|
I love liberalism. I love liberals. I'm one myself. I love liberals because they've encouraged me to be big and whole and generous and loving. I love Unitarianism and Universalism because they are liberalism made manifest in religion. Liberality has an honorable history. Liberals and their policies are responsible for reducing much of the pain and strain in the lives of ordinary people. This is a huge subject, touching as it does on all aspects of modern life. I'm going to have to leave out much, and so some of what I say may seem unbalanced-but it's very much worth trying to talk and think about, as it is the primary heritage of Unitarianism and Universalism, and forms the core of our modern faith. 'Liber' -- that's Latin for 'free.' It's the root for both 'liberty' and 'liberal.' To be liberal is to be free or open-minded. It is also to be open or generous-hearted. What then is liberalism, as a point of view, or political or religious orientation? Who are the liberals? Are you one? Being truly liberal is hard and unceasing work, not suited to the faint of heart, not suited to those who must have things settled. Nor is it suited to those who feel that questioning is somehow disloyal. What does it take? Are we true liberals? And what is a true conservative? Excesses--First, let's dispose of the excesses of freedom. 'Libertine' and 'libertarian' are also rooted in the Latin liber. Libertines are those who place little or no restraint on their personal behavior, that is, they want a selfish freedom, without taking others into account. A Libertarian used to mean simply someone who upholds the principles of liberty, as do "civil libertarians" today. But thanks to the Libertarian Party, it has generally come to signify those who desire as little government as possible, especially regarding taxation. This too, in my view, is a selfish impulse, for taxation is how a community pays for the services and structures that are beyond the means of individuals or small groups. Finally, there are those who simply have a habit of disconnecting their theoretical thinking from their common sense and morals. This is best expressed by my dear, late, liberal mother-in-law Gwen, who, when she spotted what she considered irresponsible thinking, would remark, "some people are so open-minded their brains have fallen out." In a discussion of liberalism, we do well to keep these extremes in mind, remembering, as with almost everything human, it's possible to distort or have too much of, a good thing. [end of intro] Liberals have been around for a long time, but liberalism is a recent arrival. It's roots are in ancient philosophy, but as a movement it is little more than 200 years old. There are many individual liberals scattered throughout history: the stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius, the heretic Pelagius in the 5th C., St. Francis in the Middle Ages, Erasmus, Locke, Descartes, Voltaire, Condorcet and the other French philosophes, and-let's not forget the greatest liberal of them all-Himself, Jesus of Nazareth. In our own time we have been blessed by a great many more, too numerous to mention, except I have to mention two of my favorites: Eleanor Roosevelt, and Herb Caen, who once remarked that we respect George Washington, but we love Lincoln. Lincoln was the liberal. Let us now hear three of those liberal voices that helped
create a movement that has swept the west and that both entices
and frightens the east and the Third World. 1. Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.) . . . . Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy, exhorting anyone whom I meet after my manner, and persuading him, saying: O my friend, why do you care so much about laying up the greatest amount of money and honor and reputation, and so little about wisdom and truth and the greatest improvement of the soul, which you never regard or heed at all? . . . . This is my teaching, and if this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous indeed . . . . Wherefore, O men of Athens, I say to you . . . . either acquit me or not; but whatever you do, know that I shall never alter my ways, not even if I have to die many times . . . . 2. Peter Abélard (1079-1142) 10 of his 158 Problems in Theology: Should human faith be based on reason, or no? 3. The English Bill of Rights, 1689 . . . . the Lords spiritual and temporal, and diverse principal persons of the Commons, being now assembled in a full and free representative of this nation, do in the first place, for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties, declare:
We've just heard Socrates, defending intellectual freedom with his life, Abelard 'innocently' introducing the element of doubt, opening the way for independent thought, and lastly, we have, in writing, the triumph of the people over royal absolutism. (That last clause was borrowed word for word and made into our own 8th Amendment.) All right-what beliefs define liberalism? READINGS 4, 5, 6, read by congregants in the pews: 4. Mary Wollstonecraft, 1792 My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. I earnestly wish to point out in what true dignity and human happiness consists-I wish to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness . . . . 5. John Stewart Mill-On Liberty, 1859 If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind. . . . The peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race . . . . If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the cleaner perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error. 6. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience . . . Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other status. (Notes on readings 4, 5, 6)-Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) is generally credited with being the first feminist of the English-speaking world. Her contemporary, the French feminist Olympe de Gouges (1748-93) was guillotined during the Terror. John Stuart Mill, a child prodigy who began learning Greek at age 3, was the greatest of the liberal philosophers of the 19th century, and had a major influence on liberal legislation in England. An amazing force for good in the post-war world, Eleanor Roosevelt was the driving inspiration behind the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Liberalism's accomplishments-During the 1988 election, the Republicans successfully tarred Michael Dukakis with the shameful brush of Liberalism. I was so angry! At Dukakis! For not defending liberalism. It's such an easy case to make. Here is a short list of liberalism's accomplishments:
These are all liberal programs. Almost all were opposed by almost all conservatives. Conservatism-It's time to talk about conservatism. At its best, conservatism is putting the brakes on, restraining recklessness, giving us time to reconsider, informed by what has been successful in the past. Heck-lots of us are conservative about some things, like fiscal policy and consumption of natural resources and use of military force. At its worst, conservatism means blind opposition to change, and acting on the low impulse to restrict and deny, and maintain inequality, usually for economic reasons. Now here's a strange and wonderful thing-today's conservative accepts and honors-as conservative values-most of the old liberal agenda. Each of those reforms we've spoken of was opposed by the conservatives of that day. But today's conservative, even the most reactionary, doesn't want to bring back absolute monarchy, nor trade controlled by guilds, nor education controlled by priests and restricted to the sons of the nobility, nor censorship of newspapers; nor limiting the vote to propertied white men, nor revoking disability and old age insurance. The list of things they don't want to change includes most of the reforms instituted in the last 200 years. So consider this: today's rock-ribbed conservative is 90 liberal!! Does this not give us great hope for the future? It tells me that liberalism's going to win, and that hidebound conservatism will continue to retreat. It's just a matter of time. What are the current hot-button conservative issues? Abortion, gay rights, gun control, disregard for the environment, and more tax breaks for the rich. If history is a guide-and I believe it is-then all we need to do is keep the pressure on. Religious Liberalism: Most UUs hold most of the liberal values, and our liberal religious ancestors built a religion around them. We believe, do we not, that truth is consistent and universal-not partitioned-therefore religious truth does not contradict truth from any other source. Liberalism, especially religious liberalism is one of the places where intellect and spirit, where mind and heart, can meet in peace and support each other. Other meeting places are family, friendships, humanitarian work, even political work. We use the word 'faith' a lot. It's a nice Anglo-Saxon substitute word for 'religion.' Shall we take a moment to think about our faith, about what we really believe is true? Do you have faith the sun will rise tomorrow? Liberal religion is a religion of love, kindness, intelligence and wonder, encouraging us all to be our best selves, as free and strong and wonderful as we can be, dedicated to actively making a better world for all. Problems-But there are difficulties. The better the liberal, the harder the work-our faith must be constantly revised in the face of new information. We are a non-creedal faith, but there's a price to pay for it. The cost comes as a kind of unease. What peace we have is forged in the soul through the work of weighing and balancing, of bringing to bear the knowledge gained in your lifetime, finding security and certainty at last in knowing, really, that there isn't any. If we look a good long liberal look at ourselves, we will find we still have work to do. It's natural to want to fall back sometimes on things we 'know' are true, and to quail before the duty to look again, deeper. Bob Dylan mocked us with: wal, I'm liberal, but to a degree. I want everyone to be free. But if you think I'm gonna let Barry Goldwater move in next door, marry my daughter, you must think I'm crazy. I would do it for all the farms in Cuba!" 10 years later, John Lennon sang to us, in Working Class
Hero, (It's the necessary and beneficial function of leftist quasi-radicals to keep tugging at us, so that we don't become conservatives, so that the great center can take another baby step towards that better world.) Falling short of our ideals. How liberal are we? And there are some who claim liberality but think there are some things we shouldn't question or criticize, and that ain't liberal either. And let's not forget the liberal, generous, open heart. Let us practice constant acts of kindness. Give to causes you believe in. Give to the beggar you pass by. Every one of them. Give to the people so close to you, you hardly think of them as needing kindness. You will fail to be perfectly free and perfectly generous, of course. So let us be liberal and generous and open to ourselves, and forgive ourselves. And then try again. And yet again. Go now, and tell it on the mountain: liberalism is good for you, and the best hope for a suffering world. |
Sermon by Leland Bond-Upson,
given at UUs of Petaluma,