Paul Wilczynski's Observations

UUism: A Christian Faith Tradition

Ethan Field, a UUA Staff Member, part of the Unitarian Universalist Youth and Young Adults group, and a lifelong UU, says, in a beautifully written piece, that UUs should reclaim their rightful place as a Christian denomination. He begins ...

In the beginning – of this sermon – there were Christians. Unitarians were Christians. Universalists were Christians. Even Southern Baptists were Christians! And Unitarians and Universalists brought a radical voice to Christianity. We talked about the humanity of Jesus, more important as a human prophet of peace than as a divine personal savior. We talked about a positive place in eternity for all of us, even if you didn’t have the “right” theology.

But then something happened. Slowly, over time, Unitarianism and Universalism, and eventually Unitarian Universalism, stopped being a Christian faith. I don’t mean individual UUs stopped being Christian in their theology. I mean sometime in the last hundred years, we’ve come to a point where, if we’re asked if UUs are Christians, we’ll mumble something apologetic about history, and then say quickly, “But we’re not Christians now!!”

What happened? It’s true that lots of humanists came into our faith in the early 20th century. It’s true that as that century progressed, we came to embrace many sources of faith – which is awesome. But at some point, we kinda collectively bailed out on Christianity. Now, I would love to think that it was because we truly widened our tent until the word “Christian” just couldn’t contain what we are… but having spent my life as a UU, I’m just not buying it.

Thanks to Peacebang for pointing this one out.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 9:10 AM