A Commentary by Russell D. Moore The old joke asks what you get when you cross a Unitarian-Universalist with a Jehovah's Witness. The answer, of course, is someone who goes door to door for no apparent reason. The joke is now a reality. Unitarian-Universalists have discovered personal evangelism.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the nation's most liberal hyper-Protestant denomination is using advertising media and word-of-mouth to spread the gospel of a creedless faith in which new members may worship God, gods, a Goddess, or no god at all. One may be a Buddhist Unitarian, a Hindu Unitarian, an atheist Unitarian, a polyamorous Unitarian, even a Wiccan or neo-pagan Unitarian.
The Times reports that the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) seeks to borrow "outreach techniques of evangelicals" in order to reach those seeking to "escape" evangelical Christianity and orthodox Catholicism. This includes an upcoming Unitarian revival meeting "in the tradition of the old-time tent meetings." No, I am not making this up.
So far the results are mixed, the newspaper observes:
"I like that it embraces all religions," said newcomer Teresa Geldmacher, 50, who said she was raised Roman Catholic but hadn't been to church in years. "I was brought up Christian, but couldn't accept the teaching that Jesus died on the cross for our sins." The service, she said, "was much more along the lines of what I consider true spiritual teachings, which look to accept rather than to reject." James Law, 66, who recently moved to Southern California from the Mississippi Delta area where "there are no Unitarians for miles," said he wasn't sure just how to react: "I've never been to a service without somebody pounding the pulpit and telling us how to change our lives."
I am a product of Deep South Baptist revivalism, a tradition that brought me to Christ and that I appreciate more the older I get. I have to admit that, if a Unitarian revival meeting comes anywhere near Kentucky, I'm going to go, just so I can see the Unitarian evangelist's altar call: "Every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around. If you were to die tonight... well, you'd be dead. Wouldn't you like to use eco-friendly bio-degradable paper products in the meantime?"
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