Unitarianism: Mosaic or Melting Pot?

NAUA Worship Service Saturday November 18, 2023

for full service see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMRGWUdakvM

Reflection: on US and Canada differences and how it impacts our Canadian congregations.

by Mary Bennett, member of NAUA worship team

Talking to Americans

Rick Mercer, arguably the most famous comedian in Canada, once did a regular segment called “Talking to Americans.”  In it he travelled to various places in the US and told people outrageous lies about Canada and asked for their comments.  Outrageous to any Canadian, but he kept managing to find Americans who would respond to questions like:

Do you think Canada shouldn’t put senior citizens on ice floes?

Mercer told one group that a Canadian company held the mining rights to Mount Rushmore and asked them if they thought the company should have to drill from the back?

Some of my Canadian friends thought the segment was very UN-Canadian as it made fun of Americans. And he didn’t even say, “Sorry” afterwards.  

The segment was sufficiently famous that when Mercer  wrote his memoir 2021 he called it “Talking to Canadians.”

Let me first mention how I came to take on what fellow Canuck Terry Anderson calls the “unenviable task” of providing something of a counterpoint  to the service today which is about US regionalism.  We all should know that In Unitarian/UU circles it’s a good idea to give your feedback AFTER a sermon. Otherwise you may be invited to participate IN the service. 

As the sole Canadian on the NAUAs worship committee, when I saw the topic for the sermon being “These United States” I felt it wasn’t very inclusive of those of us north of the border.  And, just like that, I was invited to say a few words about the Canadian part of North America.  CanCon – Canadian Content we call it.

Here’s what our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau’s  father, Pierre Elliot Trudean, said about living next to the US

Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.

What does this means in Unitarian circles?

I sensed over the past three years the elephant, in this case, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the UU Ministers Association, were “twitching and grunting” (if I can call it that to use Trudeau’s language.)

Key was the discssion (if I can call it that) about adopting an 8th principle and imho the un-Canadian process that led to its adoption in November of 2021.  Some congregations are still dealing (or not dealing) with the fall-out from what most on both sides now feel was not a good process, whatever they felt about the final decision. 

I stepped back from engaging in this because I saw it as a no-win situation.  People on the pro-8th principle side would often assume I was “with the program.”  The false syllogism went like this: I like Mary. I like the 8th principle. Therefore Mary likes the 8th principle. 

And so I got tired of correcting them.

I’m going to talk about two oft-repeated (in Canada at least) diffrences between the US and Canada. First while the US have “life, liberty and the pursit of happiness” we are content with “peace, order and good government.”  Think about the trickle-down effect of that for any group of self-governing people.

In his 2008 book, A FAIR COUNTRY: TELLING TRUTHS ABOUT CANADA, John Ralston Saul actually points out that the phrase “peace, welfare, and good government,” demonstrating that the well-being of its citizenry was paramount in most documents prior to the BNA Act.

Secondly, I want to look at the Canadian approach to immigration as a “Mosaic” vs the American “Melting Pot” specifically in relation to the recent UUA curriculum CTT, and its predecessor BYOT.

BYOT vs CTT: Mosaic or Melting Pot

Like many of you, taking a Buiding Your Own Theology Course was an important step in my deciding to join up as a Unitarian. On reflection, I realized it’s a Mosaic approach to development of a personal theology.

When I read carefully the description of the new curriculum, Creating Theology Together, it seems to be a Melting Pot approach. Anyone over 12 is welcome to come and “create our shared theology for our covenanted congregations together.”

I shared the description with some local Unitarians and asked comments on how it would need to be tweaked for the Canadian context. One person replied in some depth.

“This is pretty much the opposite of what I signed up for when I became a Unitarian. I took the course many years ago, and I loved that I was encouraged to think for myself. 

I never talk about being in covenant with anyone, and that language turns me off a bit.

There’s so much that would need to be tweaked for me: 

 – I prefer to be a Unitarian – not a UU. 

– it sounds like groupthink.  Rather cultish.

– I prefer to choose my own social justice goals. 

– I prefer to interpret our values and principles differently from some others. 

– UU theology?  I didn’t think we had one – that’s what I like about it.  

– Nor am I interested in doing such work with 12-year olds. Just not my thing at all.  (I went to church to get away from my kids and have time to think.)

In short, If I had wanted a creedal church, I’d likely have remained an Anglican (Episcopalian)— and just ignored some of the words. I’d attend a great big cathedral with incredible acoustics and music!  I miss the sensory nature of that sort of church.  I even miss the kneeling bars. I never prayed to a personal “God,” but I did like the sense of humility that kneeling and expressing gratitude engendered in me.”

Closing: Congratulations Canada!

In closing, I want to mention another part of Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans section was that he would share  “fake news” and ask Americans to offer their Congratulations.

For instance: 

Congratulations Canada for making Beaver balls your national dish or 

Congratulations Canada on preserving your national Igloo

They would hold up a banner saying Congratulations Canada while they gamely in unison said: Congratulations Canada on – whatever it was. So I’m hoping you’ll play along with me today.

So – tongue firmly in cheek, here goes!

Many people have spent so much time and energy into, first of all, adopting the 8th principle and then on how to recover, we’ve come up with a method that will give everyone a chance to have their own principle enshrined in our list of principles.

Starting with the May 2024 annual meeting, anyone 12 or over can submit a proposed principle with a maximum of 140 characters (the length of the current 8th principle and also coincidentally a “tweet”). One principle will be selected every year. The details are being worked on by a task force of youth and young adults even as we speak. 

So I invite you to say with me: Congratulations Canada on giving every person a voice and a vote. 

Thank you everyone. I have more to say, but not today.