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Each According to Their Understanding1 Rev Each According to Their Understanding1 Rev. Myke Johnson January 7, 2018 Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church This month, January, 2018, marks the 450th anniversary of one of the first official statements of religious tolerance. Today we will explore this historic moment in Unitarianism, and its implications for our UU faith today. Time For All Ages: A Story Of Religious Freedom2 This is the text of a slideshow by Carolyn Barschow, Director of Religious Education Unitarian Universalist churches welcome people from all different religious backgrounds. In our Sanctuary, you could meet someone who follows the teachings of Jewish, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist or Pagan religion, just to name a few. You could also meet people who follow no religious tradition. That idea is part of our third principle – to accept each other AND our fourth principle – that people are free to search for what is true in life. Our city of Portland welcomes people from all different religious backgrounds. When you travel around town, you might notice many different churches, synagogues and temples. Your classmates at school might spend their weekend time in those buildings while you and your family come to Allen Avenue. That idea is part of the Bill of Rights of the whole United States, the first amendment says the government can make no laws that stop people from gathering to practice religion. In this church and in this country, we practice freedom of religion. Freedom of religion. What do you think that means? It may seem hard to believe, but freedom of religion was once a new idea! Can you imagine what it would be like to live without religious freedom? One time and place that new idea of religious freedom was born was 450 years ago - back in January of 1568- in the country known as Transylvania. Maybe you’ve heard of Transylvania because of stories of vampires. Vampires are make believe, but Transylvania is a real place and today it’s part of the country called Romania. Here is a photograph of a city in Transylvania. Way back in 1568, King John Sigismund, the one and only Unitarian king in history, was very interested in religion, partly because people in his country kept fighting about it. The Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Unitarians all argued about whose views were right about God and Jesus and how church services should be conducted. Finally, King John called the best speaker from each church to come to a place called Torda for a debate to decide who was right. The speaker from the Unitarian church was a man named Francis David. He argued for the Unitarian 1 Copyright 2018 by Rev. Myke Johnson. Permission must be requested to reprint for other than personal use. 2 Adapted from an unattributed story from the Church of the Larger Fellowship. https://www.questformeaning.org/section/spiritual-themes/hope/ Accessed: 4 January 2018. 1 ideas of God and Jesus, but then he also added that no one has the right to force people to believe anything about God, and that it’s OK if our understanding of religion changes. After 10 days, King John ordered the debate to end. He announced that Francis David had won, and right then, King John decided to become a Unitarian. But he also agreed with Francis David that no one should force others to believe anything. King John created what was called the Edict of Torda, which declared that every church and every person would be free to follow their own beliefs, even if those beliefs changed over time. This was in January, of 1568. Around the world this month, people of many faiths are celebrating the 450th birthday of the Edict of Torda – one place and time that the idea of religious freedom was born. Reading: The Edict of Torda In 1568, in the city of Torda, in what is now Romania, a religious gathering presided over by Unitarian King John Sigismund proclaimed: “In every place the preachers shall preach and explain the Gospel each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation like it, well. If not, no one shall compel them for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve. Therefore none of the superintendents or others shall abuse the preachers, no one shall be reviled for his religion by anyone, ... and it is not permitted that anyone should threaten anyone else by imprisonment or by removal from his post for his teaching. For faith is the gift of God and this comes from hearing, which hearing is by the word of God.” Responsive Reading God is One by Francis David3 In this world there have always been many opinions about faith and salvation. You need not think alike to love alike. There must be knowledge in faith also. Sanctified reason is the lantern of faith. Religious reform can never be all at once, but gradually step by step. If they offer something better, I will gladly learn. The most important spiritual function is conscience, the source of all spiritual joy and happiness. Conscience will not be quieted by anything less than truth and justice. We must accept God’s truth in this lifetime. Salvation must be accomplished here on earth. God is indivisible. Egy Az Isten. God is one. Sermon When I first heard that there was a branch of the Unitarian faith in Transylvania, I couldn't help but laugh. Like many of us in America, I thought of Transylvania as the fictional land of Count Dracula and the vampires. So if you wanted to laugh, go ahead, and let's get it out of our systems. It is amazing how myths can become more pervasive than the truth about something. Especially myths about people far away. 3 Compiled and adapted by Richard Fewkes, #566 in the hymnal Singing the Living Tradition. “Egy Az Isten” is Hungarian, pronounced, “Edge Oz Eeshten.” 2 As we heard in our Time for All Ages, Transylvania is a real place; it is deeply rooted in Hungarian culture, but now located within the country of Romania. It has always existed on the margins between empires, and at various times came under the rule of the Hungarian kingdom, the Ottoman empire, the Hapsburg dynasty, and later into our own times, the Soviet Union. Even today, it exists as a marginalized area of Romania. This position on the edges most likely had some influence on the events that we are celebrating today. The story of the Edict of Torda is a moment of inspiration and pride for modern Unitarian Universalists. Since religious tolerance is one of our values, it is heartening to see it expressed so early in the history of our faith. I thought it might be helpful to put it into a larger historical context. When early Christians were first coming together as a new faith, they wrestled openly with questions about Jesus. Some thought of Jesus as human but not divine, a great teacher and prophet; they held to the idea of one God only. Others thought of Jesus as divine, but not really human, and still others combined those attributes in a way which later would become the official doctrine of the church. Parallel to this, emerged the idea of the trinity, three-persons-in-one God, which became official teaching at the council of Nicaea in the year 325. After the Nicene council, to believe anything but official church teaching was considered heresy. The word heresy comes from the Greek word meaning “to choose.” In those times, it was considered unthinkable, even sinful, for people to choose what to believe. But 500 years ago, the rigid hold of church dogma began to change when Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the doors of the churches in Wittenburg, Germany, on October 31, 1517. His actions started the Protestant Reformation, a breaking apart of the Roman Catholic church in Europe. For the next 50 years and beyond, religious ideas were debated across Europe—and new religious organizations emerged from the teachings of influential thinkers. The Catholics, the Lutherans, the Calvinists—all were staking a claim to be the true form of Christianity. Unitarian ideas also emerged, through the work of the Spaniard Michael Servetus, and Faustus Socinius of Poland. They began to challenge the divinity of Jesus, and the doctrine of the trinity. But the stakes were very high—if a theologian could win the support and loyalty of the king, the whole country might adopt that particular strain of Christianity, and lay claim to the churches and cathedrals within that country. Those with opposing views were often banished, or imprisoned, or killed as martyrs for their beliefs. Thus, Michael Servetus was martyred for his heretical Unitarian ideas in 1553. There were very few Unitarian religious communities, in scattered places—for example, there were a few in Poland, called Polish Brethren, who in later years would flee to Holland. When Unitarian ideas came to Transylvania, the kingdom was already engaged in debates between Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists. Francis David had been trained as a Catholic priest, then converted to Lutheranism, where he was a bishop, and then Calvinism—also as a bishop, before he began to consider Unitarian ideas. He was influenced in this by Giorgio Biandrata, a Polish physician and skilled politician in the court of the king. David was a brilliant thinker and speaker, so it wasn't surprising that he was chosen to be part of the debates in the governing council, the Diet of Torda, under King John Sigismund.
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