Paul Wilczynski's Observations

The future of Unitarian Christianity

Thanks much to Philocites for mentioning that Earl Holt, the minister of King's Chapel in Boston, scheduled a lecture with the above title this morning. I was pleased I was able to attend.

First things first: Note to self: make sure to wear a suit the next time you attend a function held at or by Kings Chapel if you want to fit in. At least I had my black jeans on; if I had worn my blue ones, I would have been too mortified for words.

Earl (everyone called him Earl) definitely knows what he believes and how he feels about us non-Christian UUs. We exhibit "spiritual trendiness", and use the "language of euphemism" (a play on Bill Sinkford's reference to our needing a language of reverence. Our ministers and UU leaders speak "pablum" to us.

I'm not the best note taker in the world, but more to the core of his message he made the following points:

• Where it the unity in our spiritual diversity?
• During the merger talks (merging Unitarianism with Universalism) there were no discussions about the theological foundation of the merged religion
• In the days of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote glowingly a few times about Unitarianism, he equated it with liberal Christianity - a fact some ignore when writing sermons about Jefferson's Unitarian-leaning tendencies, he said
• He drew an analogy of walking up to a cliff and coming to within 20 feet, then 10 feet, then 5 feet, then 2 feet, then 1 foot of it. If you go any further, you're finished. He asked if we've moved past the edge of "religion".
• While we all know that our UU roots are in the Judeo-Christian heritage, a root doesn't limit how much you grow and where you grow, but you'll wither if you cut yourself off from your root.
• One that I particularly agreed with: UUs have a strong motivation not to offend. If we say something that someone else disagrees with, we drop it. That leads to being the lowest common denominator religion.
• He noted that he is the Chair of the current UU Commission on Appraisal which is studying a question he put forth: Where is the Unity in Our Theological Diversity? He said the report, due out at this year's General Assembly in June, is about 200 pages long and will be most likely shelved before anyone reads it. Those who read it, he said, will almost certainly be disappointed.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 4:19 PM