Yesterday, Rev. David A. Miller referenced Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” in his sermon Why It Won’t Go Away. Since it has been a while since I read the letter in its entirety, I chose to spend some time reading and reflecting on Dr. King’s words. In it, Dr. King asks, “Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?” This question resonated with me and I spent much of the day ruminating on it.
Like many who come to Unitarian Universalism, my journey began in another, much larger organized religion. I was raised Catholic, in a parish filled with white, wealthy families in the burgeoning suburbs outside Manhattan. But there, I soon realized that the tenets of the faith – to love thy neighbor as thyself and to do unto others as you would have them do unto you – that I learned in religion class did not carry over into Sunday sermons. In mass I would hear Gospel passages about Jesus challenging the religious leaders of the time, calling out their hypocrisy, followed by a lukewarm sermon that did nothing to equate those times of turbulence and injustice with current times of turbulence and injustice. There was no call to change our hearts or our lives. Mine was a parish of the status quo and eventually, disillusioned, I left it. I had a faith that demanded more of me, and I sought a religious home that would demand more from my faith.
I’ve been a UU for quite some time, and now am part of a congregation that is located in an affluent suburb of Washington, DC, and largely, but not entirely, composed of white families. Although UUCF may appear similar to the religious home of my youth, it is really quite different. For one, we have a senior minister who will call us to account and is willing to “afflict the comfortable.” We also have a Religious Exploration (RE) program that sets a strong moral compass within our children and guides our youth toward lives of meaning and purpose in accordance with those values.
Although we call this program Religious Exploration, the title is really a misnomer. The goal of RE is to develop Unitarian Universalists with “minds that think, hearts that love and hands that are ready to serve.” This is accomplished by providing quality curricula that challenge the status quo. In the 1st Grade Our Whole Lives (OWL) course, children learn that families can have two mommies or two daddies. In 4th Grade Toolbox of Faith, children learn that people with power have a responsibility to use that power for the good of others. In the 6th Grade Inclusive History of Virginia class, students juxtapose the ideals of freedom and democracy espoused by the colonial founding fathers with the reality that many of them had wealth generated from the labor of enslaved people. The 7th Grade youth in Heeding the Call are challenged to consider the impact of their individual choices on society at large. And in High School OWL, youth examine how consumption of pornography is linked with continued worldwide sexual exploitation. RE at UUCF discusses hard truths with children in age-appropriate ways. At every stage, RE is nurturing children and youth to be empowered, not complacent. We are raising critically thinking young people willing to work for a more just world. And by “we,” I really do mean all of us in this congregation. These classes only exist because numerous adult volunteers come forward every year to teach them.
So my answer to Dr. King’s question, “Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world?” is “no.” A covenantal faith tradition like Unitarian Universalism that places loving relationships above an ideology or creed and that nurtures its young to become critically thinking and justice-seeking world citizens can save our nation and the world. But we adults have to challenge ourselves to live into this faith every day, and we need to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zones. As a new year begins I will leave you with these questions: What acts of love and justice will you do this year to transform yourself, your community and the world? And, what can you do this year to support the next generation of Unitarian Universalists in the UUCF Religious Exploration program?
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