A Sermon by the Rev. Daniel Charles Davis

  For the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Winston-Salem, NC

October 1, 2006

On a Sunday morning, off a narrow Charleston street, I wander through a Unitarian Universalist graveyard.

Over 200 years of our history mingles here with the South Carolina soil – Spanish moss hanging down from ancient trees, shadowing stones somewhat overgrown by shrubbery. Later, a guide would tell a horse-drawn carriage full of tourists that this was his favorite graveyard in Charleston, because it is so wild. He noted that it is not unkempt because Unitarians are lazy, but that it is natural because they believe in nature.

It was an offhand comment; it could have been more sophisticated. But it was a quick, positive summary of who we are. And this is something that many Unitarian Universalists are unable to do. He had a handle on Unitarian Universalism.

After he shared his handle with the tourists, I spoke up and mentioned Emerson and Thoreau, hoping to offer the people in the carriage a doorway, a point of entrance into our tradition.

What is your handle on Unitarian Universalism? What are you able to give a stranger or a friend that invites them to enter? That entices them to discover who we are? Can we give them an entrance that entrances them? Something that piques their interest?

We often get lost in the complexity of our tradition. It is as if someone asks about our house, and we respond with a description of the heating system or a critique along the lines of, “Well, my house is quite messy, so much less than perfect. But it’s not like some houses that are too rigid and confining.”

There is no welcome in those statements. The complex explanation is off putting, the self-deprecation is too often perceived as the real truth. Running down other religions is not what we want to be known for. Instead, let us give people a handle on our tradition, something positive that they can hold onto.

We live in a world of information overload: A hurricane of ideas swirls in the air, a torrent of talk rains upon our brains, the wind of witless pundits pummels our perceptions, a flood of information surges through our senses. Our friends and families are also bombarded by facts flying from every direction.

Everyone needs something to hold onto. In the sea of confusion, people seek a life raft.

Most choose something that appears safe. They want to be saved. That is the power of most religions. They save people from drowning in their fears.

Unitarian Universalism is different. We tell people that it is possible for them to swim in the sea of spirituality. Most people respond, “I don’t have time for swimming lessons. Give me a belief that I can float on.”

“Well, our beliefs are uncertain,” we say.

“You have to believe in something,” they insist.

“Well…not officially,” we say.

“In the name of God. HELP ME!” they implore.

“What is the name you prefer for God?” we helpfully inquire.

By this time they have either drowned or taken a boat far, far away from us. We look at them sadly, saying, “They should have learned to swim. There is a freedom in swimming that one cannot find on a boat. I would have enjoyed someone to swim with.”

Some of us started swimming from an early age. Our parents encouraged us to question beliefs and find our own spirituality. Others of us learned to swim quickly when our boat of childhood beliefs crashed upon the rocks. My own life raft had a slow leak. As the air escaped, I realized that the blessed breath that filled the raft and the blessed breath that filled my lungs were one and the same. My body was mostly made of the same water surrounding me. These ideas freed me to swim.

I enjoy swimming; I wish everyone could. Some will never want to try. But some would try if they had something to hold onto.

This summer I spent time in my pool with my son and my grandson. Fearless and free are they, splashing with abandon, swimming and swirling through the water like otters. But I also know a woman. She does not believe in God. But more important to this story, she also does not believe in Physics. Those who know her, and are familiar with the Laws of Hydrodynamics, would rightly conclude that she is buoyant. Nevertheless, she still needs something to hold onto; a Styrofoam noodle or two helps her forget her fear, and gives her a handle on her confidence. Something to hold onto.

Something to hold onto; an easy handle on this complex faith. People need to know we are not as strange as others may say we are. We need to give them words that they can grasp.

