The Children’s Crusade
"What are we going to do?" Martin Luther King asked his friends. He was worried; it looked like they were going to fail in their mission. Martin Luther King was trying to lead the black people in Birmingham in a struggle to end segregation.
In King’s day, segregation meant that black people were not allowed to do the same things or go to the same places as white people: Black people couldn’t go to most amusement parks, swimming pools, parks, hotels, or restaurants.They had to go to different schools that weren’t as nice as the schools for white kids.They had to use separate drinking fountains, and they could get in big trouble for drinking out of fountains marked for white people. They weren’t allowed to use the same bathrooms; many times, there was no bathroom at all that they could use. They weren’t allowed to try on clothes before they bought them.
Black people didn’t think that was fair; there were white people who agreed with them. But in many, many places, especially in the southern part of the United States, segregation was the law–and if black people tried to go someplace they weren’t supposed to go, they could get arrested, beaten, and even killed.
Many thousands of people were working in the 1950s and 1960s to end segregation. But one spring, Martin Luther King was in one of the largest and strictest segregated cities in the south–Birmingham, Alabama. There he could find only a few people who would help. At night they would have big meetings at a church; they would talk about segregation and ways to change things. Four hundred people would show up for the meeting, but only thirty-five or so would volunteer to protest; and not all of these volunteers would show up the next day for the protest march. Those who did would gather downtown, parade through the streets, carry signs, chant, and sing, sending the message that segregation had to end.
You see, the people were very scared. The sherif in Birmingham was a man named Bull Conner. And black people didnt know what Bull Conner might do to them if he caught them protesting. Martin Luther King had already been in jail once, and others were afraid to follow him. Besides, they werent sure protesting would do any good.
So things were bad. Very bad. Martin Luther King had run out of ideas. He was about ready to give up. And then that night, at a meeting, something surprising happened. When King asked who would demonstrate with him and be ready to go to jail, if necessary, a whole group of people stood up, and everyone’s mouth dropped wide open. The people who had stood up were children. The adults told them to sit down. Martin Luther King thanked them and told them he appreciated their offer but that he couldn’t ask them to go to jail. But they wouldn’t sit down. They wanted to help.
That night, Martin Luther King talked with his friends. "What are we going to do?" he asked. "The only volunteers we got were children. We can’t have a protest with children." Everyone nodded, except Jim Bevel. "Wait a minute," said Jim. "If they want to do it, I say bring on the children." "But they are too young!" the others said. Then Jim asked, "Are they too young to go to segregated schools?" "No! "Are they too young to be kept out of amusement parks?" "No! "Are they too young to be refused a hamburger in a restaurant?" "No!" said the others. "Then they are not too young to want their freedom. That night, they decided that any child old enough to join a church was old enough to march.
The children heard about this decision and told their friends. When the time came for the march, there were a thousand children, teenagers, and college students. And the sheriff arrested them and put them in jail. The next day even more kids showed up-and some of their parents and relatives too–and even more the next day and the next day. Soon lots of adults joined in. Finally, a thousand children were in jail, and there was no more room for anyone else.
Sheriff Conner had done awful things to try to get the children and the other protesters to turn back. He had turned loose big police dogs and allowed them to bite people. He had turned on fire hoses that were so strong, the force of the water could strip the bark off trees. He had ordered the firemen to point the hoses at the little kids and roll them right down the street. People all over the country and all over the world saw the pictures of the dogs, the fire hoses,and the children, and they were furious.
Now the white people of Birmingham began to worry. All over the world people were saying bad things about their town. Even worse, everyone was afraid to go downtown to shop because of the fire hoses and the dogs. So they decided they might have to change things. A short time later, the black people and the white people of Birmingham made an agreement to desegregate the city and let everyone go to the same places.
Today, when people tell this story, many talk about Martin Luther King. But we should also remember the thousands of brave children and teenagers whose courage defeated Bull Conner and helped end segregation in Birmingham, Alabama and the rest of the United States.
Our Christian Heritage
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a Baptist and a Methodist? A Presbyterian and a Lutheran? What is the United Church of Christ and why do some UU churches have the word "Congregational" in them? These are just a few of the questions which UU children (and not a few adults!) often ask about "the church across the street." In this issue of Connections I’d like to focus on Christianity—its history, its relationship to UUism and the differences and similarities between various Christian churches.
Things to look for as you visit other churches:
What religious symbols do you see in the church?
Who participates in the service?
What is the arrangement of the altar end of the church?
How are the churches and services the same? How do they differ?
To understand where we are today it is helpful to know where we have come from. So I begin with a condensed history of the evolution of Christianity and the births of various sects (including UUism) along the way. Visiting other churches is a great way for children to learn the similarities and differences in today’s Christian churches. From , a Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship curriculum, I have reprinted lists of things to look for in various Christian churches and services. Locate these churches in your area and take family field trips to as many as possible. If you would like to pursue this topic in greater depth, ask to borrow How Others Worship from the CLF Loan Library.
