Talking About Religion
As I mentioned in a previous post, Hooch, my boss and roommate here, is a devout Catholic. As I thought about what it would be like to work closely with him, I realized that I have really never had a theological discussion with anyone who’s not UU! My attitude used to be that religion and spirituality are personal, private matters that weren’t necessarily open for discussion – you know the old saw about religion and politics.
In the last few years, however, my religious and political views have expanded, to say the least. I have enjoyed theological discussions with other UUs, usually because we have similar philosophies, but always because we operate within the same framework of respect for each others’ personal beliefs and affirmation of the primacy of relationship over creed. I wondered, then, what would it be like to have an open religious discussion with a religious conservative? Would it even be possible? Last night I had the opportunity to find out.
It all started yesterday because Hooch had hung a crucifix in our common work space. He also displays a crucifix in our tent, which doesn’t bother me a bit, but I found it very inappropriate to have that symbol in our "office," which is anything but private. I asked him to take it down, and to consider how he might feel if I were to hang a pentacle on the wall, for example. I expected this to draw a strong reaction, but it didn’t! He said that wouldn’t bother him personally, but he could see how it might offend someone (as might his symbol), and he took down the crucifix.
This exchange was the beginning of a very interesting conversation about religion, which I am sure will be continued. He was curious, as might be expected, about Unitarian Universalism. He asked "are all UUs agnostic? How could you be otherwise and be UU?" That was a perfect opening for me to tell him about the individual UUs I’ve met who practice Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism, and Wicca. He could see the Christianity and Buddhism, but was a bit skeptical about the others.
Of course he asked me about my theology, so I told him I currently practice "Spiritual Humanist Taoist Paganism," which of course led to a discussion of what that meant, and some explanations of Taoism and Paganism. I should have just called it "Panentheism" and been done with it. I thought his next question was very astute: "How many other UUs have the same beliefs?" Of course I was happy to say "I don’t know, probably none!"
Our discussion then turned to what he conceived as a competition among religious beliefs. For example, to believe as a Muslim does that Jesus was a prophet, but not the Son of God, Messiah, and Lord, is heresy to a Catholic. Likewise, a fundamentalist Muslim declaims the infidel unbeliever. His thesis was that if there is Absolute Truth (he thinks there is), then there can be only one right answer. If Christianity is "right," then Islam is "wrong," and vice versa. To illustrate this concept, he used the example of a green car. Even if you call it blue, it’s still green, because there is Absolute Truth about colors. It can’t be green and blue at the same time.
But who defines the colors? I argued that in my opinion, humans have created all religions in order to express the inexpressible essential nature of the universe, which can be called God, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha, Goddess, Tao... If there is Absolute Truth, then it must surely be the same for the entire Universe (UNI = one!). You can call it green, and I can call it blue; what if it’s really purple?
In the last few years, however, my religious and political views have expanded, to say the least. I have enjoyed theological discussions with other UUs, usually because we have similar philosophies, but always because we operate within the same framework of respect for each others’ personal beliefs and affirmation of the primacy of relationship over creed. I wondered, then, what would it be like to have an open religious discussion with a religious conservative? Would it even be possible? Last night I had the opportunity to find out.
It all started yesterday because Hooch had hung a crucifix in our common work space. He also displays a crucifix in our tent, which doesn’t bother me a bit, but I found it very inappropriate to have that symbol in our "office," which is anything but private. I asked him to take it down, and to consider how he might feel if I were to hang a pentacle on the wall, for example. I expected this to draw a strong reaction, but it didn’t! He said that wouldn’t bother him personally, but he could see how it might offend someone (as might his symbol), and he took down the crucifix.
This exchange was the beginning of a very interesting conversation about religion, which I am sure will be continued. He was curious, as might be expected, about Unitarian Universalism. He asked "are all UUs agnostic? How could you be otherwise and be UU?" That was a perfect opening for me to tell him about the individual UUs I’ve met who practice Christianity, Buddhism, Atheism, and Wicca. He could see the Christianity and Buddhism, but was a bit skeptical about the others.
Of course he asked me about my theology, so I told him I currently practice "Spiritual Humanist Taoist Paganism," which of course led to a discussion of what that meant, and some explanations of Taoism and Paganism. I should have just called it "Panentheism" and been done with it. I thought his next question was very astute: "How many other UUs have the same beliefs?" Of course I was happy to say "I don’t know, probably none!"
Our discussion then turned to what he conceived as a competition among religious beliefs. For example, to believe as a Muslim does that Jesus was a prophet, but not the Son of God, Messiah, and Lord, is heresy to a Catholic. Likewise, a fundamentalist Muslim declaims the infidel unbeliever. His thesis was that if there is Absolute Truth (he thinks there is), then there can be only one right answer. If Christianity is "right," then Islam is "wrong," and vice versa. To illustrate this concept, he used the example of a green car. Even if you call it blue, it’s still green, because there is Absolute Truth about colors. It can’t be green and blue at the same time.
But who defines the colors? I argued that in my opinion, humans have created all religions in order to express the inexpressible essential nature of the universe, which can be called God, Allah, Yahweh, Buddha, Goddess, Tao... If there is Absolute Truth, then it must surely be the same for the entire Universe (UNI = one!). You can call it green, and I can call it blue; what if it’s really purple?
posted by Greg at 11/09/2004 09:50:00 AM
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