Dialog with a Christian, Part 1 - Creeds

Way back at the beginning of December, 2006, I stumbled upon a blog called "Bridget Jones Goes to Seminary" written by a friend of one of my seminary classmates. "Bridget"/Meg was asking for a dialog with a non-christian, not to convert, but to understand. You can read the post & comments here: Help Wanted. I answered Meg's "Help Wanted" ad. By the way, I've asked Meg if it's o.k. to post about our dialog, including some quotes, and she's given permission for me to "blog about it, quote me, use my name, direct people to my website, whatever. The dialog is good for both sides!"

After a couple of emails & delays due to final exams and the holidays, we've begun our dialog. I'm someone who spent a lot of time hanging out with Christians in high school, and walked away from the faith primarily because of the patriarchal problem (Meg alludes to this in her post), and secondarily because of just not believing - or being able to believe - the doctrines set forth by the church. Unitarian Universalism is a perfect fit for me - I don't have to believe what I'm told, I do have to (in the words of a seminary professor) believe what I must.

One of her first questions concerned the Apostle's Creed. She wrote: "What is your take on the Apostle's Creed? Are there points of departure from this document on your part? What and why might they be?"

My response: "Unitarian Universalists don't have a unifying creed, certainly not the Apostles' creed. We are a creedless faith, however most folks do appropriate the principles of the covenant of congregations as guidelines for living a UU faith. The principles and purposes of our association of congregations can be found here: Principles and Purposes." I also said there are UUs who do consider themselves Christians, and I can't speak for them. I only know that the only part of the Apostle's Creed that I might agree with is that Jesus lived, was crucified, and died. (And even that's up for debate among some people.)

While I'm well aware the Principles and Purposes do not constitute a creed for UUs, it is true that many UUs refer to them as guidelines in living a life in accordance with the highest ideals of Unitarian Universalism. I've heard the Principles & Purposes are due for review, and I'm wondering how they might emerge changed from committee meetings, congregational dialogs, and plenary session votes. I'm looking forward to seeing if the language changes from the formal stiltedness of the present to more poetic, reverent, religious language -- sort of the way the language changed from the first to the third versions of the Humanist Manifesto.

A creed is a system of belief, like the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, and such. I think of our Principles as a statement of how we aspire to act, which may well reflect what we believe. It's hard to imagine affirming and promoting the inherent worth of every person, if one doesn't in fact believe that every person has inherent worth. Setting aside the question of who is a person, this is how I think we describe ourselves as a faith of "deeds, not creeds." In many ways it's a very pragmatic approach. We agree we cannot know which belief system describes Truth-with-a-capital-T. We've agreed to allow difference in belief, while requesting agreement in action. For me, at least, belief is not the point.

Meg's response to my question about why she believes what is stated in the Apostle's Creed included the following:

"When I look at the world, I cannot see it as a place which exists for its own sake. There are portions of the Himalayas and the Amazon which no person, perhaps even no creature has ever seen. I could believe that the vistas and majesty go to waste or else I could believe in a Creator God who delights over it all. The beauty in the world makes more sense if there is, in fact, a God who delights in it and teaches us to do the same." and "So, because of the beauty I find in the world, I believe in a transcendant God. Because I know that I am not - nor will I ever be - the person I want to be, I believe in the necessity of asking for help from this transcendant God."

More about that next post...

I'm finding this dialog with Meg to be stimulating and challenging, in a way that I don't always find classes to be. I want to be able to articulate what I think and believe about religious ideas better - not so I can convert anyone to Unitarian Universalism, just so I can more easily find the common ground - or common language - to discuss these ideas with others. I have this, perhaps naive, hope that understanding leads to tolerance/acceptance.