First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis

Cary Eustis, Student Minister
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
October 3, 2004

The Reading: "A Ritual to Read to Each Other" by William Stafford

...The words we speak......the darkness around us is deep.....

It's 1928 in Germany and a young Unitarian minister is learning anew the power of the words we speak. James Luther Adams watching a Nazi parade begins a discussion of Nazism with other parade goers. The debate becomes heated. Suddenly, Adams is grabbed from behind, pushed away from the crowd and into a deserted alley. Believing his young life certainly at an end he is amazed when the apparent attacker angrily scolds him: "You fool. Don't you know? In Germany today when you are watching a parade, you either keep your mouth shut, or you get your head bashed in." Keep your mouth shut, get your head bashed in?! The attacker reveals he is in fact protecting this young minister....from himself....Keep your mouth shut or get your head bashed in!!!??? A shock to this American Unitarian used to freedom of speech in the public square.

It was a shocking idea to an American Unitarian that you could be killed for the words you spoke in Nazi Germany in 1928. The man pushing Adams out of the crowd saw the danger he was in arguing against the state in public. Later, in conversation around the dinner table, his protector, an unemployed German worker. " vividly [revealed] the economic distress out of which Nazism [was being born]". Organizations not complying with the Nazi program were disappearing. Adams observed that "freedom of association [was] being abolished. He returned to Germany 8 years later in 1936 and then again in 1938. Adams saw first hand the complex economic, social and political dynamics supporting the rise of Nazism in Germany. As a minister, Adams was especially disturbed by the inadequacy of the belated resistance of the Liberal churches in Germany. A belated resistance to the disappearance of freedom of speech and freedom of association.

Who was this man James Luther Adams and of what concern is his life story to this Society? Adams, who later became one of our most notable Unitarian ministers, was the son of a rural, Pacific Northwest fundamentalist preacher. As a teenager, young James was propelled into the role of family breadwinner due to his father's debilitating illness. Bright and ambitious, young Adams entered into the modern world as a Northern Pacific railroad worker. This was part of the modern secular world his fundamentalist family rejected. They believed it was a world to be suffered through until rewarded with a life hereafter in heaven. As his world expanded and grew, Adams rejected this religious view of the world and human purpose. He sought to engage the secular world.

Family circumstances and his natural curiosity and ambition drew Adams to the once forbidden arenas of commerce and education. He left his promising career with the railroad to go to college. Explaining his decision to his incredulous railroad boss he said: "I don't know. I just want to see what it's like. I've heard the name Shakespeare, and I don't know anything about him. I'd like to find out what that's all about."

In this intellectual quest, Adams entered the University of Minnesota in the early nineteen twenties. He joined with other students from similar religious backgrounds. Together they encouraged one another in the process of separating from their religious upbringings. Gathered in an intimate circle they passionately argued against religion. They published a student magazine called "The Angels' Revolt" in which they, as Adams later recalled, "...denounced organized religion in as vitriolic an idiom as we could command."

As Adams the student denounced organized religion he continued to attend churches in Minneapolis. The First Unitarian Society sparked his interest. He said, in praise of sermons delivered here by then minister Reverend John Dietrich, that they were "...the meatiest of university lectures, which were as demanding on the congregation...[using] no rhetorical devices but instead presented as straight expositions and reflections. Including a careful analysis and assessment of his sources."

So effective and powerful were the words spoken by Dietrich that services were moved from the church to the "Garrick Theater which could seat 1700." The demand for his words was such that they were also carried over the airwaves of a local radio station. In the public square, Dietrich dared to risk his words in a successful fight against the passage of a law prohibiting the teaching of evolution in the Minneapolis public schools. Dietrich's voice, in words well chosen, insisting upon the truth, rang throughout this community and the American Unitarian Association. His was a bold voice for the tradition of liberal religion.

Adams attended the First Unitarian Society Sunday Assembly when he was able. He also participated in the Unitarian Saturday Men's Club: a "luncheon forum with speakers on a wide range of topics, especially economics and politics." Adams believed, with the sincere adoration of youth, that Dietrich "ha[d] covered the spectrum of modern knowledge." He was most drawn to Dietrich's "striking and unmistakable emphasis on the idea that all knowledge imposes upon us a sacred obligation."

