Worth having a look at the New Statesman's 'Faith' column this week by Jim Corrigall, a communications consultant for 'Unitarians in Britain' - I have to confess that until I read his introductory piece on Monday I'd never even heard of Unitarianism. He’s talking about ‘Unitarian Universalism’ rather than the branch of Christian theology that explicitly rejects the notion of the trinity.Until lately, when pressed, I'd describe myself as an atheist but since the arrogant, reductive atheism beloved of Dawkins, Grayling et al. has given the tag a bad name I’ve been notionally casting around for a less contentious label - perhaps the Unitarian's would have me? Here's Corrigall on the Unitarian's attitude to creeds and dogmas:
"Today Unitarianism is best described as a liberal, non-dogmatic faith, open to the insights and wisdom of all the world’s religions and to the rich heritage of the arts, sciences and humanities. We do not demand that people wishing to join us should subscribe to any creed or dogma. Ours is a very ‘broad church’. We are proud to have as members those who describe themselves as liberal and radical Christians; as humanists and agnostics; as well as Buddhists and liberal Jews, Muslims and Hindus. We also have followers of earth-centred spirituality, and members of no specific faith who find in community their highest aspirations"'Liberal' and 'non-dogmatic' sounds good, accepting of the contribution arts & humanities can make - that I like. No specific mention of atheism but a sufficiently broad church to accommodate my lapsed Catholicism anyway. So what do these folks actually believe?
"Unitarians are a community who take their religion, or their spirituality, liberally. That is to say, we hold that people have the right to believe what their own life-experience tells them is true; what the promptings of their own conscience say is right. Most Unitarians would use the word ‘God’ to signify whatever they believe to be of supreme worth. God is that which commands ultimate reverence and allegiance. God is the inspiration and the object of those who seek truth in a spirit of humility and openness. Many experience God as a unifying and life-giving spirit: the source of all being, the universal process that comes to consciousness as love."Mmm - still nothing there that I would object to as such but I’m beginning to wonder just how cohesive a group these ‘Unitarians’ are. Given their rejection of any sort of formal creed and the total latitude they offer members over how to conceive of ‘God’ I’m having difficulty distinguishing them as anything other than a group of well-meaning vaguely spiritual types with little else in common. In his second column we learn a little about their approach to sacred texts?
"Unitarians do not approach the Bible uncritically; it must be read in the light of reason, informed by biblical criticism and scholarship. When Unitarians accept something in the Bible as true, they do so because it rings true in their own humble reflections upon it - not simply because it is in the Bible. And we approach the sacred books of other religious traditions in a similar vein"OK I’m starting to lose them now - I’m all for ‘reasoned’ analysis of sacred texts and truths being ‘personal’ in origin but if you have absolutely no ‘red lines’ or ‘go to truths’ (if you like) then what exactly distinguishes them from, well, just people’ It’s almost a religion defined by what it’s not rather than what it is. Jim’s third column yesterday was entitled ‘Unity in Diversity’ and if ever anything strained my natural respect for religious faith that Blairite banality certainly did. In it he tackles the nature of Unitarian 'worship' but as you've probably been able to guess by now it's just a sort of pick'n'mix of all the nice, uncontentious aspects of other religious ceremonies with lots of words like 'contemplative', 'reflective' and 'meditational' etc.
I don't want to arrogantly dismiss a long religious tradition with a couple of hundred words and if there's anyone out there who thinks I've got this wrong or can enlighten me please say but beyond the superficial appeal I'm struggling to see how this tradition hangs together. It's certainly appealing in terms of the absence of any offensive dogma or crude moralising but religion should be more than something you just 'sign up to' because you agree with certain statements, it's not like lending support to a petition in the street. A religious tradition should offer some degree of insight beyond that which we all have as humans anyway, it should offer some sort of unique narrative by which followers can better understand the world around them. Unitarianism seems rooted in a noble desire to take the best of religion and discard the worst but stripping out the worst aspects and still leaving something of substance is clearly a very difficult task. I guess for now atheism is still the badge for me.....
Labels: Religion
2 Comments:
Hm. Looks like a sort of nicotine gum for the religious world. Not exactly my cup of tea, but, given the dangers of religious extremism, probably something I'd encourage.
Well, that's progress. You've made a start.
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