Unitarians will grasp the opportunity to carry out equal marriage with open arms

“We welcome the decision of the Government to bring forward legislation that will allow the holding of same sex weddings in churches and other religious buildings if that is the wish to the religious body. Unitarians will grasp the opportunity to carry out equal marriage with open arms. As one of our hymns says “All Are Welcome Here”.

This move reflects the historic commitment to religious freedom interpreted for the 21^st century and our wish more an inclusive and more tolerant society. We don't expect Parliament to force other churches or individual clergy, who may disagree with us, to marry same-sex couples if they do not wish to do so. However, we do not consider that our wishes should therefore be simply set aside.

Unitarian ministers have been undertaking blessings of same sex couples for over thirty years and our experience is that the intentions of a same sex couple are identical to those of a heterosexual couples in seeking marriage. We have supported civil partnerships in religious premises and we will work with Government to see that a workable system for equal marriage is introduced.”

11 December 2012

Unitarians welcome statement by Prime Minister in support of same sex marriage in churches

I welcome the statement today by David Cameron supporting the holding of same sex weddings in churches.

The Prime Minister, speaking after an event in Redditch today, said: 'I'm a massive supporter of marriage and I don't want gay people to be excluded from a great institution.

'But let me be absolutely 100% clear, if there is any church or any synagogue or any mosque that doesn't want to have a gay marriage it will not, absolutely must not, be forced to hold it.

'That is absolutely clear in the legislation. Also let me make clear, this is a free vote for Members of Parliament but personally I will be supporting it.'

Legislation has been promised before 2015, and it is anticipated that next week Culture Secretary Maria Miller will launch the government’s plans in response to this summer’s consultation on equal marriage

Unitarians look forward to the announcement and that this will mean we will be free to conduct same-sex marriages in our places of worship if congregations wish to do so.

We don't expect Parliament to force other churches or individual clergy, who may disagree with us, to marry same-sex couples if they do not wish to do so. However, we do not consider that our wishes should therefore be set aside. We claim the right to do so in line with our own deeply held convictions about the inherent worth of all individuals and for public recognition of relationships.

Civil partnerships in religious premises, whilst welcomed by Unitarians, are not a substitute for same sex religious marriage. The introduction of civil partnerships in religious premises has faced difficulties and progress has been slow although several Unitarian congregations have registered to host ceremonies and some have taken place; the first being in Ullet Road Unitarian Church in Liverpool.

It is evident that there has been little public disquiet or indeed interest. I would think this will be the response if religious marriage for same sex couples was permitted with churches simply left to chose. There would be a flurry of media interest and then people would simply get on with their own lives.”

Do Humanists Sing?

"Do Humanists sing?" was one question discovered by Dr Matthew Engelke during his research on British humanism which he presented to the Annual Lecture of the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network earlier this week at Conway Hall in Central London.

Well I found out that some do and some don't! Indeed, the British Humanist Association (BHA) have a choir. The subtext was, of course, is singing too much like a church.

Dr Engelke's lecture "In Spite of Christianity - Humanism and Its Others in Contemporary Britain" was based on his current ethnographic study of humanist organisations; the national BHA and a local group. Unitarians were mentioned twice in a positive context.

 For a Unitarian I found it valuable to seek comparisons and contrasts. He talked about a process of realisation by which many humanist came to identify as humanists. This seems similar to those who claim to have been unitarian all their adult lives before they find their home in the Unitarian Movement. 

Many humanists see that it is important to break with the past and expunge all signs of religion from the public sphere. He described opposition to the use of the term "acts of god" in a risk register being replaced with "acts of nature" despite its well known use as a legal term. 

He wondered, however, about continuity with a religious past. Humanism and Evangelicalism are often seen as the "opposites to each other". To some humanism is therefore cast as another faith. Some humanists cling to religious traditions, such as Philip Pullman who uses the term "CoE athiest". Dr Engelke did not see humanism as a religion by another name. 

Some humanists acknowledged the "goodness" of religion. The various ceremonies recognised aspects of being human. Churches provided a sense of belonging. They were opportunities for like-minded people to engage. Should humanist groups provide these?

