Deleted Deity

A rather radical proposal

How does a Unitarian begin his prayer? Answer: "To whom it may concern . . ." That dog-eared ecclesiastical joke became a real possibility last week, as the Unitarian Universalist Association opened debate on a rather radical proposal: to delete any mention of God from its founding statement of principles. The Rev. Walter Royal Jones Jr., head of the drafting committee, noted that the idea was subject to change, and a Colorado layman protested, "We can never sell this." Nonetheless, the move toward godlessness represented a growing consensus among Unitarian Universalist congregations in the U.S. and Canada.

In 18th century New England, small groups of Congregationalists rebelled against such doctrines as eternal punishment and the worship of Jesus Christ and, indeed, against the very idea of binding creeds. The separate movements that became known as Universalism and Unitarianism originally thought of themselves as Christian. But later on each developed contingents of "theists," who worshiped a vague or impersonal God, and "humanists," who did not believe in a God at all.

Understandably, the denominations had trouble pinning down what they actually believed in. Over the years, they issued a series of increasingly murky declarations about their theology. Prior to the merger of the two denominations in 1961 to form the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Universalists professed a faith in a loving God and in Jesus as a spiritual (although not a divine) leader, while the Unitarians honored the "religion which Jesus taught 'as love to God and love to man.' " A compromise hammered out during the merger eliminated the name of Jesus from the association's statement of principles, which were said to be "immemorially summarized in the Judeo-Christian heritage as love to God and love to man." In the 1970s, "man" was changed to "humankind."

The current campaign to delete the Deity stems from feminists, who feel that the word God reeks of old-fashioned chauvinism. Following a consciousness-raising convocation in Michigan in 1980, four regional districts and 14 local congregations jointly requested the denomination to eliminate God from the statement of principles.

During the past year, the association asked its 1,007 congregations to discuss what it should do. Based on responses from 260 churches, Jones' Committee on Purposes and Principles proposed to last week's assembly in Vancouver that the reference to God be replaced with a statement that the churches "reflect various forms of Theism, Christianity, Humanism, Feminism and other religious traditions." A study paper explained that "the origins of feminist theology may be found in the Fertile Crescent, Egypt, India, China, Greece--wherever female deities were honored." While elevating feminism to the status of a new brand of faith, the committee dropped any reference to another religion with roots in the Fertile Crescent: Judaism.

In Vancouver, the Rev. Linnea Pearson of Miami, a member of the principles committee, argued, "Feminism might not change the world, but it has at least as good a chance as any of its predecessors." The Rev. Dianne Miller of Belmont, Mass., another committee member, granted that there was something a bit odd about voting up or down on God. But, she added slyly, "we aren't sure that's what matters to her, anyway."

The denomination's membership has another year to think the matter over before the committee offers its final recommendation. The discussion last week suggested that a majority favored restoring some reference to Judaism. God might make a comeback, too, though possibly in some sort of semantic disguise lest feminists be offended. However the deliberations turn out, it seems unlikely that the debate about God will do anything to sustain this year's modest rise in U.U.A. membership. Over the past seven years, the U.U.A. has experienced a decline of nearly 31% (to 136,500), the most severe membership loss ever suffered by any church body in North America. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.