Adams saw through Dietrich's example the power of words to inspire and move people to act for a greater good. No wonder he was so shocked when his words almost had him killed in Germany.

Dietrich provided an example of a minister valuing intellectual rigor while preaching about real issues facing the world. Dietrich counseled Adams about the possibility of becoming a minister and assured him that as a Unitarian he could preach about social issues concerning him. Dietrich and the First Unitarian Society helped teach Adams that religion could freely engaged the world.

Strong threads of the engaging, distinct Humanism and worthy intellectual inquiry that drew Adams to the Society exist here today. New to the Society, I'm just beginning to learn of its history and how this historical institution lives and expresses itself today.

While Dietrich was here at the Society in 1926, a principal 20^th century theologian, Alfred North Whitehead was delivering lectures in Boston about religion that Adams would soon read. Of Religion Whitehead said: "...that humanity is always shifting its attitude towards it....Ages ago the simple arithmetical doctrines dawned on the human mind, and throughout history the unquestioned dogma that two and three make five reigned whenever it has been relevant..." Whitehead further writes, "...we all know what this doctrine means, and its history is of no importance for its elucidation. But, we have the gravest doubt as to what religion means so far as doctrine is concerned...there is no agreement of religion in its most general sense, including true or false religion."

Whitehead's observation that humanity over time has always shifted its attitude toward religion helped James Luther Adams and it helps me. It helps me know there are those who have come before us who have questioned and disagreed about how we name ourselves religiously. These are the kinds of questions I heard surfacing when the President of the UUA, Bill Sinkford, was here in September. I have heard these conversations at seminary and among others in our denomination. It reminds me of the children's story. Which part of the elephant are we holding on to? There are times I get tired of all this talk. Can't we just be religious liberals and get on with it? Well, no. How we choose to name ourselves is important...how we speak in the public square is important...the words we speak...though we could fool each other.....Lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark is important....how we name ourselves is important, it's important that awake people be awake.

We can't just "get on with it" without honoring all the brave voices who have dared to speak the truth in liberal religious community. We cannot just "get on with it" without honoring all that has shaped who we are today. It is important that I understand the religious background that shaped me as I am in formation for ministry. Understanding what it means to be a Humanist Society in the twenties and in the time since is critical to our full understanding of this Society in the 21^st century....the parade of our mutual life will be lost if we insist upon a present without a past.

I believe that it is time for the religious liberal voice to dare to be heard in a public square. A public square lately so dominated by one particular religious voice. Contrasted with the cynicism of the sound bite political discourse swirling about us today, I believe it is worth the effort for religious liberals to find honest, clear, succinct ways to articulate our faith tradition to the world around us.

This Society has a tradition of engaging our world...the beautiful wall of windows onto the city here in the Assembly hall announces this truth again and again, Sunday after Sunday as Dietrich did so effectively in the twenties. Today this Society has a potent voice for Unitarian Universalism in the downtown interfaith community. So potent that the words "Our Unitarian Universalist friends" were included in a downtown, mainline Protestant church as their minister called his congregation to an open interfaith dialogue. He said "We must engage with Christians, Jews, Muslims and our Unitarian Universlaist friends! Our faith tradition is included at a mainline protestant church in part because Kendyl and others among us have insisted that the fragile sequence of our common religious life NOT be broken. They have effectively spoken words in the public square so that our way in religion is known outside these walls.

I attended a talk called "God the Problem: A Humanist perspective" at a UU church across town a few years ago. I remember sitting there amazed..."thaaat's what Humanism is...well, that's what I believe." A Unitarian Universalist Humanist took the time to speak about what it means to be a Humanist. Before that time I only had an ill-informed, sound-bite view of Humanism.

Some of you have heard me say that I was brought up for a time going to both Catholic and Unitarian churches as a child. This unorthodox upbringing did instill in me a love for the form and ritual of religion and an appreciation of churches as institutions. In an odd way my religious education helped me to see through the shallow identifying labels of religion early on. It helped me see that churches, no matter what they call themselves, stand for large purposes: they are about individuals gathered in community creating something larger than any one can alone, something larger in education, healing, justice making and worship.

