,
calls us to be mindful, considering the meaning of our personal experiences and
how they shape our understandings of the universe.
What
does this Source, emphasizing the importance of human-centered philosophy, call
us to do with our religion?
As we consider the list of notable personages who have espoused
humanitarian values, we may notice that many of these men and women have made
huge contributions to the fields of literature, music, science, social
movements, and other creative endeavors.
If
we are to live out our connection to humanism, we must find ways to express our
concern for humankind in concrete ways.
I think most of us are already doing this to some extent.
I
know that many, perhaps most of us contribute financially and in hands-on ways,
as individuals. We also act in
humanitarian ways when we repair the damage done by misguided human beings, as
we work to heal the environment or care for abused animals and other living
beings. This congregation supports
a local family during the holidays, buying gifts and food for their
celebration.
It’s
been challenging to find an ongoing humanitarian project for us to get involved
in because of our long, narrow parish, stretching from the Long Beach peninsula
down through Tillamook County, a distance of about 100 miles. That’s a long way to come to church or
any other meeting, no matter how important!
But
it may be possible for our members who live in farflung locations to get
involved deeply or start something that serves local needs in the communities
where they live.
And
it seems definitely possible for those of us who live within a few miles of
Astoria to find a project that will reflect our humanitarian values.
As
a congregation we support civil rights for sexual minorities, through our Welcoming
Congregation affiliation and have had members personally involved in this
struggle. We have members who
privately take part in addressing literacy, who give support for the arts and
scientific research, spend time in
wildlife and animal protection work, who reach out to the mentally ill and
homeless residents of our area, who spend time educating people about our local
environment and repairing the damage done by past usages, who offer hospitality
to strangers in our community, and who do so both individually and as
volunteers with agencies.
What
are we doing now? Where do you
volunteer, either as an individual or as a member of a group? (cong. resp) What agencies or movements do you support that are devoted
to improving human living conditions?
(cong resp) What
possibilities do you see for us to be more helpful than we currently are, as a
congregation? (write down)
So
though a lot of the things the Bible says “ain’t necessarily so”, the sacred
literature of every religion, including religious humanism, urges us as people
who try to live useful, productive, humanitarian lives, to spend our lives
working to improve the lot of humanity, rather than just our own circumstances,
to offer hospitality to the stranger and to teach better ways of living.
As
we move through the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving this coming week,
saying thank you to the universe for its bounty and its beauty, expressing
gratitude and appreciation to our family and friends who treat us with such
kindness and generosity, and pouring out our own love on them in return, let us
keep our eyes and hearts open for ways we can improve the lives of all living
things----the hungry, the homeless, the injured, the despairing, the abused.
For
in so doing, we live out our humanitarian instincts and our religious mission,
and make ourselves better persons in the process.
HYMN
# 318, “We Would Be One”
BENEDICTION: Our worship service, our time of
shaping worth together, is ended, but our service to the world begins again as
we leave this place. Let us go in
peace, considering the value of our humanitarian work and how we might extend
ourselves in the larger community.
May we seize opportunities for kindness and mercy toward others and may
we not fall into the trap of closing our minds to ideas which bother us, lest
we miss an opportunity to grow.
Amen, Shalom, Salaam, and Blessed Be.
