Reverendly Yours - Rev. Tom Goldsmith

There’s an old axiom that suggests that UU churches swell in numbers in proportion to our nation’s conservative leadership. In other words, UU churches flourished during the Eisenhower, Nixon, and Reagan years, with a slight upbeat during the Bush years. The Obama years may have kept our country a little left of center, but his administration hurt our membership overall.

Although it’s not a science, we can safely speculate about the correlation between the politics in the White House and whether or not liberals support their churches. It seems as though we don’t feel urgency to sit in liberal pews as long as there’s a sense that the political agenda moves towards a more just system. It makes UU ministers think twice about how they want presidential elections to turn out. On the other hand, if this year’s nightmare gets elected, we may need to build a new church the size of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. A bump in membership comes at quite a significant cost.

I never have made sense of the ebb and flow of UU membership being somehow mystically tied to the party in office. It feels as though liberals have a liberal agenda, namely ensuring that those who live in the margins of society are not forgotten. The agenda includes hospitality to immigrants, equal opportunities for all races in education and employment, and also includes health care as a basic human right for all. But why don’t liberals embrace these principles on a local level in their UU churches instead of believing (erroneously) that it suffices to have a liberal president? Is there a fear factor that drives prospective Unitarians to churches to do the work they are meant to do? Are our churches only meaningful to liberals in dark times, when our valued principles are threatened?

The correlation between who’s president and who’s in the pews makes UU churches appear far more political than they really intend to be. Although the seven UU principles encompass values usually attributed to people who aspire to make our nation more multicultural and diverse, care for the environment, and call to affirm justice, equity, and compassion in human relations, there is more to a liberal church community than its political agenda. We want our children educated in the value of helping others; we need community to celebrate and mourn; we want to enrich our spiritual lives and share this good life with the people who join us in worship.

Social justice needs persist on a local level regardless who’s president. First Church provides opportunities for us to work meaningfully to make this little corner of the world more just. We fulfill an important niche in the liberal heart. It’s not just about politics, but also a religious understanding that gives meaning to our lives. Let’s build our church to where we are a sustainable institution into the future. It really shouldn’t matter who wins an election. TRG