The Old Story of Salvation
At the center of the unfolding drama of Christianity lies the Old Story of Salvation. This early Christian conception of the history of humankind and the meaning of life on earth is at the heart of all the twists and turns taken throughout the ages, resulting in today’s wide range of Christian sects.
The story, as written by Augustine in the 5th century, is known as The Seven Great Ages of Time. It is the story of humankind’s repeated failure to live up to the standards of righteousness which God originally set for his creatures. Following the original sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden (which marked the end of the First Great Age of Time), God intervened five times to give humans another chance at salvation. First Noah, then Abraham, Moses, and King David were all sent by God to lead humankind to righteousness. But each time the evil nature of humanity prevailed.
God could not let these sins go unpunished, yet his love for his creatures was great. He concluded that in order to save humanity someone must be punished whose value is greater than the value of all humanity. That someone was his only son. And so, in the Sixth Great Age of Time, God’s son humbled himself and was sent to earth in human form, to die as ransom for all human sins.
We are now in the Seventh Great Age of Time, waiting for the Son of God to return to earth to establish and rule over all the nations of the world. When he returns, peace will reign for a thousand years and then the Day of Judgment will come. All people, dead and living, will come before God to be judged on the basis of their lives on earth. Those who believed in Jesus as Savior, and were baptized to wash away sin, would be granted eternal happiness in heaven. Those who were disobedient and did not receive the pardon of their sins through the sacrifice of Jesus will be condemned to everlasting punishment. The Great Day of Judgment will end the Seventh Great Age of Time and eternity will begin.
The First Controversy
You will recognize the first five ages of time as found in the Old Testament and belonging to the Jewish faith. Following Jesus’ death, the Jews were divided on the issue of Jesus’ divinity. While some remained monotheistic, rejecting the notion of God in two parts (God the father and God the Son), others, led by Paul and Peter, believed that Jesus was Savior to all humankind—Jews, Romans, Greeks, rich, poor, master or slave. These latter followers of Jesus, the earliest "Christians," were persecuted and feared by the Roman rulers or these inclusive, democratic ideas.
In the Lutheran Church:
Is there an eternal light?
What function do the acolytes perform?
Many Lutheran churches are predominantly German or Scandinavian. Does this congregation seem to have a common background?
The service contains a statement of Affirmation of Faith. What is it called?
What do the words Psalmody and Kyrie mean?
But the simple, humble Christian church was soon to undergo radical change. In 313 AD the Emperor of Rome, Constantine, declared himself to be a Christian. Although Constantine originally called for religious freedom, power corrupted that ideal, and soon Christianity became an absolute spiritual monarchy, with the pope as spiritual leader. The Roman Catholic Church was born. Church organization and government became hierarchical and complex with strict laws and creedal statements which church members were required to believe.
In a Roman Catholic Church:
What season of the church calendar is being celebrated?
What is the main color used in the service during this season?
What special apparel is worn by the clergy during the mass?
Is the Eucharist a part of the service? At what point in the mass does it occur?
In what language is the mass celebrated?
The first to rebel against the power of this religious system was the Bishop of Constantinople in 1054. He rejected the infallibility of the pope and was himself excommunicated from the Roman Church. And so the Greek Orthodox, or Eastern Catholic Church was formed.
Protestant Reformation
About 500 years later, in the early 16th century, the protestant reformation began with "people who protested" either some part of the Old Story of Salvation or some part of the hierarchy of church government. The first great leader of this reformation was Martin Luther (1483-1546), founder of the Lutheran Church.
Luther was an Augustine friar at the University of Wittenberg when he challenged the selling of "indulgences," special certificates sold by the pope to guarantee absolution of sins and happiness in heaven. Luther claimed that women and men did not have to do "good works," or celebrate the sacraments, or give money in order to be saved. He believed salvation was a free gift and available to all who have faith. Luther also believed that each person has access to God and that the pope, bishops and cardinals of the Roman church were not necessary. Luther was excommunicated in 1520 and barely escaped with his life.
Luther lived to see a strong reformation taking place in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. One of his followers was a young Frenchman named John Calvin (1509—1564). Persecuted in France for his outspokenness, Calvin retreated to Switzerland where he wrote his famous treatise, The Institutes of the Christian Religion. The basic tenets of Calvinism are: the sinfulness of man, the ultimate authority of the Bible, and predestination—salvation of some and damnation of others. In this latter belief he deviated markedly from Luther.
Calvin tried to turn Geneva Switzerland into the City of God. He set forth strict rules to be followed by all Christians and actually encouraged spying on one’s neighbor and reporting misconduct. Church services were austere and filled with foreboding. It was believed that the poor, the weak, or simply the unsuccessful were those predestined for damnation. Therefore all believers worked hard and lived serious, pious lives—constantly in fear of being revealed as one of the damned.
One of Calvin’s greatest supporters, John Knox, was a Scot living in exile in Switzerland . After the reign of Scotland’s Catholic Queen Mary, Protestantism was again allowed in Scotland and Knox returned hoping to set up a society similar to Calvin’s City of God. The result of his efforts was the establishment of the Presbyterian Church as the official state church of Scotland.
