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  have a reputation for being very critical of most religions. Actually, I am motivated
  by curiosity rather than disdain. I have been obsessed with religious teachings,
  religious promises, truths and revelations ever since I survived 50 dreadful combat
  missions in an Air Force bomber over Europe in 1944. As a non-praying,
  non-believing skeptical freethinker, my life was spared while dear friends who wore their religious beliefs like suits of armor, were blown to bloody bits.

      I first became interested in Unitarianism in 1952, some seven years after I came home from W.W.II. Theologically, what interested me most was its emphasis on suggested rules for humans to live together in peace, how to behave, rather than rules on what to believe about a divine deity, what to believe about "the nature of God." The Christianity from which Unitarianism emerged was, from my years of study, primarily a God-centered religion. As such it stressed a specific creedal approach to life and its problems, an approach that said, in effect, if you swear to believe such and such, you will make God very happy and He will grant you everlasting life as a reward. To me, what UU was all about, was the other side of that kind of religious approach.

      For openers, this morning, I will read you the most sacred statement of Christendom, known as the "Apostle's Creed." Then, we will compare it to our own UU covenant.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Catholic Church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And life everlasting. Amen.

We affirm and promote:

• The inherent dignity and worth of every person;
   
• Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations,
   
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregation;
   
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
   
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregation and the community at large.
   
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
   
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

• Support each of us in our spiritual and personal growth.
   
• Build a vital intergenerational community that embraces the diversity of humankind.
   
• Sustain the liberating power of our resources so that future generations will thrive.
   
• Empower ourselves and others to bring into existence a more compassionate and just world.

      Jefferson recognized that there are at least two sides to what the western world thought about religion. On one hand, religion is a manner of expressing one's relationship to the concept of God and all the supernaturalistic premises and promises that revolve around that concept. They include such doctrines as the need to be "born again," eternal life or salvation, redemption and resurrection of the elect dead. Strict rules concerning exactly what to believe, how to pray and the specific rituals to follow, are the basis of this side of religion.

      The other side of religion concerns the relationships of people with one another--in one word, "behavior." The human race, according to history, paleontology, sociology and archeology, has had a very difficult time in the area of human behavior. "Mans inhumanity to man" has existed since the beginning of history, with our own 20th century surpassing the incredible horrors of the Holy Crusades, the Inquisitions, the hunt for witches and the cruel wars of the counter-Reformation.

      In my opinion, what modem religion needs above all, is serious adherence to the words of two biblical prophets, Amos and Micah. Amos states God's attitude toward rituals, offerings, liturgies and dogmas - all the superficialities that have been substituted for the very substance of religion, namely: justice and righteousness. These are the words of Amos: "I hate, despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs and the melodies of thy psalteries--but let justice well up as waters and righteousness as a mighty stream. Thus saith the Lord."

      Micah repeats the theme in one of the most poetic of all biblical dialogues: "what doth the Lord require of thee? Only to do justice and to love mercy and walk humbly with thy God."

  he absence of justice, righteousness and mercy in religious practices became most
  apparent in the 4th century of the Latin Church in Rome, as it was called. That is
  when Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Catholic Christianity as the official
  religion of his vast empire. It became the first Christian theocracy and was called the
  Holy Roman Empire. A successor to Constantine named Theodosius, in the year 380, introduced a radically new concept which, in my opinion, transformed early Christianity from its great potential as a force for good in this world.

      Holy Roman Emperor Theodosius changed the emphasis of his religion from rewards in heaven for being a Christian, to the most severe punishment here on earth for not being a Christian. The teachings of Jesus of Nazareth with its pleas for living in peace and harmony and even love with one's neighbors, were discarded in favor of coercing and compelling one's neighbor, at the point of a sword or with flames roasting their helpless bodies, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Jesus' power of love had no place in this new and militant approach to religion.

      Here are the words of Theodosius from the year 380 as cited by the early church historian Eusebius. Incidentally, a volume of Eusebius in the original Greek, was part of Thomas Jefferson's personal library. Jefferson read Greek, Latin and some Hebrew.

      Theodosius: "It is Our rule that all the people we rule shall practice the religion which the divine Peter the Apostle transmitted to the Romans. We shall believe in the single deity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, under the concept of the Holy Trinity. We command that all persons that follow this rule shall embrace the name of Catholic Christians. The rest, however, whom we judge demented and insane, shall sustain the infamy of heretical dogmas, their meeting places shall not receive the name of churches, and they shall be smitten first by divine vengeance and secondly by the retribution of our own initiative, which we shall assume in accordance with divine judgment."

  hus was the most heinous sin or crime in Christendom, not the result of socially
  unacceptable behavior. The sin of unacceptable thinking, unacceptable beliefs,
  became paramount and punishable by death. This was one of the earliest
  demonstrations of my theme this morning: the other side of religion. Theodosius
  insisted that rules concerning beliefs in the nature of God, were the most important aspects of religion, the important side. The other side, rules concerning civilized behavior among humans, were either downplayed or forgotten.

