On Being a “-Universalist”

​I have often thought it unfortunate that the Unitarian Church is the only one I know of that also calls itself “Universalist.” The denomination’s full name is “Unitarian Universalism.” A quick Google search reveals that its hyphenated name comes from the 1961 merger of two formerly separate churches: Unitarianism and Universalism. Now in practice there are several other religions that are universalist at least in part in the sense of their including beliefs and/or practices from other faiths. The most obvious examples are those Protestant denominations which have kept elements of Roman Catholicism. Among these are especially Anglicanism (in the United States, Episcopalianism) and Lutheranism.

In the case of the former, King Henry the Eighth was such a staunch Catholic that he wrote a Latin tract Assertio septem sacrimentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum, in which he sharply inveighed against the German religious reformer and the latter’s beliefs. And Luther himself of course had been both a Catholic priest and an Augustinian monk before he left the Church. Most Lutherans today, for example, still cross themselves, like Catholics, though not as much, and occasionally kneel. As for Anglicanism, its founder primarily left the Catholic Church for political and economic reasons. Mainly, he didn’t want some Italian Pope telling him whom he could and could not marry, plus he looked with greedy eyes on the property and wealth of the monasteries and convents in his realm and in fact nationalized them after his split from the “Church Universal.” Nowadays, of course, we have Unity churches, which often include meditation and prayers from other religion traditions as part of their worship. And even the newest form of Judaism, Jewish Renewal, may have such practices as well. Its founder, the Hasidic rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (d. 2014), had experimented in the 1960s and beyond with Zen Buddhism, Hindu spiritual practices, Subud, and others as well, plus he even dropped acid with Timothy Leary in his exploration of such spiritual technologies.

Let’s face it. In our heart of hearts, most of us don’t know for sure what the deity is like or even if there is one. At the end of the day, faith is really our hoping against hope and perhaps reason that the Universe and its “creator” have our best interests at heart, and we may occasionally wonder whether there really is a sentient creator versus the agentless Big Bang in (literally) the first place.
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In my own faith journey I have caminoed from secular Judaism through agnosticism, 40-plus years as a liberal (ELCA) Lutheran, seven as a Roman Catholic, and, as of now, 15 as an Episcopalian. Along the way, I have experienced Conservative Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese philosophy, and the mystical branch of Islam (Sufism). My closest, deepest religious experiences have been from the Indonesian spiritual practice called Subud, an acronym for the Sanskrit terms Susila, Budhi, and Dharma. The practice’s founder, a Javanese man named Muhammad Subuh Sumohadjijojo (d. 1987), interpreted these terms to mean right living based on surrender to the guidance of one’s biggest-and best [or highest] self, one’s so-called true self. Subuh believed that this guidance could be stimulated and strengthened by a twice-weekly practice of what he called the Subud spiritual exercise, in Indonesian Latihan Kejiwaan Subud. I came to these spontaneous practices in May 1961 as a 21-year-old and have stuck with them for the past 64 years. I believe that this “closer walk with Thee” has opened me to an experience-based belief. Most religious beliefs and spiritual practices can be personally helpful. I now know myself as, currently, an Episcopal Universalist. Hey, if a diversified portfolio can work on Wall Street, why not in the worlds of spirituality and religion?