Skip to main content

Things that matter

On this blog I have often mused on the decline and possible death of Unitarianism. It's interesting to ask the question of why I do this. I think partly it's because I see British Unitarianism as being in a kind of a denial about it and I don't see that denial as healthy. I don't want to be negative, but I want to confront reality face on and make decisions based on that reality.

What if Unitarianism were to die? If we knew that was a certainty, how it would change the way we act and the kind of decisions we make right now? I find it strangely liberating. It's like - none of this stuff matters that much so we might as well chill out about it all, right?

Here's one scenario I can imagine happening: Unitarianism dies away in a few decades. Time passes, meanwhile Pentecostalism becomes the largest kind of Christianity in Britain and matures as a movement. But then, some people in Pentecostalism start opening to liberal ideas, start questioning the Trinity, eternal damnation and other ideas and eventually become a Unitarian Pentecostal movement. 

Why shouldn't this happen? Unitarianism has spontaneously happened in different countries across the globe. In Britain there were movements of Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians who all became Unitarians. Why shouldn't that happen again in other denominations? History would suggest such a thing is quite possible. 

So in 50 or 60 years time "our" Unitarianism has died but a Pentecostal Unitarianism now exists, a Unitarianism with Pentecostal worship and culture. And then they discover our tradition and start mining it for its treasures as they build a new Unitarian identity.

What do we want them to find in the archives? What will resource them well in the future? Will they be excited that we used the latest technology and trends (which by then will be woefully out of date)? Will they think we had good advertising? Will they be impressed by our accounts and healthy bank balances? Will they be inspired by our committee minutes and efficient meetings that we had by the bucket load?

Let me suggest that the answer is no.

But if they were to discover inspirational devotional material, sermons, theology, spiritual writings, and stories of a bold and fearless people living prophetic lives, then this, I would suggest would inspire them. And Unitarianism would rise again.

I'm not a seer and I'm not saying I can predict that this is how it will happen. It's just a hypothetical experiment. But then again, it's not a crazy prediction either.

But my point is this: even if we are going to die, it still matters the kind of thing we do, and what legacy we leave, and this might shift our priorities. 

So I'm making a commitment now. I'm going to try, I'm really going to try to use this blog to give a much more positive and powerful message about our tradition. I'm going to try and let off the snipping and criticism and I'm going to try to do just do my thing. I'm going to try to just give my best understanding of the nature of this powerful and amazing tradition called Unitarianism. Because, maybe, this blog might be one of the things that's left over. And that's the legacy I want to leave. 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Stephen Lingwood wrote on 28 November 2016:

"So I'm making a commitment now. I'm going to try, I'm really going to try to use this blog to give a much more positive and powerful message about our tradition"

Today is 2 February 2017: over 2 months later.

So where is this much more positive and powerful message?

We are waiting to hear it.

Popular posts from this blog

Radical?

When I started this blog nearly 4 years and nearly 300 posts ago one of the labels I used for it/me was "radical." Perhaps I used it a little unreflectively. Recently I've been pondering what radical means. A couple of things have made me think of this. Firstly this blog series from my friend Jeremy, which explores a distinction between "radical progressives" and "rational progressives." There is also this definition of radical, liberal and conservative from Terry Eagleton quoted at Young Anabaptist Radicals : “Radicals are those who believe that things are extremely bad with us, but they could feasibly be much improved. Conservatives believe that things are pretty bad, but that’s just the way the human animal is. And liberals believe that there’s a little bit of good and bad in all of us.” What interests me is finding a way to express the tension I feel sometimes between myself and the wider Unitarian movement. One way to express this is to say I tend

What does it mean to be non-creedal?

Steve Caldwell says "The problem here isn't humanism vs. theism for theist Unitarian Universalists -- it's the non-creedal nature of Unitarian Universalism" This is a good point. We need to think much more deeply about what it means to be a non-creedal religion. The first thing I want to say is that there is more than one possible understanding of non-creedalism. The Disciples of Christ are a non-creedal church, they say here : " Freedom of belief. Disciples are called together around one essential of faith: belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Persons are free to follow their consciences guided by the Bible, the Holy Spirit study and prayer, and are expected to extend that freedom to others." Quakers are also non-creedal and say here : Quakers have no set creed or dogma - that means we do not have any declared statements which you have to believe to be a Quaker. There are, however, some commonly held views which unite us. One accepted view is that th

What is Radical Christianity?

Radical Christianity is about encountering the God of love . It is first and foremost rooted in the discovery of a universal and unconditional source of love at the heart of reality and within each person. God is the name we give to this source of love. It is possible to have a direct and real personal encounter with this God through spiritual practice. We encounter God, and are nourished by God, through the regular practice of prayer, or contemplation.  Radical Christianity is about following a man called Jesus . It is rooted in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet living under occupation of the Roman Empire two thousand years ago. It understands that's Jesus' message was the message of liberation. His message was that when we truly encounter God, and let God's love flow through us, we begin to be liberated from the powers of empire and violence and encounter the  "realm of God" - an alternative spiritual and social reality rooted in love rather th