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WHAT IS RELIGIOUS EDUCATION?
Rev. John T. Crestwell, Jr.
August 28, 2005

You ever get tired of looking at the newspaper?  You pick it up and see pictures of war or starving children or something else on the front cover that reminds you just how inhumane humans can be at times.  I learned in college that publishers have to put the “hard news”—the bad stuff in the front of the paper, and the “soft news”, the feel good stuff, in the back.  Advertisers, you see, want strong readership and this can only be accomplished with “shock and awe”.  Thus, we are becoming more and more each and everyday desensitized to senseless acts of brutality by non-American and Americans alike.

I don’t understand how any of us could enjoy or get accustomed to seeing pictures of people being victimized in any way, shape, or form.    You know, as long as we are not the victim it’s okay you see.  As long as “they” suffer it’s okay.  “It’s not me!”

Did you read this week how some talk show host at WMAL news talk radio lost his job because he said that Islam was a religion for terrorists?  Did you hear that?  He didn’t get it right because almost all religions have been used as agents of terror (hello)!   He also didn’t get it right because it is not the religion so much as it is the people who have the control who misuse their power and influence—that is the real problem!

I am amazed, I must admit, that there are so many degreed, educated people in our world who seem to be ignorant when it comes to the human condition and to intercultural communications.   The funny part is they have been raised in church— went to Sunday school every week; many came from a “Leave it to Beaver” family; they were taught the best in morals and ethics, attended fine schools, but they remain, as adults, culturally ignorant.  Like this gentlemen at WMAL who had a successful career, yet he was ignorant and lacking respect for a religious group that has nearly 2-billion followers and a long cherished history.  Sure, we have had to deal with Arab terrorists over the last few years but one cannot indict an entire religion on the actions of a few misguided folk who represent the minority, not the majority of folk who are good well-intentioned Muslims who mean us no harm.

The fact is many Americans grow up culturally ignorant.  As an example, most of us know only one language (and of course the British tell us we don’t even no that one.  To them we speak American Ebonics—hello).  But, most of us know one language.  Yet, many who come to this country today know several languages.  Many like the Hindus and Buddhists who come here, as Diana Eck said well in her book, A NEW RELIGIOUS AMERICA, they bring their culture but they also learn how to fit into American culture.  They have to.  They have to assimilate in some circles if they want to be accepted but we don’t have to do that.  We can remain culturally incompetent.  And that’s why, for me, the world doesn’t change.  We don’t take enough time to recognize that everyone’s voice wants to be heard.  We don’t take enough time to understand why those in the margins of society must be given a voice, why those from Africa or Haiti or Iraq or Temple Hills need to have their side of the story articulated.  There are always two sides to a story and we often get the victors story—HIS-story and not the full picture.

I guess you have to ask yourself the question:   How can Religious Education in general, AND in our church, help to move us from a society of culturally incompetent folk to culturally competent, culturally sensitive Americans?

First, we have to see that in general “religious education” means to educate ourselves about religion; about the various institutions in the world that bind together under a fixed system of sacred religious beliefs.  And first and foremost we can all do this.  We could all “read more, think more and listen more indeed” as Maya Angelou articulated sometime ago.   Beyond this very basic definition, there is the larger mission of our church to be an organism inside and out, internally and externally, that comprehensively teaches its congregants and members to understand culture.   Therefore, we cannot let religious education, fall into the narrow realm of Sunday school or church school which signifies that what is learned is not eclectic but limited, exclusive and homogeneous.  Rather, we must understand the importance and impact a strong Religious Education program can have on our present and future witness to the world as Unitarian Universalists.

I submit to you that as good and wholesome as traditional Christian church school is it is not sufficient to meet the new America that is emerging.  America today is much broader than the stories of Adam and Eve, Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses and Pharaoh, Mary and Joseph…  These stories have their place but the religious education that excites me today is the RE that teaches that our learning must be a life-long struggle and is difficult to master.  It is not about one particular brand that uses its Sunday curriculum to set up a dogmatic us against them mentality which becomes etched into the minds of the young and old alike, instead it is a pluralistic education that evolves as people and cultures evolve.    

So Religious Education is not just for our children, although it is very important for them to have in their lives, but for all of us. 

