Centering (5 minutes)

This is a time to make the transition from the busy world to the group experience. A member of the group may read these words from Luke:

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Check-in (10 to 25 minutes)

Each person in the group has the opportunity to share something about his or her life. What significant events have taken place recently in your life? Have you accomplished something meaningful to you? Have you experienced any losses or setbacks? Have you had any insights or new ideas?

Group Discussion (45 to 70 minutes)

Our spiritual theme for this month is Liberation. People may be internally oppressed by habits that do not serve them well. People may be externally oppressed by unjust social and political systems. Obviously, liberation from these two forms of oppression happens in very different ways. How do the liberation theologies of socially and politically oppressed communities challenge Unitarian Universalism? How might Unitarian Universalism be strengthened by a deeper acquaintance with liberation theology?

For group discussion, please consider the questions associated with one or more of the following numbered sections. You need not address all of these sections, and you need not address them in this order.

1. From what personal beliefs or habits would you like to be liberated? In what ways do you prevent yourself from living a more fulfilling life?

2. Do you think of yourself as oppressed by an unjust social or political system?

3. Unitarian Universalist theologian Paul Rasor wrote, “Religious liberals often respond positively to liberation theology when they first encounter it. This makes sense because liberation theology is concerned with many of the things liberals are also concerned with, such as overcoming oppression and working for justice in the world. Religious liberals tend to see themselves as justice-seeking people, and liberation theology offers a framework for expressing this goal in theological terms. What is often difficult for liberals to see is that liberation theology is not friendly to liberal theology. Liberation theology begins with different religious assumptions and uses different methods of theological analysis. It is not part of the liberal theological tradition. Instead, it operates as a profound critique of liberal theology.”

Paul Rasor identified three ways that liberation theology differs from liberal theology.

“First, it presupposes a committed and active Christian faith, which is the source of much of liberation theology’s power. Religious liberals, on the other hand, often approach religious faith with caution or skepticism, a test-the-waters approach that can lead to thin religious commitments… . Liberation theology is impatient with discussions about religious belief or doctrine that remain at the academic level, including, for example, theoretical arguments about the existence of God.”

Is skepticism a strength or a weakness of liberal theology?

“Second, this faith is expressed in a sustained, living commitment to the process of liberation. Its specific focus is on overcoming oppression, and it is often expressed in terms of a ‘preferential option for the poor.’ In other words, liberation theology affirms the existence and redemptive activity of a personal God who acts in history on behalf of the poor and oppressed… . Liberals are often uncomfortable with a God who takes sides. They like to think of God as neutral, the God of everyone, saint and sinner, rich and poor alike. Liberation theologians, however, say that the liberal discomfort with a God who takes sides reflects the comfortable middle-class perspective of most religious liberals… . At a deeper level, many liberals are uncomfortable with any concept of a personal God, including related ideas such as divine purpose. This seems to be incompatible with a scientific world-view, and so they find it hard to relate to the biblical God of liberation theology.”

Are you comfortable with a God who takes the side of the poor and oppressed?

“Liberation theology’s third starting point is that its theological dialogue partners, or interlocutors, are the poor themselves… . Historically, liberal theology’s orientation has been toward Schleiermacher’s ‘cultured despisers of religion,’ or as theologian Harvey Cox puts it, the ‘sophisticated skepticism of the educated classes.’… Liberation theology’s starting point is not the coherence of religion and science or the intellectual curiosity or faith crises of educated believers, but the actual, lived experience of oppression and suffering in the world.”

What questions are we trying to answer as Unitarian Universalists? How to be religious while being guided by reason and science? Or how to challenge the structures of power in our society that create injustice and oppression?

Paul Rasor concluded, “In the final analysis, while liberation theology challenges us in important ways and offers useful critical insight, religious liberals must remember that we speak from a different tradition. While we can and should draw on the resources and insights of other traditions such as liberation theology, liberal theology must speak first to the tradition it serves, which is basically a middle-class religious tradition. We must ask: In what ways are we implicated in the social structures of oppression? What are our various privileges in the current social structures, and how are they connected with, even dependent on, the suffering of others? How might our own practices unwittingly perpetuate the oppressive structures we are seeking to overturn? How can we use our privilege to effect change and alleviate suffering? What are we willing to give up? These are some of the questions we must ask if we want to liberate ourselves and reverse the inertia of the tension in theological liberalism that often interferes with our own best intentions to do truly liberating social justice work.”

Would you agree? What is one tension in Unitarian Universalism that often interferes with our best intentions to do social justice work? Would you like to change your allegiance from liberal theology to liberation theology?

Conclusion (5 to 10 minutes)

What will you take away from this discussion? What would have made this time together more meaningful or satisfying to you? What did you enjoy? A group member may share these words from Luke:

When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”