Being able to state who we are will help us attract new people. Being able to state who we are will help us interact with others. Being able to state who we are can counteract the trouble in the world today. Emerson said, “Put the argument into a concrete shape, into an image – some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, which they can see and handle and carry home with them – and the cause is half won.” (“Eloquence,” from Society and Solitude, 1870)

We need to do the hard work of thinking about who we are, by thinking about what we might tell a friend about us. This discipline will help us understand ourselves. I know that this summer many of you read “Our Chosen Faith.” It helped you realize why you choose to be here. I also notice that this congregation was very busy over the summer. I happened to attend a walk in support of forming a national Department of Peace. (At the founding of our nation this was suggested by a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush, a Universalist.) There were twenty UUs on that walk. What we do says a lot about who we are. We are a people who go in peace, believe in peace, and create peace. What we do is the best clue to what we believe.

Another Unitarian, Thomas Jefferson, said, “It is in our lives and not from our words, that our religion must be read.” (Letter to Mrs. Samuel H. Smith, August 6, 1816.)

We care about freedom and humanity, from Mary Wollstonecraft writing about the rights of women to Thomas Paine writing about the rights of man. From Dorothea Dix and Benjamin Rush caring for people with mental illness to Susan B. Anthony, Olympia Brown, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton fighting for women’s rights. From Lydia Marie Child, Theodore Parker, and Thoreau protesting against slavery to Clarence Darrow defending the right to teach evolution in school. From Clara Barton forming the Red Cross to Roger Baldwin founding the ACLU.

We have a history of expanding human rights. But we cannot rest on our laurels; there is much work to do.

This week, Congress has passed a law that restricts human freedom. People of both parties voted to suspend Habeas Corpus – the right of people to be told why they are being imprisoned. The prohibitions against torture have been loosened.

We need to speak.

We who have the history of believing in human freedom, we are now called to live our belief. We can make people aware, tell people that we do not need this bill for protection.

We need to protect the character of this country. Is America a country that tortures? Ben Franklin said, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” (Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, November 11, 1755.)

Here is a handle to our faith that we can give to others: “Unitarian Universalists are against torture. Unitarian Universalists affirm and promote human dignity even if it means risking our lives.”

I would rather suffer another terrorist attack than to give in to the temptation to torture those who plan to harm me, than to give in to the temptation to torture those who might harm me, than to give in to the temptation to torture those who are rumored to want to harm me. I do not think it is right to torture people, especially when there is absolutely no evidence that they plan to harm me.

I never thought the following statement would be controversial: “Torture is wrong because it is an outrage against human dignity.”

Who we are will be determined by what we do. If we do not act to defend human freedom, then that means we do not believe in it. We must find a way to protest this action. However, that is a political action. If we have a handle on our Unitarian Universalism, then we will go beyond the political and into the spiritual.

Unitarians are the far extreme of Protestantism, which has its root in the word “protest.” It is a statement of what we are against. But we must do the spiritual work to discover what we are for, and then have the spiritual discipline to work at it every day. Henry Bellows, a 19^th-century Unitarian, said that “The true faith will no longer be a Protestant, [protesting] but an affirmative faith. Men will begin to put on beautiful garments of real beliefs, instead of throwing off ugly chains of prescription. The world will have set earnestly about the inquiry, not what is to be doubted, but what may be credited. Instead of fearing religious bondage, we shall dread spiritual nakedness.” (Henry Whitney Bellows, “Religious Liberty: The Alleged Failure of Protestantism,” preached February 22, 1852.)

We affirm human freedom in ourselves. And that leads us to affirm freedom for others.

We must overcome the fear that spawns restrictive laws. We are never powerless; we can always choose to act in a positive manner. Believing in human freedom is an act of faith.

Our faith springs from our history. Habeas Corpus has its roots in the Magna Carta of 1215, namely, “No free man shall be seized, or imprisoned, [. . .] except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land.” And it was formalized in the British Habeas Corpus Act of 1679. It is one of the assumptions held at the founding of this nation. It has been expanded internationally by the Geneva Conventions. We as Unitarian Universalists affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of all people.

We do not think the statement “Outrages upon human dignity” (Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions) is “very vague” (George W. Bush, Sept. 15, 2006).

We will not forsake it out of fear. The actions of others will not divert us from our high purpose.