Learning to be more aware is not just listening to a sermon on Sunday.  It is also participating in the program offerings we have here at the church.  I have to admit that there is a group of regulars that attend almost everything we have, but the vast majority of you miss wonderful opportunities to grow.  I always say to myself, you know John, they’re busy like you.  They have lives.  They are too busy to get overly absorbed in the church.”  But sometimes I get frustrated…  Why aren’t people in droves coming to ADORE?  Why wasn’t the church filled to capacity when we discussed the Book A NEW RELIGIOUS AMERICA?  Is it the topic?  Or maybe UU’s feel they can grow on their own time? I submit to you there is nothing like growing together and sharing together.  I have witnessed change in people.  I AM A WITNESS THAT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT ISSUES TOGETHER THAT EFFECT THIS CHURCH AND WORLD, CHANGE OCCURS!  The future hope and growth of this congregation is predicated on this organism called Davies Church being more united as a family who realizes Religious Education for kids and adults are not casual moments in history, but serious times to reflect and grow spiritually as a people and as a person. 

There’s a lady who is with the Pentecostal church.  She comes in about 45 minutes before the rest of the group.  She cleans the sanctuary, straightens chairs and prays all around the room which from what I know, is a way of sanctifying the space.  She carries her Bible in her hand and chants for about 20 minutes or so…  She takes her religion seriously.

We’ve got to take being a Unitarian Universalist more seriously and see that our want to learn and grow more can have a positive impact on society.  There are church schools all across America teaching that “One brand fits all”.  And how will this country ever change when people are brainwashed and hypnotized?  There has to be a force that comes forward in America to say, “Your way is not the only way!”  But that will not happen until Unitarian Universalists begin to see that our religion is authentic, real and historic.

In our own ranks, there is an over abundance of ignorance.  We don’t grow and we don’t see the change in communities that we want because our churches, I believe, do not know who they are!  I am often amazed that many of us today don’t define ourselves as Unitarian Universalists. We say, “I go to a UU church” but we call ourselves the USETA… “Oh, I useta be a Methodist.”  “I useta be a Catholic.”   “I useta be a Baptist.”  But, what are you now?  Do you see yourself as a Unitarian Universalist and do feel good about being one?

That’s the missing element and it is because most of us are not life-long UUs like Dawn Star who knows the legacy, history, the power of this movement…   Dawn gave me a cute little book to read for the service today, Full Circle: fifteen ways to grow lifelong UUsby Kate Tweedie Erslev.  She too sees Religious Education for adults and children as a vehicle to growing lifelong UUs.  Listen to some of what she recommends:

• Embrace our UU identity - Say that you are a UU and be proud of it.
• Recognize Religious Education as an important portal to institutional involvement – the more our children and adults understand about the faith the more committed they become.
• Share the value of attending church regularly at least three times per month – the more people come to church, the more vested they become.
• Offer opportunities for all ages to live out UU values – the more folk express what it means to be a UU the more UU they become!
• Offer engaging religious education - The more engaging and exciting we make Religious Education, the more committed members become to the movement.
• Celebrate founders, lifers and heritage – The more we know our history and about the stories of those who’ve been with the faith for an extended period, the more authentic we see our religion, allowing us to embrace it even more thoroughly.

There are nine others, but you get the point.  Erslev surveyed many churches and these were some of her findings in how we can stop losing our young people when they become teens; how we can grow an even more vibrant congregation full of UU evangelists who are not shy about proclaiming our unique message to the multitudes.

Your leaders will be offering new programs this year:  A UU Parenting course, BYOT part 1 and 2, Neighboring Faiths, Understanding the Bible, among other things…  I encourage you to participate.

If we are to change America for the better, when it comes to issues of race and gender and culture; if we are ever to build within our walls a true atmosphere of conscious competence, from a cultural perspective, then we have to see that what we put into the minds of our children and into our own minds, will directly impact our ability to be the best that we can be.  If we really want to make this church and world a better place, it begins with us and with our families.  Use your church to help you become the best you, you can possibly be.  I don’t believe you can do that alone.  You need a safe environment to test your ideas.  Let this church be your laboratory.  You see, I think you run the risk of becoming narcissistic in the confines of your mind, so I think it is very important to share with others…   

If we really want change, “…it will not come on the whims of inevitability”, but as Dr. King said, “It will come from the tireless effort of committed individuals” like you and me.  We must be the change we want!   If there is a God, I don’t think God looks down and says, “Let there be light”.  I believe IT sets a process in motion and within that process organisms respond to stimulus that pushes the cause and effect process forward.  I submit that we must respond to the stimulus—the call from society for justice, equity and compassion in human relations; the call from society to recognize the worth and dignity of all.  These are not utopian ideals.  We can make good on these principles but we must all come to see that the creative sustaining force will not do it for us.  The change we say we want will come when we use our hands, our minds, our mouths, and our feet to toil and labor as long as it takes so that “justice can roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Amen.

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