Winning the Peace (in the Middle East and the U.U.A.)
by Rev. Chris Buice
Tennessee Valley UU Church
May 22, 2003
I had planned to give a talk today about winning the peace in Middle
East. However, circumstances dictated a change in topic. This week
I saw an article in the New York Times with the title, “A
Heated Debate Flares in Unitarian Universalism.” And so it
seems appropriate that I spend some time talking about winning the
peace in the Unitarian Universalist Association before trying to
tackle larger world issues.
The heated debate described in the article has been inspired by
Bill Sinkford, the president of the Unitarian Universalist Association,
and his thoughts on religious language. Sinkford has been known
to speak openly about his understanding of God and encourages other
Unitarian Universalists to reclaim a “vocabulary of reverence.”
Alan Moore recently returned from a U.U. conference where Bill Sinkford
told an audience that he sets aside time for personal prayer each
morning before going off to work. To which I said, “An atheist
who was also president of the U.U.A you would do exactly the same
thing.”
Being president of the Unitarian Universalist Association is a
difficult responsibility. The people in our denomination have many
diverse theological perspectives. There are many interest groups
organized around theological positions. There are groups called
Unitarian Universalists for Jewish Awareness, the Unitarian Universalist
Christian Fellowship, the Huumanist Association (with the word humanist
spelled with two U’s), the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist
Fellowship, the Covenant of UU Pagans, the UU Women’s Federation
grounded in feminist theology and there is even a group called the
Unitarian Universalist Infidels for atheists, agnostics, skeptics,
free thinkers and secular humanists. There are other groups as well
but this should be a long enough list to illustrate the dilemma
facing Bill Sinkford or anyone else who assumes a leadership position
in our denomination. It doesn’t help matters much that many
Unitarian Universalists have a special talent for “taking
offense” as is reflected in many of the angry letters to the
UU World magazine. So we must ask ourselves the question; Is it
really possible to find common ground among so many diverse and
disparate groups?
I would answer that question with a “Yes!” I would
argue that it is possible to find common ground among people with
different beliefs even in unlikely places. For instance, this is
the season of graduation ceremonies which usually involves some
controversy over the practice of graduation prayers. Nancy Moore,
a professor at the University of South Carolina, Spartanburg, once
told me she opposed the practice of a graduation prayer because
she felt it violated the separation of church and state. However
she said she had heard at least one graduation prayer in her lifetime
that was well received by everyone. This prayer was offered by one
of the students graduating in the 1970’s during a serious
economic downturn. The new graduate began the prayer by saying with
some sense of desperation, “God, help us find jobs.”
To which even the atheists said “Amen.”
We may have different theologies. We may have different ways of
thinking about life and religion. However, we are all human beings
and we all have some common anxieties and fears, common hopes and
dreams. Perhaps, the graduation prayer spoken at USCS in the 70’s
could speak to the condition of many members of the class of 2003
who are entering the real world during another economic downturn.
No one wants to take a risk and fail. No one wants to take a leap
of faith and fall flat.
It is interesting to note that a survey about prayer conducted
a few years ago by sociologist Andrew Greely revealed that one out
of every five atheists prays. An atheist who prays may seem like
a contradiction in terms but maybe not. Regardless of one’s
theology prayer can be a way of acknowledging our human limitations.
Prayer can help one to find the courage to take important risks.
As the philosophy professor Paul Woodruff once said, “The
gods come and go but prayer is forever.”
I once attended a Unitarian Universalist conference where we were
divided into groups of eight people and we were asked to compose
a group prayer. This is not an easy task for U.U’s under any
circumstances but because we were running out of time we were asked
to complete the task of writing our prayer in only three minutes.
My suggestion for a prayer was, “God help us think of a prayer.
God help us think of a prayer. God help us think of a prayer.”
We all have moments when we feel on the spot. We all have moments
when we feel like we are challenged to be more creative than we
really are, more thoughtful than we think we can be, more courageous
and brave than we think possible and more hopeful than the circumstances
warrant. We may be atheists or agnostics but if the right person
puts the right words into a prayer on the right occasion we may
find ourselves saying, “Amen.”
Of course, prayer is a complicated thing. Prayer can hurt as well
as heal. The graduation prayer is a good example. The words spoken
rarely acknowledge or respect the diversity that is in the room.
Another situation where prayer can be problematic is when you are
in the hospital and the chaplain comes to see you. The Reverend
Beth Newton Watson was my supervisor when I served as a hospital
chaplain. She used to tell all her chaplains the same thing about
prayer. She said, “Do not pray on people.” She added,
“If they want you to pray with them that is great but don’t
you ever pray on them.”
She was warning us against the temptation to impose our religious
ideas on people in the hospital who are usually too sick to run
away from us. Instead, she advised us to get to know each person
on their own terms, find out about their beliefs, their theologies,
their hopes and their prayers and meet the people where they were
at. Maybe a prayer is appropriate. Maybe it isn’t. Whenever
a minister prays on someone he or she is really missing out on the
opportunity to get to know someone new, to hear their stories, to
learn something new about their understanding of life’s meaning.
Personally, I enjoy getting to know new people and hearing their
ideas about life. I enjoy meeting and talking with Jews, Christians,
Humanists, Buddhists and feminist theologians. I even enjoy talking
with infidels. I like being part of a pluralistic religious community
where many different perspectives can be shared.