In the late sixteenth century Scottish Presbyterians were sent into Ireland to occupy the land of the rebellious Irish Catholics who refused allegiance to the Anglican Church. But the hostilities of the angry Catholics drove many Presbyterians across the ocean to America where Presbyterian churches flourished in every colony.
Calvin was ruthless in his treatment of reformers who did not agree with him. One such reformer was Michael Sevetus (1511—1553), a Spaniard who was raised Roman Catholic during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. When in college Sevetus read the Bible for the first time on his own and decided that the Trinity was something made up by the church and not supported in the Bible. He came to believe that Jesus was more like a man and became the son of God because of the quality of his life. His writings were banned everywhere in Europe and he was eventually arrested and burned at the stake by Calvin in 1553. To this day, Sevetus is considered a martyr of religious freedom and one of the "fathers" of Unitarianism.
Although it is not known when the word "Unitarian" was first applied to those who believed in the unity (as opposed to the trinity) of God, the sixteenth century saw growth of this movement in many European countries. For a time Unitarians were the majority in Poland. In Transylvania (Hungary and Rumania) King Sigismund was converted to Unitarianism by Francis David and it was proclaimed the state religion. England was home to many of these freedom loving reformers, as were (understandably) the new American colonies.
In the Episcopal Church:
Is the Eucharist part of the service?
What are some of the differences between the Roman Catholic and Episcopal services? (Notice the choir. Where do they sit, what are they wearing? What part do they have in the service? Are there any women clergy?)
What prayer book is used?
During this same period, Henry VIII was ruler of England. He was married to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, and a devote Roman Catholic. For centuries the English clergy had been in conflict with the Roman Catholic authorities. This conflict escalated when Henry wanted to divorce Catherine because she did not produce a son. Divorce was illegal in the Roman Catholic church so Henry empowered his Archbishop to declare a separation with the church and name him as the Supreme Head of the Church of England.
After Henry’s death the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, set about to complete three major reforms: 1. hold church services in English instead of Latin, 2. state the beliefs of the church in a creedal form, and 3. state the laws by which the church and the morals of the people should be governed. The Book of Common Prayer was written and in it were significant deviations from Catholicism. All prayers for the dead in purgatory were eliminated, as were all references to the Holy Mother of God.
The Communion ritual was changed so that people partake of bread and wine in remembrance that Christ died for them, not as body and blood of Christ. And so the Anglican Church was born. When Anglican churches in America later became independent of the mother church in England, they took the name Protestant Episcopal.
Soon Anglican church members became disillusioned with various requirements of ritual and conformity much the same way as earlier reformers of the Catholic church had. Robert Browne (1550—1631) led the Congregational movement, so-called because the congregation governed its own affairs according to its own interpretation of the Bible, not the word of the bishops or the Queen. The sermon took on great importance because it was there that the interpretation and understanding of the Bible was given.
In the Baptist Church:
Notice differences in ritual, clothing worn by clergy, congregational participation, references to the Bible, focus of the service.
In the Methodist Church:
Methodism was founded on evangelism. Is there any trace of this religious zeal in the service?
How do members of the congregation participate in the service?
Does the congregation recite the Apostles’ Creed?
It was the Bible itself, not any church hierarchy, which took prominence in the reform movement’s search for truth and authority. And no where in the Bible, said John Bunyan (1628—1688) is there mention of baptism of babies. Baptism, Bunyan claimed, marks the beginning of one’s Christian life—a committing of oneself to Christ which can only be done by a consenting adult. In the Anglican and Catholic churches baptism is considered a sacrament, not a symbol of commitment. The Baptists were against all sacramental acts, which they considered to be "forms without spirit." As this thinking suggests, traditional Baptists were great believers in freedom of faith, freedom that was bound only by loyalty to the scriptures. Later, conservative (or fundamentalist) Baptists declared belief in the truth of all statements of scripture as fundamental to the very existence of true Christianity. In these five essentials of fundamental Baptist faith you may recognize the Old Story of Salvation: 1. virgin birth of Jesus, 2. physical resurrection of Jesus, 3. inerrancy of the Bible, 4. substitutionary atonement (Jesus died as ransom for all humankind’s sins) and 5. truth of miracles recorded in the Bible.
Another reform movement, which was to become very popular with the pioneers of America, was the Methodist movement, led by John Wesley (1703-1791) and named for its unique method or approach to religious services. As a missionary Anglican minister Wesley traveled to the new colony of Georgia where he failed to reach the Indians and Colonists with the ritual and ceremony of the Anglican church. On his travels he was inspired by the strength and courage of his fellow travelers who were German Lutherans. When he returned to England he had an "awakening" that Christ alone was his savior. He and his brother Charles began to travel the English countryside holding outdoor services and spreading the "good news" of salvation to all who cared to listen.
