As a Unitarian Universalist, I am grounded as a Religious Humanist Naturalist. But this doesn’t make for an easy elevator speech. So, I will refer to myself as a Humanist for the sake of brevity. What I value about Humanism is reflected in the Third Humanist Manifesto and how it reflects our seventh Unitarian Universalist principle: We affirm and promote a “respect for the interdependent web of all existence”. This is the center of my worldview as a Unitarian Universalist. However, as a life-long UU, I have had to find and learn religious language to express this theologically.
Some religious language can go so far as to feel paternalistic and guilt ridden and something that many people have had to leave behind to seek the wholeness they have found in UUism. Nevertheless, we need language to express reverence and awe, what our First Source calls, “Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life.”
First, I appreciate the transcendentalist roots of humanism. In the mid 1800’s, Transcendentalism forged a new path for liberal religious thought. The leaders of this movement held that we had been separated from God afar, instead God was in us and all around us. One idea is that one is closer to God when in nature rather than in a stone built church. Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasized that intuition was our connection to the divine. The spirit was present to all of us. It was all around us in nature. He wrote, “I would find myself in God’s sanctuary by walking in the woods, alone, quiet and still, with the wind on my cheeks. I could hear the birdsong and know that that was God’s voice.” It was not something separate from him, he said, “God was there, and I was a part of it.”
Because I experience God language as poetry, I connected to these Transcendentalist ideas.
Second, I appreciate the understanding of religious humanism especially as it is expressed in the third Humanist Manifesto of 2003. When I read it, my heart sang. These poetic words allowed me to express an emotional connection to the earth.
These are the hallmarks of the Third Humanist Manifesto:
- We find our sources of meaning within the natural world, where humans are understood to be emergent from and hence a part of nature. Early 20th cent. British biologist Julian Huxley put it, “we are the universe becoming conscious of itself”
- Our religious quest is informed and guided by the deepening and evolving understandings fostered by scientific inquiry.
- Cosmic evolution is our sacred story
- We are informed and guided by the mindful understandings inherent in our human traditions, including art, literature, philosophy, and the religions of the world. The natural world and its emergent manifestations in human creativity and community are the focus of our immersion, wonder, and reverence, and our common naturalistic orientation generates our shared sense of place, gratitude, and joy.
As a child in Unitarian Universalist churches in the 70’s and 80’s, I was taught in religious education that the transcendentalists were exemplars of our faith. I was also taught that we had moved beyond that time to a more liberal expression of religion. Secretly, I yearned to go out to nature and to recreate a Walden Pond as Thoreau described it. I felt a connection with what I knew then as “Native American traditions” of honoring Mother Nature, Father Sky, Brother Wind and Sister Eagle.
I knew, when in church at that time, not to use this language of reverence. It was not in keeping with the stronghold of staunch humanism. I knew that a language of reverence was too much like “God talk”. It was as if I was told that I was going down the slippery slope of the superstitious just for the sake of emotion.
I understand now that I was taught to be detached from understanding the full importance of being connected to the world and to others as a part of my personal journey of religious meaning making. Thus, I was not taught the importance of ritual or spiritual practice. At that time, Unitarian Universalism revered the intellectualism of religious freedom over the personal experiences that are the foundations of religion itself.
The history of religion, not the institution of religion, but the intention and purpose of religion is that human beings have always created a faith for themselves. We have always cultivated a sense of wonder of the ineffable significance of life. We have always brought our experiences of the natural world, of philosophy, and science forward to create meaning of our lives. Not just what is rational and thus segregating our thoughts and selves to make sense of our existence. When we make meaning from that understanding and then are challenged to be the best persons that we can be, this is in itself is a religious endeavor.
In my busy life, I find myself in need of a spiritual practice that reconnects me to the natural world and explores a way to talk about it in religiously humanistic terms. One spiritual practice is joining in worship. Coming to worship on a Sunday morning is more than going to the theater, a book club, or a social gathering. Our worship services over the span of a year invite us to participate in the unique pluralism of our UU faith. We are invited to see things from differing perspectives.
Embodied worship and Humanism need not be in conflict. I value that humanism provides a framework for the content of the principles and purposes of Unitarian Universalism to be guides for living out my faith in the world. I value that it is a framework that welcomes questions and doubt. I value that it allows me to create rituals imbued with personal meaning. I appreciate that humanism provides a space for a language of reverence as well as the opportunity to listen to and learn from others. Humanism provides a way for me to experience the wonder of being alive.
Rev. Christina Branum-Martin 