There is a story told about Mahatama Gandhi that may be apocryphal.
The story goes that Gandhi was once asked whether he believed in
God and he replied, “When I am with the believers I am an
atheist. When I am with the atheists I am a believer.” I think
what he was trying to say is that every group needs at least one
person to challenge their assumptions. Groups of people can become
stagnant when there is not room for creative disagreement. Religious
people can become complacent. Congregations can ossify. We all need
to be challenged in order to grow. We need new ideas. We need the
stimulation that comes from being in a community with people who
are different from us. In the Unitarian Universalist church we believe
that differences of opinion are not a dead end. Differences of opinion
can lead to spiritual and intellectual growth and a broader horizon
of understanding.
I think our mission as religious liberals should be to create communities
where good people like Bill Sinkford can talk about their faith
and other good people can talk about their doubts. Faith needs to
be in conversation with doubt and doubt needs to be in conversation
with faith. Belief needs to be in dialogue with unbelief and unbelief
needs to be in conversation with belief. We need different kinds
of people in this community in order to grow, change and remain
vital.
I believe the world needs our message now more than ever. We need
more theological dialogue and less theological monologue in our
denomination and in the world, including places like the Middle
East and Iraq. I recently heard news from my step-brother who is
serving in the military and is currently stationed in Bagdhad. He
says it is chaos over there. In Iraq there are many different kinds
of people Sunnis and Shiites and Christians and Kurds and other
religious and ethnic groups. The question of the hour is can they
learn to live together in peace? Winning a war is not as easy as
winning the peace that follows it. We need religious leadership
to help people to see that differences of opinion do not have to
be deadly. Differences of opinion can lead to new life and new possibilities.
Religion can be part of the world’s problem or it can be
part of the solution. A couple of weeks ago the National Association
of Evangelicals passed a resolution aimed at folks like Franklin
Graham and Jerry Falwell for their harsh statements against Islam.
Graham has said that Islam is a wicked religion and Jerry Falwell
has called Muhammed a terrorist. Suffice it to say the NAE that
is not exactly a bastion of religious liberalism. The NAE criticized
these leaders for their use of inflammatory language because it
could increase conflict and jeopardize the safety of missionaries
overseas. I was glad to hear about this resolution. I’ve long
thought that Graham and Falwell were saving Osama bin Laden a lot
of money on speech writers. The words spoken by these Christian
clergyman are no doubt great recruiting tools for Muslim extremists.
Of course, some conservatives criticized the NAE. They said that
instead of criticizing Graham and Falwell they should have condemned
the Muslim extremists who hijack planes and become suicide bombers.
And the point is well taken. However, there is another point worth
considering and that is this, you can’t fight religious extremism
with religious extremism. At some point the demonization has to
stop. The name calling has to stop. The polarization has to stop.
At some point we need to just stop. We may not have all the right
words. We may not have all the answers. We may not have all the
solutions. But we should be able to agree to stop the downward spiral
of religious warfare.
In the Quaker tradition there is the practice of silent prayer.
It is a way of acknowledging that we may not always have the right
words to say, the right emphasis or even the right motivation. In
these kinds of situations our silence is our prayer. Maybe the Quakers
are on to something. Perhaps the world would be more peaceful if
many religious leaders talked less and remained silent more.
Of course, occasionally a religious leader does find the right
words. I think that is the case with Rabbi Harold Kushner when he
wrote a “Prayer for the World.” I first heard this prayer
at a retreat of the Knoxville Ministerial Association that included
religious leaders from many different faiths including Catholic,
Protestant, Jewish, Bahai and Unitarian Universalists. At this gathering
someone read Kushner’s prayer and everyone agreed it was appropriate.
Kushner wrote, “Let the rain come and wash away the ancient
grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over the generations.
Let the rain wash away the memory of the hurt, the neglect. Then
let the sun come out and fill the sky with rainbows. Let the warmth
of the sun heal us wherever we are broken. Let it burn away the
fog so that we can see each other clearly. So that we can see beyond
labels, beyond accents, gender or skin color. Let the warmth and
brightness of the sun melt our selfishness. So that we can share
the joys and feel the sorrows of our neighbors. And let the light
of the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbors.
Let the earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround
us with beauty. And let the mountains teach our hearts to reach
upward to heaven. Amen.”
The New York Times reports that our denomination is in the midst
of a heated debate because our president Bill Sinkford has spoken
of his understanding about God and asked us to reclaim a “vocabulary
of reverence.” But as Bill often says, “Diversity does
not have to mean divisiveness.” Bill Sinkford is telling us
his story and sharing his ideas. Let us use this opportunity to
tell our stories and share our ideas. Let the sun shine and melt
away the wax in our ears so that we can listen to each other. Let
the rain wash away the fear and distrust that keeps us separate
and antagonistic to each other. Let the fog clear so that we can
see that love and compassion and integrity live in the hearts of
people who hold beliefs that are very different from our own. If
we show respect for each other and honor the inherent worth and
dignity of every person then our actions will speak louder than
our word. And if our actions speak louder than our words then we
can truly say we are speaking with a “vocabulary of reverence.”
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