This method of preaching, and the services themselves which were filled with extreme emotionalism and spirited singing, caused great controversy but also gained much support. The Wesley brothers traveled on foot or horseback conducting these first "evangelical revivals" in fields any time of the day or week, providing worship to literally thousands of country folk. Both the method and the message of Methodism took root quickly in the American colonies where Methodist "circuit riders" fed the pioneer spirit with the message of God’s free love and humankind’s free will.
One of John Wesley’s followers was John Murray, whose doctrine of universal salvation was to later become the foundation of the Universalist Church. Murray found no evidence in the Bible for the idea that some people are destined for eternal damnation while others will be saved. This was considered dangerous heresy to the Presbyterians, for without fear of hell there was no motive for living a good life. Murray escaped to America where he hoped to quit preaching. Instead, he was rescued by a man who was "waiting" for a minister to appear who would lead their small congregation. Murray accepted the position and began freely preaching his doctrine of universal salvation.
The movement grew and in 1791 the first national convention of the Universalist Church was held in New Jersey. Many eloquent preachers followed Murray in America, notably Hosea Ballou (1771-1852), a farmer from New Hampshire, whose clear reasoning and effective preaching converted many to both Unitarian and Universalist beliefs. Ballou denounced the trinity as strongly as he affirmed universal salvation and regretted that some of his Unitarian colleagues could not give up the notion of eternal damnation and join the Universalists. Ballou’s premature vision was finally realized in 1961 with the Unitarian Universalist merger.
Change has continued to be constant for most Christian faiths. Issues which originally sparked various reform movements have faded, and many Protestant churches have united to form the United Church of Christ. Each UCC church is locally governed and has the right to decide upon its creed or statement of faith, if the membership elects to use one.
The Birth of Confucius: A Story from China
THE MAN WHO BECAME the father of Confucius was called Kung the Tall because he towered head and shoulders above everyone else in his village. Kung the Tall lived in China a very long time ago. Kung the Tall was living in China when Buddha was born in India.
When this story begins Kung the Tall was an old man. As he thought back over the years of his long life he knew he ought to feel contented. He had been honored for his bravery as a soldier. He had been ruler of the people of his district. He had a faithful wife and a large family of nine children. He had enough money so that he could live comfortably, and he was highly respected by all who knew him.Yet Kung the Tall was a disappointed man.
His one most important wish had never come true.Kung was not happy. This was because all his nine children were girls, and Kung the Tall had no son to be company for him or to carry on the family name after his death.
But now the old man had a new wife beautiful and young. Perhaps even yet Kung the Tall might have a boy child. He had not given up hope. And all his neighbors sad all his friends were also hoping.
"If Kung the Tall does have a son, that child will someday be a great man" this was what everybody was saying. This was what everybody was wishing for, and none wished harder than Kung’s young wife.
Every day she made a wish for a boy child, and day by day she did what she could to make her wish come true. But she believed that somehow a child is always a gift for, the Creator of all Life. So Kung’s wife made her wish into a prayer to God. She even climbed to the top of a high mountain to make her prayer. Perhaps she felt nearer to the Creator when she could stand and look up at the wide, blue sky above and then look down on the broad, green earth below.
Kung’s wife returned home and waited patiently week after week. Before long she could feel the baby moving inside her body, and she was happy.
One evening as she was sitting alone in her garden in the dimness of the moonlight, she had a surprising dream. Seesaw a little animal coming towards her. It was not a goat, nor was it a sheep or a dog. The animals’ body shone in the moonlight. Its tail spread out like a fan and on its head was one turned-up horns Could it really be a Unicorn Surely only in storybooks was such an animal ever seen!
Kung’s wife threw a small silk scarf over the animal’s one horn just to see if it were really there. Yes, it was there, and it had in its mouth a long piece of jade. Kung’s wife wondered.
The Unicorn came closer until Kung’s wife could reach out her hand and take the stone tablet from its mouth. Her hands trembled as she tried to read the words that had been carved into the jade:
"A son of the Great Spirit is to be born. Someday he shall rule the land of Chou as a good and wise King."
Kung’s wife was frightened. She looked up to ask the Unicorn what the words might mean, but the strange animal was gone. Rung’s wife was left alone in her garden in the moonlight. She awoke trembling with wonder at what she had seen.
Not many weeks after this the longed-for day came. It was evening. Rung the Tall and his young wife were waiting for the final moment when their child would be born.In the garden outside the little cottage some of their friends were also waiting and hoping, moment by moment, for the good news.
Then they, too, had a surprise. High above them they saw two great dragons curling their long snake like bodies in and out among the clouds. Their fiery eyes turned this way and that as if they were watching the people on the earth. Said one of the waiting friends:
"Surely these good dragons are keeping guard over the blessed mother and over the child about to be born."
And beside the two long, fiery-eyed dragons, five old but wonderous men appeared in the sky, walking upon the clouds. Said one of the waiting friends:
"These five old men of the sky are the five immortals who never, never die. They have come down from the five planets to celebrate the birth of this great child."
And beside the two long, fiery-eyed dragons, and beside the five old men from the five planets, there appeared also in the sky among the soft clouds five musicians with pipes and harps in their hands, playing wondrous music and singing as they played. The words came down from the sky like the clear ringing of a bell:
"This night a child is born. He shall be a great King, who shall make good laws and shall help people to do the right."
