When liberal congregations are liberal in name only
Many have forgotten what religious liberalism means
Unitarian Universalism (UU) has historically been the quintessential classically liberal church and the spiritual home for free thinkers. With no creed, it welcomed members with various political, philosophical, and theological perspectives.
I grew up in an intellectually vibrant and curious family. My father was a chemical and biological engineering professor, and my mother promoted lifelong learning and spoke four languages including Danish and Hindi. I am also Sephardic, with Jewish culture valuing education, diversity of thought, and debate.
As an atheist who hated groupthink, my mother said that UU was the only church she could belong to. She encouraged me to join her congregation, Westside UU in Seattle, where I found intellectually curious people with diverse beliefs, a warm community, and assorted thought-provoking sermons and programs.
While congregations vary and many have likely maintained their liberal vitality and independence, in many congregations, the liberal traditions have eroded and sometimes come under direct attack.
My mother left UU and her congregation in part due to the increasing illiberalism, socio-political dogmatism, and crackpot ideas overtaking the national church and infiltrating the congregation. The crackpot ideas included claims that Robert’s Rules are racist, mathematics and science are only "white ways of thinking," Jews are white colonizers, and "standing" should be removed from the slogan “Standing on the Side of Love” because the word is ableist.
As someone who enjoyed being challenged, she also lamented the dwindling of intellectual stimulation in services, replaced by touchy-feely content, and the increasing coddling of congregants. She famously said, “I joined a church, not a daycare,” and, when she left, “They switched religions on me.”
I’ve heard her sentiments and experiences echoed by many UUs who have recently left the church.
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Contributing causes for the erosion of liberalism
The following are some contributing causes to the erosion of liberalism in some UU congregations:
A direct attack on liberalism and Enlightenment values
The leadership of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), along with ideological social justice activists and indoctrinated ministers, has adopted a Marxist postmodernist ideology that is not only dogmatic and partisan but also directly opposes liberalism and Enlightenment values such as freedom of belief and speech, viewpoint diversity, reason, science, and critical thinking. UU World has said it will not publish the diverse viewpoints of UUs, and UUs, especially those who are white, are regularly censored and demeaned for expressing viewpoints that do not toe the new ideological line.
Many ideological ministers and lay activists bring these anti-liberal ideas and hyperpartisanship to congregations, promoting only the new UUA agenda while suppressing and even punishing laity who express different views.
Safetyism and the infantilization of UUs
The national church leadership, along with many ministers and activists, have embraced infantilizing ideas that suggest listening to diverse perspectives, particularly for minorities, causes "harm" and "trauma." As a result, they have worked to suppress differing viewpoints and promote a culture that stigmatizes open discussion and independent thought.
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has extensively studied the damage these practices inflict on communities, education, personal growth, and mental health. His seminal book on this topic is The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.
Increasing political narrowness
As a community becomes more politically and ideologically narrow, it loses the ability to entertain diverse ideas and can fall into groupthink. This trend is evident within many Unitarian Universalist communities, where political narrowness closes minds and prevents open dialogue. I wrote about this in a previous post, What UU Loses As It Becomes Politically Narrow
Failing to practice liberalism
Free inquiry, the ability to entertain diverse viewpoints, and critical thinking are skills that must be developed and actively practiced.
Due to various reasons, including ideological partisanship, safetyism, and the fear of community strife, many congregations do not platform and publish a diversity of ideas, and lack and even prevent forums for open discussion. Many congregational leaders wrongly view dissent as a danger rather than a natural and healthy part of liberal religion.
Without intentional practice, liberalism, and the ability to exchange diverse viewpoints atrophy, and congregations become liberal in name only. This is unhealthy for congregations and bad for congregants who will still hold a variety of political, social and religious perspectives that should be listened to.
At some congregations, the only way to hear and discuss the diverse viewpoints of congregants is to form groups outside the congregations. At an area congregation, a splinter group of about one-third of members formed to discuss books and topics and have guest speakers not allowed by the minister and board. At my congregation, current and former members recently formed a group to have discussions that were not happening at the congregation. The group members wanted a forum to have lively discussions on political, philosophical, and social topics.
Our group’s invitation letter said, “We are seeking a mixture of backgrounds, expertise, and views. Of primary importance is the ability to express views respectfully and be curious (as contrasted with upset) by differing perspectives."
When these Do-It-Yourself groups are being formed, it says the congregations are not meeting many of its congregants' intellectual, spiritual, and other needs. It speaks volumes that our discussion group has attracted not just current Westside congregants but former members who left the congregation for many of the same reasons my mother left.
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