      The first recorded religious rules concerning human behavior come from the ancient kingdom of pagan Babylonia, and date from like 1700 years before the Common Era. They are known as the Code of Hammurabi, inscribed on stone and discovered by a French archeologist in the temple of Marduk in 1911. It is now in the Louvre in Paris. Most historians and legal scholars consider the Code, its rules and penalties, to be a vast improvement over the brutalities of previous Assyrian law. It covered criminal and civil law, family law and commercial law.

      In criminal law, the ruling principle for punishment was the ancient lex talionsis, or law of retaliation (an eye for an eye.) Neither imprisonment or forced labor is mentioned in the code. Unintended manslaughter was punished by a fine. Willful murder was not mentioned. However, carelessness and neglect in the performance of work was severely punished.

      About six centuries later, about 1300 years before the Common Era, Moses and the Ten Commandments appeared on the stage of history. Listed in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, the commandments are divided into duties towards God, one's neighbors and society. They stressed the shalls and shall nots of human behavior concerning killing, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, coveting what belonged to another. Honoring God, one's parents and the Sabbath were the primary "shalls."

  ast forward another 1200 years to the time of the writing of the Dead Sea Scrolls,
  about 100 years before the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth. One scroll fragment
  reads: "When the well-springs of wickedness are closed off, when evil is banished
  by (remember the words of Amos I quoted earlier) when evil is banished by
  righteousness as darkness is banished by light--then will evil forever end and righteousness be revealed as the sun holds fast the world. Knowledge will fill the earth and all perversion will cease. Do not all nations hate wickedness--yet it lurks among them all? Do not all people praise truth--yet is there a language or tongue that grasps on to it? What nation desires that another stronger nation than she, oppress her? Who desires that an evil man should steal his money? Yet, what nation exists which has not oppressed another, and where is the people that has not stolen another's wealth?"

      Two themes seem to be intertwined in this remarkable document--the eventual triumph of righteousness and knowledge over evil and ignorance. Knowledge is the Hebrew word "de'ah" which can also mean "reason." The passage also dwells on the hypocrisy of nations, or religions, since nations were all theocracies. This is another example of the two sides of religion. One side extols the miracles that can be created through use of our God-given brains. The other says, in effect, forget your brains, forget your capacity to reason. Rely on scriptural revelation for the answers to all the problems of life, nature and the cosmos.

      I will conclude my talk this morning with a poem I wrote. It seems to sum up my sermon.
 
 

As each life-sustaining heartbeat faithfully follows one another,
It seems to feel imperceptibly weaker than its predecessor.
And as my head feels lighter, I am tempted to wonder
Whether my brain cells are sloughing off to some final destination.
But before they all disappear into an eerie nothingness,
I feel compelled [to share] some somewhat holy thoughts, since
Now at seventy-four years, I don't have many more years.

I guess I am an unbeliever, scoffer, skeptic, heretic!
When I find Truth in Holy Nature while you find Truth in Holy Writ.
Eyes to see and mind to reason--thinker, prober, prying brain
Are gifts bestowed for understanding whence the lightning, why the rain?

Some see God in Holy Scripture's every word and every line.
That's one way of showing reverence, it may be theirs, it isn't mine.
The Bible's words, the true summation: "Love thy neighbor as thyself"
Encompasses my heart's religion, brings me hope and mental health.

"Justice, mercy," Micah's pleading: "walk thou humbly with thy God,"
Are to me more sufficient than Eucharist or Aaron's rod.
The rest is simply commentary, dogma, doctrine, man-made rules,
Roots of bloodshed, war and murder--words turned into power tools.

Use your brain--God's sacred blessing. Revelation's all about.
Study God revealed in Nature; conquer sickness, famine, drought.
Trinities and virgin birthings based on ancient pagan myth
Are enemies of reason, used to snare the faithful with.

Resurrections, sins of babies, added to what Matthew heard,
Caused a mighty transformation--changed the book from word to Word.
I know I am an unbeliever, doubter, seeker, maverick!
When I find Truth in Holy Nature while you depend on Holy Writ.

** Aaron did write his own Eulogy. Under title of My Unitarian Pathway the Eulogy was read by Aaron's son Jonathan at services held April 17, 1997 at The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville. The poem was also printed on the back of the Memorial Service program.