When the young mother in the little Chinese home down below heard the sweet strains of the music, the piping and the singing, her waiting ended. Her boy child was born! To her it had all seemed much like a dream until she heard the voice of her husband:
"A son at last, my good wife. Now my happiness is full!" He lifted his newborn boy child and proudly laid him down in his mother’s arms.
For a long while he sat by his wife’s bed as the two of them looked in silence on the face of their young son. It was a homely face. But this did not matter to his happy parents. In their eyes he was a wonder child.
Presently, as they were fondling him, a strange writing seemed to show on the child’s breast. Five Chinese characters! What could they mean?
Wiser ones than Kung the Tall were called into the room to read the writing. They were amazed when they saw the characters, for the words on the child’s body were those of the heavenly song:
"This night a child is born. He shall be a great King who shall make good laws and shall help people to do the right."
So this is the very old story of the birth of Confucius. Kung-fu-tze, the Chinese say, meaning Kung the Master, or Kung the Teacher. We say Confucius for short.
But this Chinese boy child of long ago did not become a King. Instead he taught other men how to rule their people wisely. Confucius also taught that being able to rule oneself is more important than ruling others. So Confucius had wise words for everybody, big and little, rich and poor. Even after more than two thousand years millions of Chinese still honor Confucius and follow his teachings. All over the world he is regarded as one of the wisest and greatest teachers who has ever lived.
The Boy Who Collected Beetles
Charles! What have you brought home THIS timer 18-year-old Caroline asked. Charles, who was ten, showed her a cocoon, two pebbles, a piece of fern, and a dead beetle. He was a great collector. He loved to be out In woods and fields. His sharp eyes found butterflies, plants, stones, and other things.
When Charles was nine, he was sent to Dr.Butler’s boarding school. But the school was only about a mile away, so he ran home and back easily.At school, he was taught Latin, Creek, and mathematics, none of which he liked. He worked hard at school, but he didn’t get good marks and often disappointed his father. Dr. Darwin thought Charles needed to know Latin and Creek and mathematics to be successful. He didn’t think Charles’s interest in nature would amount to anything.
When Charles was 16, his father decided that he should go to Edinburgh to study medicine. But after two years the sight of blood made Charles sick, so Dr. Darwin sent him to Cambridge University to become a minister. Charles didn’t much want to be a minister either, but he did want to please his father, so off he went.
Charles didn’t study very hard, though he passed his exams. Instead he became a very enthusiastic beetle collector and was always looking for rare and new kinds. Once when he tore off some old bark from a tree, he found two very special beetles which he instantly grabbed, one in each hand. Then much to his excitement, he saw a third. How to catch it too? He popped the beetle from his right hand in his mouth, and then had to quickly spit it out, for it ejected some really awful tasting liquid which burned his tongue. He lost it, and the other one disappeared.
At that time, the British government was sending Captain Robert Fitzroy around the world to make some new maps of coastlines. A naturalist was needed on the Beagle to gather specimens of plants and animals. Charles Darwin was recommended and was very excited, but his father thought it would be a waste of time. He said, "If you can find any man of common sense who advises you to go, I will give my consent." Josiah Wedgwood II, Charles’s uncle, thought it a splendid opportunity and convinced Dr. Darwin.
Charles sailed from England on December 26,1831, on a five-year adventure that changed his ideas and those of many people In the world.
When Charles set sail, almost everyone in the Christian world believed, as it says in the Bible, that everything looked as it had in the very beginning . . . dogs, cats, worms, butterflies, people, everything. Charles thought so too, but what he saw in the places where the Beagle landed gradually changed his mind.
In Argentina, he found the fossil bones of giant prehistoric beasts that looked like animals he knew, only much larger. One was a giant ground sloth that looked very much like the sloths he saw hanging head down from the branches of trees. Had the giant sloths all died out, or could they be the ancestors of the smaller ones he was seeing?
He spent five weeks on the Galapagos Islands and could hardly believe what he saw: lizards looked like dragons; tortoises required six men to lift them; plants, insects, and birds were like none he’d ever seen. Darwin studied everything. He noticed that the tortoises were different on each island. He saw that the beaks of the finches, which were not the same on each island, seemed to depend on what they found to eat. Those that ate berries had different beaks from those that caught insects. He thought a lot about this. Why was it so, when they were all finches? Was it possible that living things changed in some way when their surroundings changed?
Charles Darwin thought about this through-out his journey. He collected plants and animals and sent them to England. When he returned home, he studied them, performed experiments,and wrote and rewrote what: he discovered. After many years, he published a book, The Origin of the Species. He said living things — like flowers, dogs, butterflies, and all other kinds — have been on earth for thousands and thousands of years, and that they have gradually changed through the generations to be able to live in different kinds of places. The clergy disagreed because what he said didn’t agree with the Bible; some called him the most dangerous man in England! Some scientists disagreed with him, because they believed that whatever they discovered had to fit with the Bible.A few clergy and scientists thought he had made important discoveries, though, and they persuaded others. Later, Charles Darwin was given the Copley medal of the Royal Society of London, the most important science award in England.
