Discovering the CUA - a new voice of Christian Universalism

This post follows up on recent posts like Western Buddhists - stay or go home?; Holding the mystery of the faith; Oh, They've Encased Jesus in Carbonite; Why I am not anti-religious; The lenses we use to see the world; Concerns with the i-Religiont/UUA style of spirituality; More on seeking (or moron seeking?): believe, accept, act. These in turn are follow-ups or further developments and elaborations on the spiritual journey that I have documented on this blog.

So, if you follow my blog and to a lesser extent my forums, you probably have some idea that:

• I was raised in a conservative fundamentalist form of Christianity which I eventually grew apart from into a default agnosticism and then a resentful atheism. After becoming a mellow and sympathetic secularist I decided to go beyond just the appearance of a safety net of what appeared to be empirically testable in terms of defining and manipulating religious notions to a greater appreciation of the human experience. To be a completely free thinker, even beyond the self-imposed limits of atheism, agnosticism, secularism, materialism, etc.

• Through my exploration of liberal religions like UUism and my exploration and practice of Buddhism I healed and reconciled many "wounds" I had regarding religion, and I began to appreciate the more expansive understanding of religious terminology, sacred traditions, and other things associated with religion. To appreciate what such elements can do for people in terms of liberation from preconceptions and becoming open to amazing possibilities, mysteries, and wonders which are beyond any human system of knowing as well as what it can do to heal and transform people.

• I have been exploring spirituality and looking for any reality behind words like "sacred" and "holy" and have come to hold intellectual positions which release me rather than inhibit me and allow me to open myself to seeking and appreciating the validity of talking about "God" and reflecting on "Jesus" as more than just a prophetic Rabbi with great teachings. This appreciation follows a reappraisal of how one conceives of the reality and meaning of spiritual experience and religious teachings. A panentheistic view of God as the Source of all Becoming/Being, that all things are manifested from divinity (i.e. all real things are sacred), and that the figure of Jesus presented in the Gospels and the Cosmic Christ that emerges in the rest of the New Testament is a reflection of ourselves in the Divine. We can relate to God reflected through the Cosmic Christ precisely because we can relate to the human Christ presented in the Gospels (see for example this thread).

I have no idea where is will go, but as I've been saying for a year or two, the insights of Buddhism and Christianity keep reinforcing one another in my eyes. And various Buddhist masters suggest taking the healing and insight from Buddhism and going back to re-appreciate and re-invigorate the truths expressed in the religion of one's own culture, of one's own ancestry. This has led me to look to the good from Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox to Anglicanism/Episcopalianism to liberal/mainline groups like the United Church of Christ and even the formerly Christian UUA. But there was just something about each where something was lacking or something didn't fit.

As per my constructive critiques of UUism (of which the stuff recorded in this thread is merely the latest round), it is like, OK, they got it right up to a point and then they went too far. Their principles are rooted in seeing the world and the people in it with sacred vision, with a heart of divine love. Even atheists who don't like terms related to God-language but who embrace these principles whole-heartedly can appreciate that these terms don't imply a Big Guy in the Sky who smites people. And surely they could put up with powerful spiritual terms like sacred and divine? If they want to be UUs, to be in a spiritual community, surely they wouldn't be offended by the idea that there is some perspective that both transcends and cherishes the individual, that it is better to live as if there is some greater point to existence. Still no creed, still no requirement to profess a belief in a particular notion of "God". But noooo, it has to go so far that in many UU churches/people would shout in objection or leave in a huff if you even alluded to God or made the point of discussing Jesus something more than talking about a great teacher. Is that really inclusive? Is that really having an open mind and open heart? I don't think so.

Hence, I am like "Great, is there no group that gets where I am headed/coming from?" I know we have to compromise sometimes in life, but even the UU Christian Fellowship, which you can pick up as an "add-on" to enhance your UU experience, seems to be on the "take the Christ out of Jesus" bandwagon and becoming all wishy washy about indecisive about what aspects and qualities of Jesus matter. But then, why have a Fellowship? If it's all up to us individually to decide what matters and we aren't joining with others who share our view of what matters, why sign up to be part of a group that doesn't know what it believes? Again, being inclusive, being open-minded, etc, doesn't have to mean being empty-headed and totally non-committal. If there is something of value worth sharing, find it and share it!

