Why harp on this question, “What is Unitarian Universalism?”

It seems there is no end to materials that explore the idea of Unitarian Universalist identity. As a faith movement of individuals bound in community without adherence to dogma or doctrine, we struggle with limited human language to express just what it is that draws us together. We try to use reason in all things, even when faced with the ineffable, and therefore we strive to explain the unexplainable.

Personally, I am drawn to these discussions because I feel it is vitally important that we as individuals have the tools to reach out beyond our congregations, to bring our “Good News” out into the world to those who would join us. By exploring ideas and language from many sources, it is my sincere hope to provide a variety of these tools to choose from, so that perhaps, when an individual is asked, “What is your church all about?” they can draw upon language that makes sense to them in order to answer coherently.

So, with these things in mind, today we look again at the report from the Unitarian Universalist Commission on Appraisal published in 2005, “Engaging our Theological Diversity” (very long PDF), as distilled into these twelve statements by the Rev. David Takahashi Morris, co-minister at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist in Charlottesville, Virginia.

For consideration: As a Unitarian Universalist, how do you identify with these statements? Are there any that do not resonate with you, or any that resonate strongly?

Unitarian Universalist Theological Identity

Adapted by Rev. David Takahashi Morris from Engaging Our Theological Diversity, A Report from the Commission on Appraisal of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Do all diverse Unitarian Universalists stand upon any shared theological ground? Respecting the identity of individual perspective we offer the following statements of who Unitarian Universalists are theologically.

1. We are a grounded faith. We are a faith with roots, however lightly held, that go back two thousand years and more.
2. We are an ecological faith. In the West, the vision of interconnectedness has had an uphill struggle to displace a more hierarchical vision of the nature of the cosmos. We have placed the interdependent web squarely at the center of our shared worldview.
3. We are a profoundly human faith. We see our charge as loving our neighbor – our primary focus for religious action is the well-being of this world.
4. We are a responsible faith. At our best, we are able to respond to our deep sense of interconnectedness with both the natural and human worlds. We understand that humanity must take its responsibility for the state of the world seriously.
5. We are an experiential faith. We are focused more on experience – both our own and that of trusted others, past and present than on beliefs.
6. We are a free faith. We are free both as individuals and congregations. We are a faith of heretics, from the Greek word meaning to choose.
7. We are an imaginative faith. We engage with image and story, making a place where creativity can flourish.
8. We are a relational faith. While we support the individual journey, we ground it in caring community.
9. We are a convenantal faith. We are held together by our chosen commitment to each other rather than by creed, ecclesiastical authority or revealed truth.
10. We are a curious faith. We acknowledge that our perspective is limited; that we could be wrong; that we live in the midst of uncertainties, yet we are ever open to new insights.
11. We are a reasonable faith. We encourage the practice of disciplined inquiry toward personal and societal assumptions. We challenge idolatries, especially our own.
12. We are a hopeful faith. We are a faith of possibilities, aspiring to be a transformative faith – a justice-seeking faith creating a space for the “Beloved Community.”

Source: Unitarian Universalist Commission on Appraisal published in 2005, “Engaging our Theological Diversity” (very long PDF), as adaped by the Rev. David Takahashi Morris, co-minister at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist in Charlottesville, Virginia.

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