Seven years after he was given the medal, Darwin’s book about the origin and evolution of people was published. It was called The Descent of Man People were outraged; "Mr. Darwin suggests we’ve descended from monkeys!" they said. But Charles didn’t say that. He said that thousands and thousands of years ago, there was another creature. Both people and monkeys evolved from that animal, like two different branches growing from the same tree.
Charles Darwin was a very kind and loving man. He and his wife Emma had ten children with whom Charles spent a lot of time playing and talking. In one way this was easy because Charles had inherited money and didn’t have to go to work to earn a living. But it was also hard, for he was often ill.
The Darwins lived in the country in a big house with lots of rooms, a garden, and a greenhouse. Two hours a day were "holy time" when Charles worked on his experiments and writings; no one interrupted him. The rest of his time he shared with his family and friends if he was well enough.
Charles was a collector all of his life and the house was full of all kinds of specimens. On the Beagle, he had begun to collect and study barnacles and he kept this up for many years. Once when one of his children was visiting a friend, he asked, "Where does your father keep his barnacles?" He thought all fathers collected them.
There was a Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury that Charles sometimes attended with his Uncle Erasmus. Not all Unitarians agreed with Charles’s ideas about evolution when the books were published, for most of them, too, thought the Bible was literally true. But the search for truth has always been important to Unitarians and Universalists,and new scientific discoveries changed people’s minds. Darwin’s theories were accepted. Some of his theories have been changed over the years, but that would have been all right with him, for he was always willing to change his opinions if he were proven wrong. He sought the truth, and believed it could be found only with love. He said that prejudice and hate "hinder and blind [people] to truth. A scientist must only love."
Why do people have to die?
& Lessons of Loss by Carol Galginaitis
Goal:
To hear stories from other cultures, and our own, about death and the feelings of grief. To learn that the physical death of a person or pet does not necessarily end the emotional or spiritual relationship with the deceased.
Preparation:
Read the Background from Lessons of Loss
Review the following book choices at your local library and select one that appeals to you.
Nadia the Willful, by Sue Alexander
Some of the Pieces, by Melissa Madenski
Pearl’s Marigolds for Grandpa, by Jane Breskin Zalben
Print these two stories from Long Ago and Many Lands:
The Mustard Seed Medicine
The Road to Olelpanti
Activities:
Read your choice of stories, depending on the level of questions and interest of your children. You might do this lesson in several sittings: read the ancient stories first and then the more modern ones. Use the following questions to engage discussion.:
"The Mustard Seed Medicine"
Why did Buddha send Kisa Gotami to find the mustard seed?
How did Kisa Gotami learn to comfort herself?
"The Road to Olelpanti"
What would the world be like if nobody died? Or animals never died? Or trees and plants never died?
What did Olebis mean when he said that through “the gladness of birth” and the “sorrow of death” people will come to love?
"Nadia the Willful"
How does Nadia react to the disappearance of her brother?
How does her father react?
What does he demand of the Bedouin people?
What happens to Nadia as she keeps silent?
How does Nadia begin talking of her brother?
What happens to her feelings as she speaks of Hamed?
How does her father react when he hears the shepherd mention Hamed’s name?
Why does Nadia get so angry with her father?
What do you think Nadia teaches her father about losing someone you love? What do you learn from Nadia?
How will Nadia’s father act differently in the future?
"Some of the Pieces"
Why do Bubbo and his family share so many stories about Dad?
How does Bubbo feel after sharing these memories?
How did Bubbo feel in the days after his father’s death?
Other than sharing stories, how else does the family remember Dad?
What does Bubbo mean when he says, “There’s a part of Dad in us, too.”?
"Pearl’s Marigolds for Grandpa"
What does Pearl worry about after her grandfather dies?
What does her father suggest that she do?
How does this help her remember her grandfather?
What does her grandmother tell her at the end of the story? Do you agree?
How can kids make a difference?
& The Kids Guide to Social Action by Barbara A. Lewis
Goal:
To hear the story of children’s involvement in the Civil Rights movement and to consider how to work for social change.
Activities:
Read: The Children’s Crusade, by Kate Rohde
Discuss:
Why do you think the adults finally agreed to let the children march?
Why did Sheriff Connor act the way he did?
How might your life be different if you had been born of another race?
How would you define “fairness?”
Social Action:
Read 10 Tips for Taking Social Action. As a family, brainstorm problems that you would like to work to resolve. Use the blank forms to fill in your ideas and come up with a plan.
How are UU churches different from other churches?
Goal:
To learn how Unitarianism and Universalism evolved from Protestantism and to visit area churches to see differences today.
Background:
Read “Our Christian Heritage”
Activities:
Find area churches in the your local Yellow Pages and plan visits.
You might like to borrow How To Be a Perfect Stranger from your local library. This excellent resource tells you all about protocol and what to expect in different places of worship.
