Dogmatic

There’s a piece in the Washington Post this morning about a polyamory movement in the Unitarian Universalist Church. In a paragraph down lower in the article there’s the statement that the UU have no dogma -- by which they meant that as far as belief goes it’s everyone for him/herself; what the UU have is not a clutch of squinty-eyed people obsessed with whether the person in the next pew believes the right thing or whether the neighbors need a camera over their bed; what the UU have is community, a community of openminded folks who are in favor of -- well we used to call it mankind but the word today, still a little awkward to me is -- humankind. Humanity.

I like that. Episcopalians also have no dogma, not all of us realize that; we do not have dogma, but we do have doctrine. Dogma is belief that is laid down by church authority that, if you don’t believe it you are not in good standing. Doctrine is commonly held belief of the Christian body at large. The RCs have the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, for example. And the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Some Baptists and others that I have known have dogma about literal scriptural inerrancy and things like the seven day creation story, and are against things because the Bible says so. Homosexuality and same-sex marriage, for example, because they found a verse in the Bible. I’ve often wondered if they’ve read Deuteronomy 21:18-21, that’s a killer verse. 

The Episcopal Church has no dogma. Our theology is worked out in Scripture, Tradition and Reason, and is found in what we say and do and sing and pray when we worship, and more importantly in how we live as we walk the Way of the Cross. Our doctrines are the beliefs that are generally held in so-called “mainline” Christianity, the Resurrection of Christ is one, the Virgin Birth of Jesus is another. The Trinity is another. And the Nicene Creed lays it out fairly well and compatible with our ancient heritage. But as we say, we don’t have to check our brain at the door when we enter church, so if anyone is a Doubting Thomas about any of it, come on up for Communion regardless, because we are not big on certitude or on self-righteousness or on judging others, and who knows what the person kneeling next to you believes, much less the priest saying the Mass and giving out the wafers. 

In my years as a parish priest in fact, I found that UU members who moved to our town and were looking for a loving church community always liked us and made good Episcopalians and fit comfortably into our community.

Only once in my years did someone come to me after visiting our church, told me he loved it, really felt comfortable; but before he joined he wanted a list of what we believe so he could make sure it fit what he believed and what his last church believed. I didn’t have a list for him, but it wouldn’t have fit anyway, he needed dogma and we don’t carry, sell or preach that.

TW+