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The Dartmouth
March 28, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Unitarian Universe

Colorful signs decorate the walls of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley.
Colorful signs decorate the walls of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley.

 

So a priest, a rabbi and a monk walk into a Unitarian Universalist church. Maybe you believe in a god. Maybe you don’t. Either way, you are welcome at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley, a religious community in Norwich that, according to the website, aims to provide an inclusive congregation that “nurtures spiritual and intellectual growth for all souls while encouraging lives of service and integrity.”

When you’re young, your parents often tell you that religion is one of those things you shouldn’t bring up in casual conversation or use for small talk with strangers. It’s understandable, as conflicting views on all things spiritual can usually lead to some pretty tense situations.

The Unitarian Universalist congregation, though, doesn’t necessary believe everybody needs to have the same religious ideas to come together for celebration and worship. On the contrary, the congregation encourages everyone to bring their own set of philosophies to the table. People, according to the congregation’s vision, can grow spiritually and gain insight by engaging in multi-faith conversation. At any particular Unitarian Universalist church, you will find people who hold a variety of religious beliefs — Muslims, atheists, Christians, Buddhists and many more.

Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley Patience Stoddard explained that her congregation attracts people from a variety of backgrounds. Many, she said, come to the congregation seeking a different religious environment than the one in which they were raised.

“We also have ended up being a faith for people who were brought up in a particular faith that they reject,” she said. “So we have a lot of former Catholics, we have a lot of dual-religious couples, such as Christian-Jewish and we have a number of Muslims.”

With such a diverse following, the church boasts a distinctive method of helping its followers achieve spiritual growth. Rather than teach its members a pre-existing religious curriculum, the church insists that members follow any religious belief that particularly resonates with them. The churchgoers derive their beliefs from a large quantity of sources, ranging from the religious and spiritual to the scientific and concrete.

Stoddard explained how she believes there are many different ways to find one’s faith.

“We believe that there are many different paths to spirit or to God — many different ways to imagine God, or none,” she said. “The important thing is to be kind and pursue truth, and that is pretty different.”

One way to pursue this truth is by critically examining the principles of certain religions. Religion department chair Randall Balmer explained how Christian values could be applied to their faith.

“The Unitarians believe Jesus is a great moral example and that we should look to him as a model, but they do not believe in his biblical miracles or divinity,” he said.

While the Church does not teach dogma or doctrine, it teaches seven principles that serve as a guide to those in Unitarian Universalist communities and offer insight into how to live everyday life. The second principle, for example, stresses justice, equity and compassion in human relations.

Charlie Blatt ’18, a member of the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Norwich, explained the seven guiding principles of the church.

“No one has to believe in any sort of creed except for the creed of being a good person,” she said. “We have seven guiding principles, which are all basically about being an ethical voice in the search for religion, and I really like that.”

Blatt grew up in a very mixed religious environment and her parents — both uncomfortable with their childhood religion — wanted to raise their children in a very welcoming and fostering religious environment. Blatt knew she wanted to be a part of a multi-faceted religious group in college.

“Once I got to college, there was not a Unitarian group on campus. I was able to join multi-faith conversation, and that has been a really important part of my time at Dartmouth,” she said. “I really appreciate getting to talk to people of different religious backgrounds, and I also sometimes attend services at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley and they’re a wonderful community of people”

Blatt is not the only person attracted to the church’s emphasis on individuality. Balmer explained that President Thomas Jefferson was a prominent member of the church.

“[Thomas Jefferson] believed that Universal Unitarianism would be the religion of America because it integrated Jesus’ moral teachings with enlightenment thinking,” he said.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley is considerably small, yet the group attracts people of all sorts of religious backgrounds from all over the Upper Valley region.

Located in Norwich, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley is the closest UU Church to campus. The interior of the church a small, inviting place. Lining the walls and several of the bookshelves are colorful posters with kind phrases like “Be nice to one another” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The main room of the church is about the size of a typical living room — with about 30 chairs surrounding a small podium at the front.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley is a small congregation with about 50 members and a wide array of religious denominations. Many ministers of the church are of various religious backgrounds, too. Blatt recalls that the minister of her church at home is also a practicing Buddhist, and he often integrates parts of that religion into his services.

Sermons at the Norwich congregation also embrace values from various sources.

“My sermon title for this Sunday is the ‘Spirit of the Trees’ and will be focused on trees as a representative of the spirit of the earth,” she said. “Last Sunday I did a service on natural economy, which is ecological economics from a spiritual perspective — looking at our basic assumptions in consumers to capitalism and challenging them from the point of the undervaluing of natural resources.”

Perhaps due to the religion’s relatively small presence in the Upper Valley, Blatt said that many Unitarian Universalists are often misunderstood.

“I definitely think that the religion as a whole is misunderstood,” Blatt said. “In fact, in multi-faith conversation last week, we were going through stereotypes that are present for different religions, and one of the stereotypes listed for Unitarian Universalists was ‘Not a real religion,’ and I actually get that all the time.”

Indeed, many people seem to think that the term “Unitarian Universalist” cannot possibly be a religion. Given its atypical nature of not having one doctrine, central dogma or creed that everyone believes in, many people are often left scratching their heads as to what kind of religion the church supports. Stoddard explained that a lack of dogma is not a lack of values.

“A common misconception is that we don’t believe anything, that you can believe any old thing that you want,” she said. “And that will set most of us off, because it’s very grounded in ethics and human values and treating your neighbor as you would like them to treat you.”