Meet the Characters on " The Dangerous Journey"
Michael Servetus
Frances David & King Sigismund
UUism Comes to America
George deBenneville
John Murray
Joseph Priestley
Growth & Change
Michael Servetus (1511 – 1553)
Servetus was one of the first people to write down his ideas about Unitarianism in a book. It was called On the Errors of the Trinity. The “Trinity” is the Christian belief that God is made up of three parts: God the father, God the son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. In the 1500’s the rulers of many countries were Christians who believed in this 3-part God and REQUIRED all people in those countries to believe the same thing. (QUESTION: Do you think a person can be required to believe something?) Michael Servetus believed that Christians should look to the Bible, not their rulers, for answers about God, and he could find no words in the Bible to support this idea of God in three parts. (“Uni” is a prefix meaning “one”, so the word “Unitarian” means belief in the “oneness” of God.) His book made many people angry and scared. Soon after it was published Servetus changed his name and went into hiding. He became a very good doctor and lived for quite awhile in peace and quiet. But he couldn’t hold back his strong religious feelings. He began writing again and when his real identity was revealed, he was arrested and eventually burned at the stake. Michael Servetus was a Unitarian martyr. His death led to increased interest in the debate about the nature of God and religious freedom.
Francis David (1510 – 1579) and King John Sigismund (1540 – 1571)
In the 1500’s Unitarian believers were scattered in many different countries. At one point they were a majority in Poland! In Transylvania (a country which no longer exists but included the area now known as Hungary and Romania), Francis David converted the Transylvanian King John Sigismund to Unitarianism. In 1568, King John declared total religious freedom in Transylvania. This meant that the government would not interfere with what people believed. Although this idea seems normal to us today, this was the only country at that time to allow religious freedom. Despite a lot of anger and abuse, even death threats, King John held fast to his ideas, and religious liberty remained the law of the land until his death in 1571. King John’s successors were Catholic, not Unitarian. Francis David was fired from his position as Court Preacher. This did not silence him, however, and he continued to preach around the country. Like Servetus, Francis David was eventually arrested for heresy (religious ideas that are different from those approved of by the official church or government) and died while in jail on that charge.
Unitarianism and Universalism Come to America
All three of the men most responsible for bringing Unitarianism and Universalism to America were raised in England during the time when the ideas of John Calvin were popular. Calvinism taught that God decided before you were even born whether, when you died, you would be “saved” and go to heaven, or go to hell to be tortured forever. According to the church, very few were chosen to go to heaven. People were told that if they go to church and if they work hard and make a good living that might be a sign that God had chosen them to go to heaven. This way of thinking made many people very nervous, especially in times of trouble. When bad things happened that might also be a sign—a sign that you were not chosen by God.
Calvinism was a very stern and harsh religion, and eventually people began to question it. They refused to believe that God would be so mean. They said, “God is loving and wants to save everyone in heaven.” They said, “God does not make people do good or bad things; people choose this themselves!” These people came to be called “Universalists” because they believed in universal (meaning everyone) salvation.
George deBenneville (1703-1793)
When George deBenneville was born, his mother died. Queen Anne of England, a good friend of his mother’s, took George into her home as an infant and raised him as a prince. As a young man George enjoyed the wealthy social life of London, and worried little about his own future. In fact, he felt superior to most people. Then, on a trip to Africa, he had an experience which would change him forever. He saw native peoples not acting as savages (a common view at the time) but with such kindness and brotherly love that they seemed more true to the teachings of Jesus than many so-called “Christians” back in England! He saw people putting faith in a loving God who wanted to save all creatures, great and small. George returned home feeling very sad about his old life. He had a terrible dream that he was burning in hell and for many months his friends thought he would never be happy again. Then one day he decided two things which would stay with him all his life: 1. that good and evil are things that start deep inside each person, not by God’s choosing, and 2. that God’s love is for everyone, not just a chosen few.
With these new ideas George got well again, became a doctor, and began traveling; doctoring and preaching his new faith. In France he was arrested for heresy, and because of his noble upbringing, just narrowly escaped beheading! From France he traveled to Germany and Holland and then finally to America in search of a place where he could think and speak freely about his religion. In America deBenneville made friends with the Native American Indians. He made a dictionary of Indian, German and English words so the colonists and natives could talk to each other. The Native Americans taught him about healing through plants. During the Revolutionary War, deBenneville doctored both the British and American soldiers. He died at the age of 90 having truly lived his Universalist principles of the loving kindness of God and the preciousness of every human life.
John Murray (1741 -1815)
Like George deBenneville, John Murray grew up in a Calvinist family. He tried hard to please his father and mother, to study and pray and do well in everything, to prove that God had chosen him to be “saved” and to go to heaven. As a married man, John and his wife Eliza became interested in the Universalist ideas which a small group of people were preaching in London. Together they studied the new ideas of a loving God and soon decided to join the Universalists. Although this caused them to lose many old friends, they found hope instead of stern judgement in their new religion. It brought them new friends and great happiness. Murray even preached from time to time in their small church.
