Unitarian Universalism

Despite the longstanding debate about religion’s role in social movements, conservative religious opposition to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social movement in the United States has limited sociological research in this area to questions of individual identity or the oppositional strategies used by religious and LGTBQ groups to sway public opinion and policy decisions. This dissertation addresses the less well-understood dynamics of mainstream religious group participation in LGBTQ social movement. Through frameworks of social movement theory, organizational culture, and queer theory, it explores the organizational elements shaping congregants’ practices in two Unitarian Universalist (UU) churches considered “Welcoming Congregations”. Analysis of data generated from participant observations, in-depth interviews, and church and denominational texts highlight how structures of church governance, materiality, and history intersected with embedded discourses of...

I propose that a conceptual framework for the analysis of religious schisms and heresy based on sociopolitical concerns can enhance our understanding of heterodoxy. After a brief summary of the work Religious Studies scholars have previously done on heterodoxy and lived religion, I then define the four distinct lenses of my framework: lay following, influential individuals, conservative forces, and geopolitics. After explaining the strengths of this approach, I then apply my framework to three case studies: Unitarian Universalism, the medieval Nizari state, and Yiguandao.

, the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the leading African American papers in the United States, ran an article that proclaimed, "Chicagoans Have a New Religion … for a New Church." 1 The Courier emphasized that while indebted to the Christian tradition, this new church would "not be bound by the limitations of traditional theology." Instead, the group stressed that "every person through the use of his own reason and conscience can best arrive at his own creed"; they believed in freedom, "freedom 'from' bondage to creed or prejudice and freedom 'for' enlightenment." Their approach included the democratic process and the "scientific method" for inquiry while rejecting "any truth 'once and for all delivered.'" This "New Church" did not focus on Jesus or salvation and rejected "dogmatic religion" that claimed to be right while all others were wrong. The Courier reported that they stood for "universal brotherhood" and the "abolition of racism, of special privilege," and "of imperialism." Their goal was a bold one, "a united world community." 2 The church

Defining religion and finding ways to assess it in individual lives has long challenged psychologists of religion. At first, open-ended questionnaires were used, but with the advent of modern statistical methods, a succession of religiosity scales was developed. But these usually brief scales were typically based on the preconceptions of their authors, who were overwhelmingly Protestant Christian and often conservative, much as were those who completed them. To provide a more adequate way of assessing “faith,” a term here encompassing both religious and nonreligious attitudes, a new assessment device was developed that incorporates the singular advantages of Q methodology. The Faith Q-Sort consists of 101 statements that respondents sort on a 9-category continuum, indicating the degree to which each statement describes themselves. Factor analysis based on correlations of the sorts rather than individual items yielded, for the initial group of participants, 3 major prototypes and 5 minor ones, accounting for 67 percent of the variance.  Of the 42 participants, 31 proved to be exemplars of one or another of the 8 prototypes. Subsequent explorations illustrate the wealth of possibilities the FQS offers, both as a research instrument and a counseling tool.

How can we transform our observations of another person's suffering an intolerable situation into prophetic spiritual practices which inform and motivate our struggles for social justice?  My concern in this essay is to develop the notion of “bearing witness to social injustice” as a prophetic spiritual practice and to articulate some essential components.  I begin by describing “the cynical cycle of mindless inaction”--a common way of dealing with another person's suffering in which we close down in apathy. Bearing witness to social injustice becomes a spiritual practice when the lived experience of another person's suffering elicits deep reflection, public disclosure and potentially direct actions to alleviate the situation. We achieve this through staying fully present and aware, thoughtful and intentional, and integrating these actions into the cycles of our lives.

This theological reflection on black humanism's response to suffering began as sermon by the author when he survived as the minister of an urban multiracial Unitarian Universalist congregation in Cleveland. It focuses on humanist theodicy within a Unitarian Universalist context.

This thesis argues that the 1996 novel Infinite Jest, by David Foster
Wallace, offers to Unitarian Universalism a much-needed resource for reimagining the concepts of sin and salvation. By examining the novel in
conversation with Paul Tillich’s theology of sin and salvation, and by applying Tillich’s theology of art, I show how Infinite Jest’s formal elements, subject matter, and style combine to create symbols of sin and salvation that resonate with contemporary readers.
Having eschewed religious language of sin and salvation, Unitarian Universalism lacks shared language and liturgy that addresses the universal human experience of brokenness and the quest for wholeness. This thesis uses Tillich’s theology of art, with attention to literature in particular, to argue that art must be embraced as a source for theology. Great works of art serve as symbols that both open us up to deep levels of theological realities and allow us to participate in those realities.
Using a dialogical method, this thesis then explores what Infinite Jest
expresses about the human experience of estrangement. By examining
Wallace’s writing style and the novel’s theme, characters, and structure, I show how the novel creates a sustained symbolic window that invites readers into participation in the theological reality of estrangement from God, self, and others.
The thesis also explores how Infinite Jest creates a symbolic window into salvation as an existential process, primarily in the character of Don Gately. In dialogue with Tillich’s theology and through close readings of several passages, I show how Gately represents salvation not as assent to doctrine but as surrender to reality, acceptance of grace, and transformation through faith. Finally, in a brief application, I show how Unitarian Universalism might incorporate insights from the novel and its theology of sin and salvation into revised shared language about those concepts.

Unitarian-Universalism and Mormonism differ in myriad ways.  Mormonism obviously has much further to go toward embracing an ecological paradigm.  There are some untapped resources in Mormonism which could be used to facilitate this shift, including Joseph Smith’s vitalist teachings and the Word of Wisdom advice to eat meat sparingly.  However, there are major obstacles as well, some of which may be insurmountable, including Mormonism’s inherent anthropocentrism and doctrines and teachings that promote unrestricted childbirth.  For their part, UUs still have work to do as well.  While UUs are perhaps the most environmentally concerned of any religious group, it is also true that they are among most concerned about every other social issue of the day.  The sheer number of worthy causes may contribute to diminishing the resources which are available to UUs to work against what is shaping up to be a global ecological catastrophe.

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