This morning we continue with a series of reflections on our shared values in Unitarian Universalism that were recently adopted by the UUA General Assembly earlier this year. The last time I was with you, we looked at the value of interdependence, and today I will be reflecting on the value of pluralism. 

In relation to the value of pluralism, the General Assembly affirmed that “We are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology.” 

I would suggest that a shared commitment to pluralism based on the equal worth and value of every person is one of the most important prerequisites for freedom, justice, and a flourishing democracy. A commitment to pluralism means respecting the freedom of others to make choices about their own lives, to believe and act according their own conscience and based on their own experience of the world in which we all live.

Embracing pluralism is not a rejection of shared values and morality as some persons may fear, but rather it is a recognition that persons should be free to make their own choices and to act on those choices in ways that do not harm others.

Some of the worst violence and most horrific injustices in human history are owing to societies rejecting pluralism and treating persons who are different from the majority as if they are of lesser or no value. We see this danger manifesting itself again today in the proliferation of religious nationalism around the world. Religious nationalism in all of its forms is a threat to freedom and justice for all.

There are few things more dangerous than finite persons believing they have absolute certainty about the Infinite who then want to structure the life of their nation around their sense of absolute certainty about the divine. 

Enforcement of adherence to a prescribed set of religious beliefs has been one of the deadliest enterprises in the history of humanity. Over and over again, the perception of adhering to ‘right belief’ has provided people with a sense of divine justification for oppressing, enslaving, and murdering others on a mass scale. Such was the warped worldview of inquisitors, crusaders, conquerers, conquistadors, colonizers, enslavers, and perpetrators of genocide. We see its contemporary manifestation in the surge of religious nationalism around rhe world. It represents the antithesis of the value of pluralism and thus the antithesis of liberty and justice for all.

The rejection of pluralism that we are seeing in the rise of Christian nationalism is a threat to human rights in general and poses an imminent threat to religious freedom and to the rights and well-being of immigrants, refugees, women, and persons who are LGBTQIA+.

Persons who embrace the value of pluralism understand that those who think they have all the answers are actually the most distant from the source of wisdom. We all need the humility to understand that we will never fully understand the complexities of the cosmos and whatever power brought it into being and sustains its existence.

The cosmos is much too complex to believe that anyone or any group of persons has a monopoly on the truth about our existence. An open mind and open heart are our best guides to a more just and loving life for all.

Sadly and tragically we are seeing well-funded and well orchestrated attacks against the value of pluralism is our society. 

One narrow-minded form of Christianity is being favored and promoted over other forms of religious expression by many in our nation who hold political power, and the principles of religious freedom for all persons no matter how they orient themselves to religion and the non-establishment of religion by the government are under threat. 

Public education, one of the most important venues where the value of pluralism is experienced, is being weakened and defunded by those who want to keep children and youth from being exposed to an experience of pluralism and by those who want to use public school funds to finance private religiously based education. 

Revisionist history is being promoted to hide the pluralism of our past and to downplay the horrific consequences in our history when the value of pluralism was rejected. The Founders of the nation are “Christianized,” colonizers and perpetrators of slavery and genocide are celebrated, and any discussion of the reality of systemic racism in our past and present is increasingly forbidden in our schools. 

Tragically our transgender and non-binary siblings are now under widespread and systematic attack by those would like to erase them from existence rather than respect their autonomy and freedom to embrace their own gender identity. We must do all in our power to preserve and protect them. 

We know where the kind of rejection of the value of pluralism we are seeing now will lead us. History is littered with the atrocities committed by those who insisted that their way, their religion, their ideology, or their cause was the only one with truth and value. And this is why whenever we see the value of pluralism being denigrated or diminished in word, deed, policy, or practice; we must resist it with all of our being as we affirm that “we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology.” Even if our society becomes a sea of conformity, it is imperative that we do all we can to preserve islands of pluralistic and diverse community for the well being of all persons as we continue to work for beloved community in our world no matter what. 

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