My background and my curiosity to understand the roots of Christianity in seminary have had me labeled a Christian at times....I joke that I've been called a Christian with a hiss. I know the frustration of being labeled with a few uniformed words. Shallow words that miss any intricacy or depth of meaning about who I am in this denomination...small betrayals of language breaking the fragile sequence of understanding.

But, I do not qualify as a Christian. Born again cousins, whom I dearly love, will attest to the fact that they have not been able to save my soul as they had hoped they could. I don't mean to be flip about their faith: a faith that has given their lives meaning and purpose. While I do not identify myself as Christian in their religious framework, I do understand the roots of the Christian tradition. In the process of understanding who I am theologically, I identify more than anything as a Unitarian Universalist religious liberal. And now, with your help, I am coming to know Humanism within our UU tradition.

I believe that the liberal religious voice could be and should be heard more clearly in the public square. Recently Unitarian Universlists from across the Twin Cities have joined together. They have joined together from their distinct UU congregations. They have created a larger voice, a voice speaking and acting boldly in the public square around affordable housing and voter registration. Still, I believe there is a darkness around us in these times. Darkness that requires the voice of liberal religion for balance...a voice that honors freedom, reason and tolerance...a voice that honors the tenets of our democracy. The darkness around us is deep: sound bite cynicism in the political discourse, challenges to freedom of speech, weakening of both the separation of church and state and of our governmental system of checks and balances name a few of the currents coursing through the dark waters of our times.

James Luther Adams returned to Nazi Germany in 1936 and two years later in1938. Eager to understand the economic, social and political structures allowing the horrors of Nazi Germany to spring to life he sought out leading German theologians. Of Adams' style of inquiry at the time, German Theologian, Rudolph Otto said "Why are so many of your American liberals similar to the fundamentalists in the dogmatic way in which they formulate their opinions...you are a true liberal because you don't let formulations alien to you prevent you from further probing to understand their source]?" Unlike many of the other American liberals he had encountered, Otto recognized that Adams sought to really understand those who were different from him.

As Religious liberals today we cannot afford to cut ourselves off from the dialogue in the public square. Dietrich applied an example of a thorough engagement with those different from himself as seen in his sermon "Unitarianism and Humanism." Both Dietrich and Adams model a method of open inquiry that can serve us well. Awake people must be awake...lest we be discouraged back to sleep....ignoring the lessons of history.

Imagine the man James Luther Adams, who had heard for the first time, at this Society, that religion could speak effectively about real issues facing the world. Imagine his heartache as a young minister witnessing the rise of Nazi Germany. He could have dissolved in despair. Adams did not give in to the impulses that could break the fragile sequence of our common good. Upon returning from Germany in 1938 Adams asked himself what he did, other than vote and read the newspaper that would prevent another Nazi Germany from rising up? First, he decides that, in his own words "The power of love and not hatred [will] be [my] imperative."

And then Adams devoted his life to the beliefs and institutions he believed might have helped prevent the rise of Nazism. He came to believe in the power of religious institutions as examples of voluntary organizations that are critical to a healthy democracy. While Adams knew that such associations are always susceptible to perversions of power, he highlighted voluntary associations of the sort that directly aimed to promote the general welfare. He said: In these organizations "members spend their time and money to support the effort to redefine the nature of civil liberties in a changing society, and also to defend those whose liberties are violated or threatened."

Certainly our liberal religious faith stands in the tradition of defending civil liberties. I understand many in this congregation work in the world outside supporting and defending civil liberties.

Adams still challenges us today when he harkens back to his first experiences in Germany saying: "In [a] democratic society the nonparticipating citizens bash their own heads in. [A] living democratic society requires the disciplines of discussion and common action for the determination of policy." As it requires discipline to have effective discussion toward a common good in the public square so it also requires discipline within our liberal religious communities to envision a way to move forward together toward the common good of our faith.

May we, in our day, choose the imperative of love over hate as we speak to each other inside and outside the walls of this voluntary association...may we speak inside and outside this house of memory and hope aware that humanity over time has always shifted its attitude toward religion....may we speak for freedom, reason and tolerance...speak so we come to know the kinds of people we are...the darkness around us is deep...the words we speak should be clear.

James Luther Adams Biographical Information comes from

Not without Dust and Heat, A Memoir by James Luther Adams

Exploration Press, Chicago, Illinois.