Like many Unitarian groups in Britain the humanist group were in 50s and retired or semi-retired. They lamented the absence of humanist spaces unlike most religions, apart from Conway Hall. This is all rather ironic to a Unitarian given the origins of South Place Ethical Society as South Place Chapel, Finsbury a Unitarian congregation whose journey into ethical culture has been described as lonely.  

The local group studied had worked on social justice with a local Unitarian congregation and liked what they did - "I think what they do is interesting" reported one.

There is a clear contrast between the philosophical approach of many humanists and those who act as celebrants who provide services to many non-religious people. This is also a particular danger to Unitarians as well with its attraction to well educated middle class people.

He was surprised that for all the claims for reason and rationality that in practice humanists were prepared to act on irrationality and emotion when confronted with an ethical decision-making exercise. Indeed, many humanists wished to retain some sense of spirituality. This could be a bridge with many Unitarians?

Humanism is embraced by the Unitarian and Free Christian movement in Britain, however, not to the extent of the Unitarian Universalist Association in the US. British Humanists would probably struggle to with the religious elements of our tradition but there is clearly common ground. Nationally, the General Assembly has worked with the BHA on education issues within Accord and on LGBT rights as part of the Cutting Edge Consortium. Locally I am aware of dialogue and exchange. We need to learn more about each other.

  

John Biddle - Father of English Unitarianism - 350th Commemoration of his death

22 September marks the 350th Anniversary of the death of John Biddle, known as the "Father of English Unitarianism".

Earlier this year I wrote a blog post on John Biddle as part of a short series on several anniversaries related to religious freedom.

With his connection to Gloucester I am pleased that one event I have come across to mark the anniversary is that the Cotswold Group of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches "Worship Leaders Support Group" have organised a contemplative workshop on 27 October with the title "Cherishing our Freedom: A Day of Conversation and Exploration Inspired by the Life of John Biddle."

His links with Gloucester are set out in an essay by the Gloucester and District Archaeological Research Group.

Mothers of liberty: how modern liberalism was made by women

I was interested to read that Dr Helen McCabe, of Oxford University, is speaking to the Liberal Democrat History Group at the Lib Dem conference next week on women associated with the development of Liberal political thought in the 18th and 19th centuries. Look at the four names quoted; Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Martineau, Harriet Taylor Mill and Barbara Bodichon. The first two are familiar in modern Unitarian circles; I wondered if Unitarianism had influenced the other two?

To my surprise (although I probably shouldn’t be) they too had Unitarian connections. These four “Mothers of Liberty” had clearly moved in the Unitarian and Radical circles that pioneered women’s rights and universal suffrage.

Mary Wollstonecraft attended Newington Green Unitarian Chapel during the ministry of Dr Richard Price. You can still go and sit at a Sunday morning service in the original box pew where she reputedly sat. Author of “A Vindication of the Rights of Women” (1792) she is often described as the “mother of feminism”. Dr Price, a Welsh radical dissenter, was a crucial influence on her thinking between 1784 and 1786. As the recent edition of The Inquirer (15 September 2012) shows he was a republican who supported the American colonists in their War of Independence.

Harriet Martineau, was one of the first women writers and journalists. She was brought up in a Unitarian family in Norwich. Her brother James, from whom she was later famously estranged, emerged as the foremost Unitarian theologian of the 19^th Century. She argued that apparent differences in intellect between men and women were the product of educational discrimination.

She was best known as a populariser of political economy, though her career spanned many other aspects of Victorian literary culture. She shot to fame in 1832 as author of Illustrations of Political Economy - twenty-four short stories showing how economic conditions impacted on the lives of ordinary people in a variety of social environments.

She visited America from 1834-6 and identified with the anti-slavery cause, which she promoted in her journalism for the rest of her working life. She also wrote travel books on America and the Middle East, besides political analyses of conditions in India and Ireland, and can be regarded as the first significant British woman sociologist.

Harriet Taylor Mill was a philosopher and women’s rights advocate. Her second husband was John Stuart Mill and it is clear she influenced much of his writing. She produced a number of essays including “The enfranchisement of women” and a few articles for the Unitarian Journal “The Monthly Repository”. She and her first husband John were active in Unitarian circles and were friendly with William Johnson Fox, a Unitarian Minister and early advocate for women’s rights

Barbara Leigh Smith, later Mrs Bodichon, was an educationalist, artist and early feminist. She was the extramarital child of Benjamin Leigh Smith, Liberal MP for Sudbury and then Norwich. David Bebbington believes that his domestic arrangements made active Unitarian allegiance unlikely.  Her grandfather, however, was William Smith MP, the well-known abolitionist and dissenting and Unitarian parliamentary leader. He was deeply devoted to her and his other grandchildren from amongst the Nightingale and Bonham-carter families.