Then tragedy struck. The next year both Eliza and their one-year old son got sick and died. Devastated by this loss and hoping to leave his old life behind, Murray sailed to America in1770. The ship struck a sandbar off the coast of New Jersey and while they waited for the tide to rise, John went ashore to get supplies. Standing beside the first cabin he came to was a small church. The farmer who owned the church, Thomas Potter, invited John to stay the night. That evening Potter told him how he had built the little church and was waiting for someone to come who would preach about a loving God who saves all people, not just a chosen few. Potter told John that when he saw the ship on the sandbar a small voice inside him said, “There, in that ship may be the preacher you are expecting.” He was right! Though Murray had intended never to preach again, he agreed to preach the next Sunday. That was the beginning of the Universalist Church in America! Murray settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts where despite angry protests from some, he preached to a growing number of people as the “good news” of Universalism began to spread.
Joseph Priestley (1733 – 1804)
You are more likely to hear the name Joseph Priestley in a science class than in most Sunday Schools in America. That’s because he is best known as the scientist who discovered oxygen. But he also started the first Unitarain Church in America!
As a young man Priestley studied ministry in England. Because he did not agree with the idea of the Trinity, the only churches which would hire him were small and poor and generally not very successful. For a livelihood, he turned to teaching and developed a fascination with scientific experimentation. He continued his interest in religion too, writing books and preaching in a Unitarian church in England. Then at age 58 Priestley was accused of being a traitor to England because he supported the idea of equality of all people and thought the laws should be changed to allow religious freedom. One night an angry mob burned both the Unitarian Church where Priestley spoke and Priestley’s home and beloved laboratory in Birmingham. He and his wife fled to London (about 100 miles away), traveling only at night so as not to be caught. But life in London was still very hard for the Priestleys. Many people would not associate with them. They decided to go to America. When they arrived in Philadelphia, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams all sent letters of welcome, because of Priestley’s fame as a scientist. Free to speak about his Unitarian beliefs, Priestley established the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia in 1776. It was the first official Unitarian church in America.
Growth and Change
Unitarian Universalists today honor the courage of these three men and their families. Many others followed in their footsteps as Unitarianism and Universalism grew, first in the New England states and then across the country with the pioneering ministry of many Unitarian and Universalist women. In 1961 the Unitarians and Universalists joined together to become one organization. More and more people join our churches every year. As we grow in numbers, so too do we grow as a religion, always responding to new ideas and changes in the world. Ours is a living tradition with a long history and a bright future!
Who owns water and air and the earth?
& We Believe by the UUA
Goal:
To think about possession and ownership as it relates to things that are essential to life and natural resources. To introduce the concept of stewardship.
Preparation:
If you choose to act out the story, you will need:
Copies of the script for each reader
Puppets for each animal character – puppet parts and body pattern
Clay or playdoh for making coils to be the well
Activites:
Read: The Chief of the Well, or
Act out the dramatic skit of this story in We Believe
Discuss:
Did the lizard, placed in charge of the well, own the water supply? Can you think of people who have the idea that they own something when they are placed in charge of it?
Why didn’t the lizard want the other animals to share the water? Did he want it it all for himself? Did he enjoy exerting power? Are people this way sometimes? What is the meaning of the expression ‘drunk with power.’
Is it possible, on the other hand, that the lizard was so concerned about his responsibility that he was too careful? Do you know of anyone who is this way?
Social Action:
Introduction: This story says that the water (and air and the earth) belong to God, that these belong to everyone. The earth is owned not by the biggest or the smartest or the richest, but by all who live on it, from the tiniest insect to the tallest tree. What’s more, we are all connected in ways we don’t even understand. People who study these connections between living things are called ecologists. One way to think about the earth and the air surrounding it is as an ark, like Noah’s. A man named Buckminster Fuller used a more modern image, the spaceship. “Spaceship Earth” was the title he used to describe the notion that we are like travelers on a spaceship. We can only carry so much of the things we need to survive, just like Noah on the Ark. Our life support system, so to speak, is limited. What do we need to survive? Food (plants and animals), clean air, clean water. On our “Spaceship Earth” we only have limited supplies of these necessary things. So, what do we need to do? Be careful not to wst, not to use them up, not to spoil them. We need to be good “stewards” of our spaceship. (A “steward” is one who manages or takes care of another’s property.)
Make a list of things you do, or could start doing, in your family to be good stewards. There are big things like recycling or boycotting potentially dangerous products and little things like conserving paper by using both sides, not letting the water run while you brush your teeth, and turning off the lights when you’re not using them.
Ask each member of the family to make a commitment to do at least one new thing to be a good steward of “Spaceship Earth.” Share with each other what you’re going to do. Decide on a group project that you could all work on together. Check out your local library (and the Resources section of this website) for ideas.
Why do we celebrate Easter?
Goal: To experience, as a family, the Jewish Passover ritual of asking questions to gain a UU understanding of Easter.
Materials: “A Spring Haggadah,” by Joan Goodwin
