Tensions

One of the things I didn’t expect to think about (but should have) in seminary is the tension between Christianity and Unitarian Universalism. In my school there is a tension that lies beneath the surface of the school’s struggle to be inclusive. It possibly lies beneath tensions between students and asserts itself sometimes within the classes. Christianity and Unitarian Universalism have common roots, of course Islam shares these same common roots in Judiasm. However the Unitarian and Universalist branches are more recent.

Here is the tension. Are UU’s still struggling to break away? Do some of those who come to Unitarian Universalism do so only to get away from Christianity? Are we a stop on the path of those running from someone or a legitimate destination? Who gets to decide?

It seems like there are two Unitarian Universalisms. (Ever heard that joke, where ever you have 3 UU’s you have 6 differing opinions?) One is the Unitarian Universalism that people find. The other is the one they are born into. Our children, who grow up in the faith have a different experience than those of us who find UUism after having been some place else. In my experience talking to UU kids they don’t have the same kind of Christianity baggage that some of the rest of us do.

I believe that Unitarian Universalism is a path worth running to for some. So is Christianity for some. So why the tension? The ideals of both religions share a love of the neighbor. UU’s are very big on social justice. Jesus was very big on social justice. Believers in either religion do not obtain their own ideals but then who does? Like Unitarian Universalism there is actually a lot of diversity within Christianity. I think there is danger and restriction for both religions in deciding that there is something fundamentally wrong with the other one.

But these answers are easy. Every body play nice kind of answers that even kids don’t quite buy. So what are the answers? I read an article about honoring your parents by taking the best of what you learned from them. By recognizing they are human and without erasing the pain, you can honor their attempts. Maybe the answer lies somewhere in there, UUism as a child of Christianity can honor this parent equally as well as the other parents in our religion, by taking what we learned. By honoring the best that we see in each other. But maybe that’s not quite right either….