So this has been bumming me out. Where can I belong? Where I can find others who strive to strike the right balance and offer support or at least camaraderie in my spiritual growth?

Then by accident I stumble across something called The Christian Universalist Association. It is very new. It was formed in 2007. Churches can affiliate if they want, even if they belong to a denomination, so long as that denomination allows it. Like the UUA, they don't tell congregations how to worship. They just ask that churches agree with a simple set of statements reminiscent of the UUA principles:

We believe in a God who is Love, Light, Truth, and Spirit, the Creator of the universe, whom we are called to seek, know, and love; and whose nature was revealed to the world in the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

We believe that the universal commandment is to love and serve one another as each loves oneself.

We believe in the law of justice by which actions generate consequences, whether to be manifested in this life or the life to come.

We believe in the ultimate triumph of divine mercy and grace: that no being ever created will be condemned or allowed to suffer forever, but God has arranged through a benevolent plan of learning and growth for all souls to attain salvation, reconciliation, restoration, and reunion with the Source of All Being, in the fullness of the ages.

We believe every person is the divine offspring of God, created in the image of the Heavenly Parent of all; and that every person is destined to be raised up from imperfection to maturity according to the pattern of the archetypal Christ, the Son of God, the Perfect Human in whose image all humanity shall be transformed.

We believe in miracles and mysterious spiritual phenomena, such as the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which transcend materialistic views of reality.

We believe that God's Holy Spirit has inspired numerous prophets, saints, philosophers, and mystics throughout history, in a variety of cultures and traditions; and that by reading the Bible and other great texts of spiritual and moral wisdom with a discerning mind, and meditating to connect to the Spirit within, we may all gain a greater understanding of truth, which should be applied for the betterment of ourselves and our world.

And as for non-Christians joining...

Saintly souls who are identified with religions other than Christianity, but who actually walk the path of Christ in the way they live their life, are far more truly Christian than fundamentalists who focus on converting everyone to their narrow church creed to avoid being tortured forever in the fires of hell. For example, Mahatma Gandhi was a Hindu who rejected many Christian doctrines but had great reverence for Jesus and sought to live according to his teachings. It doesn't matter that he never called himself a Christian. In fact, people like him are more truly Christian than many people who claim the mantle of Christianity and proudly declare themselves "Christian." Jesus himself said that many of those who loudly call him "Lord, Lord" will be told they never really knew him (Mat. 7:21-23).

We believe there is much common ground between authentic, original Christian faith and the teachings of many philosophers, saints and mystics who were not Christian in the doctrinal sense of the word. Instead of walling ourselves off from ideas that have historically been considered outside the sphere of normative Christian thought, we strive to discover and bring to light the foundational truths that go beyond the limitations of religious labels, fundamentalist dogma and orthodoxy. Universalism is a liberating view of spiritual reality that enables freedom of thought and conscience, and the possibility of appreciation for diverse expressions of the human quest for the divine.

If you agree with our beliefs, we invite you to join the Christian Universalist Association regardless of whether or not you currently consider yourself a "Christian." Perhaps you are uncomfortable with identifying yourself as belonging to the religion of Christianity, because you disagree with many doctrines that have come to be part of the Christian tradition, and many people think of this as a very fundamentalist religion. We believe that the faith of Jesus Christ has been fundamentally misunderstood! Though we believe in Christ and seek to follow his path, we also disagree with much of the religious ideology that has been developed by the church in Jesus' name.

Of course, the one huge drawback is that since it is really new and isn't formed from a pre-exisiting affiliated set of congregations, the number of actual congregations currently signed up with the CUA is tiny. But it is at least comparable in size and scope to the UU Christian Fellowship, and who knows, it may grow as it becomes more well-known. LOTS of Christian UUs have been leaving over the past few decades, going to denominations like the UCC. And it means I am not the only one looking for that proper balance.

OK, well, stay-tuned. I have no idea what will (or won't) happen next.