She and a group of friends met in the 1850’s in London to discuss women's rights, and became known as "The Ladies of Langham Place". This became one of the first organised women’s movements in Britain. They pursued many causes vigorously, including their Married Women’s Property Committee. In 1854 she published her Brief Summary of the Laws of England concerning Women, which had a useful effect in helping forward the passage of the Married Women's Property Act 1882. In 1857 she married an eminent French physician, Dr Eugene Bodichon.  She helped establish what evolved into Girton College, Cambridge. She was a Unitarian who wrote of Theodore Parker:” He prayed to the Creator, the infinite Mother of us all (always using Mother instead of Father in this prayer). It was the prayer of all I ever heard in my life which was the truest to my individual soul.”

Four women, influenced by Unitarian thinking, who contributed to social and political progress. They were truly “Mothers of Liberty”.

Religious Freedom Central to Development

I was interested in some comments by Ms Lynne Featherstone following her appointment as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of International Development. She has stated that her promotion of human rights and equal treatment will continue in her new role. Respect for the rights of women, minorities and LGBT people should surely be important matters and needs to frame part of a commitment to universal human rights which clearly contributes to development.

As a faith body Unitarians have always highlighted the significance of religious freedom as part of the overall human rights agenda. From the 19^th century we promoted “Civil and Religious Liberty the World Over” in the knowledge that the denial of religious freedom and promotion of religious persecution will certainly undermine human development and progress.

The promotion of religious freedom has been central to the Unitarian journey. We will commemorate in 2013 the repeal of the Trinity Act which relieved those holding Unitarian views in Britain of legal penalties. Unitarians were founders of what is now the International Association of Religious Freedom, the world’s oldest multi-faith global organization with General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The IARF has established a Peace Commission to explore practical steps in peace-building, particularly in areas where religion contributes to division. Having faced persecution ourselves Unitarians do not stand by whilst this fundamental human right is devalued.

In defending religious freedom this includes rejecting the persecution of people of no religion as well as those of faith. Paul Marshall, the leading researcher on religious freedom, has written that there is no group in the world that does not suffer to some degree because of its beliefs. This can be at the level of government repression but also inter-communal violence, with attacks on minorities.

I hope that issues surrounding religious freedom can influence decision-making about international development priorities. The Department of International Development has been working with national faith groups to promote development in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals. I would urge that issues surrounding religious freedom are emphasized in discussions about development and political, social and economic well-being. For example, events in the Middle East and North Africa are raising serious risks of religious strife and growing religious intolerance yet at the same time we also see opportunities for societies to be transformed with power in the hands of the people.

I took the opportunity to raise this issue with Ms Featherstone when I spoke to her earlier this week following up a letter to her as a result of her appointment.

Departure of Lynne Featherstone from Equalities Office raises uncertainty about equal marriage

The departure of Lynne Featherstone from her position as Minister for Equalities will raise uncertainty about equal marriage plans.

Lynne Featherstone has driven forward the Coalition’s policy on equal marriage and is to be congratulated. I wish her well in her new post at the Department of Department of International Development. Homosexual acts are still illegal in 78 countries and the rights of women need to be promoted in all parts of the world.

This is a crucial time for the Coalition’s proposals on equal marriage. The consultation is closed and we await the Government’s response later this year. This change of Equalities Minister will therefore bring uncertainty which will be enhanced by the move of responsibilities for the women and equalities portfolio from the Home Office to the Department of Culture Media and Sport.

Recently there have been indications that the Government may bring forward proposals to allow equal religious marriage for faiths who wish to pursue this as well as equal civil marriage and I hope that this more positive approach is not quietly rolled back.

The Deputy Prime Minister is holding a Reception next week (11 September 2012 at 1 Carlton Gardens) to mark the Government’s “historic consultation on equal civil marriage”. I, and other liberal faith leaders who will be attending, will use this opportunity to continue to press for equal religious marriage.