From Lee

Spring 2006

The stakes have never been higher. Those who are willing to use their extremist religious beliefs to inflict hatred and violence are found in every faith tradition. And in this age, when nuclear capability is spreading and biological weapons are an absolute reality, the possibilities for death and destruction are unprecedented. The stakes have never been higher.

Unitarian Universalism is perfectly poised to sway the world toward the hope of harmony and understanding and peace. No faith tradition prizes religious diversity more than we do. No faith tradition embraces "the other" with quite the same enthusiasm.  Our unique orientation is our call to serve as a leader in the movement to initiate and maintain interfaith dialogue, relationships and justice-making projects.

We MUST do this. The future depends on it. Still, I am not sure we all have all the tools we need to do this.

Recently, in my travels around to various congregations, I've been trying to establish the religious literacy of Unitarian Universalists. I start out by giving the congregation a fun little quiz that covers some basic understandings of religious belief and practice. Among the questions I have posed are:

• Can you name the five pillars of Islam?
• What is the difference between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism?
• Can you say what are the theological and sociological differences between the United Methodist Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church?

I've discovered that few, if any, of the people in our congregations know the answers to these questions and the others I ask. It's nothing about which to be ashamed. The problem can't be rectified until we know its extent.

But it is a problem.  A greater depth of understanding is necessary if we are to accept the call to be leaders in the interfaith movement. For leadership is not going to be accepted from those who merely appreciate other traditions. It will be accepted from those who both appreciate and understand those traditions.

Our Meadville Lombard students are prepared in the ways of Unitarian Universalism, but not to the exclusion of other faith traditions. All of our students are required to take some of their courses from other theological schools. Our residential students take courses at any of the Association of Chicago Theological Schools and our modified residency students take courses at theological schools near where they live and you can be assured those are not Unitarian Universalist schools.

We require our students to be schooled in the world's religions because we want Unitarian Universalism's future leaders to have strong backgrounds not only in their own, chosen faith, but in theologies that move people around the world. You know it as well as I, people who know each other, people who understand each other, are far less likely to take up arms against each other.

The other night, teaching a course to our first-year ministry candidates, I heard one of our students say that as ministers, it is our job "to bring love to life's equations." In the context of the larger world and religion, one way to express love is to take the time to be educated about the world's religions.

At Meadville Lombard, we are bridging great gaps. We are bridging the gap in understanding first within ourselves and then among others. Because only then can we fulfill the vision for a Unitarian Universalism that truly serves the world and makes it a more peaceful place.