At Christmas we sang at least some carols with which we probably disagreed theologically, but we sang them anyway because Christmas is a time of myth and magic when we suspend disbelief and embrace the spirit of the season. An overly rational doctrinal nitpicking at Christmas seems rather absurd when we consider that the whole thing is about spiritual, not literal, truth. But now, in the clear Puritan light of a January day, we can take a more prosaic view of things, without losing touch with the poetry. It has been said of Unitarians (usually by Unitarians) that they don’t sing hymns as well as they might because they are too busy reading the next line to see if they agree with it! Adopt that policy at any time and we can risk missing out on some beautiful words for the sake of a dull theological – and even political – correctness. But we shouldn’t surrender our critical faculties either, but rather remember the words of Jesus, “Why can you not judge for yourselves what is right?” (Luke 12:57).
And when it comes to Jesus, quite a few of those Christmas carols refer to his divinity in ways that sit uneasily with the Unitarian emphasis on his simple and unequivocal humanity. After all, when we look at what Jesus said about himself, he never claimed to be God. When someone asked him what good they should do, he replied “Why do you ask me about that? One alone is good…” (Matthew 19: 17), meaning God. He pointed beyond himself to God and would have been appalled to have been worshipped as a god. As a human being he could embody the spirit we call divine, and so reveal the divinity, the divine breath, the divine potential, present in all humanity. If he was ‘divine’ in some other sense, then he has no meaning for us. The closeness he felt to God did not separate him from the rest of us, even if our own wilfulness can separate us from him. He is our brother, not our God (whether you spell that with a capital G or not).
So how did he come to be seen as a god – or as divine in some unique sense unattainable by lesser human beings? I think it was because the Christian Church, as it left behind its Jewish origins and entered the Pagan world of Greece and Rome, took on some of that world’s ideas and beliefs. While holding contrasting values which challenged those of the belief-system it came to replace, the Christian Church was itself influenced by Pagan beliefs that turned human beings into gods. In opposition to the multiple gods of Greece and Rome, early Christianity affirmed the one God of Judaism, but went on to deify the human being on whose life and work it was based, and to incorporate him into a three-person Godhead. The process of transforming prominent human beings into gods was integral to the Pagan beliefs of classical Greece and Rome – beliefs very different, it should be said, from those that characterise modern neo-Paganism. Not only did their pantheons include the traditional anthropomorphic gods of Mount Olympus, they also included human beings who were held to have become gods. And this was particularly true of the Romans at the time when Christianity was spreading across the Empire.
It was the Emperor Vespasian who was famously reported to have said while on his deathbed, “Dear me, I think I’m becoming a god.” Ironic or not, he was reflecting a belief that was common to many Roman emperors and to their subjects. Beginning with the first Roman ruler to be called ‘emperor’, namely Augustus, many who held that office were declared to be gods after their deaths. This was sometimes done by the Senate, but not always. Some emperors, like Caligula, jumped the gun and declared themselves to be gods while they were still alive. Jesus famously took issue with such beliefs when he told “some Pharisees and men of Herod’s party” who were trying to catch him out, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:14). The ultimate obedience due to God was not to be confused with any lesser and transitory obedience that may have been demanded by the Roman Emperor. It was the Christians’ refusal to submit to the divine claims of emperors that resulted in their periodic persecution over the next three centuries.
It should be said that not all Roman emperors wanted to be gods. Maybe Vespasian was one of these. But one who spelled out very clearly that he didn’t want to be a god was Tiberius, whose words on the matter were quoted by Tacitus in his ‘Annals of Imperial Rome’: “As for myself, senators,” Tiberius said, “I emphasize to you that I am human, performing human tasks, and content to occupy the first place among men.” His prayer to heaven was, “grant me, until I die, a peaceful mind and an understanding of what is due to gods and men.” Tiberius - somewhat ironically, perhaps - was emperor when Jesus made those remarks about the relative claims of God and Caesar.
Today, rulers tend not to say that they’re divine beings, but it doesn’t stop some of them from behaving as if they think they are. Overweening arrogance and a lust for personal power characterise all too many who rule – or who aspire to. And the longer they rule the worse they get, a tendency not helped by the mindless adulation of their followers and admirers. Populism is one of the very greatest threats to freedom and democracy in the current political climate around the world. And this isn’t only true of politics. In religion too there are all too many who use their supposed ‘charisma’ and bogus ‘spirituality’ to build vast followings over whom to exert their power, taking advantage of the gullible, the ignorant and the hungry-hearted. When people are desperate for answers to spiritual and existential questions, it is all too often the preacher, guru or cult-leader offering easy answers that they turn to. But those answers – if such they can be called – all too often come at the price of surrendering your autonomy to some deranged, self-deluded or dishonest ego-maniac. Many live to regret their involvement with such people, but others are not so lucky and remain in thrall to these false prophets with their lying ‘gospels’ of greed, malice and inhumanity, their claims to speak and to act with divine authority.
It is a sad fact that the more religion becomes prone to infection by untruth, unreason and unthinking emotion the more vulnerable it is to abuse by its self-appointed ‘leaders’. And the more likely it is to draw in the crowds! This is not to condemn forms of worship that excite, engage and involve the worshippers, giving them much-needed times of joy and inspiration, Far from it! Such worship, properly directed, can transform lives in loving and positive ways. But it is to warn that once the mind and its critical faculties are surrendered and set aside, then the way is open for all the terrible abuses that have been and still are perpetrated in the name of religion. Cults of unreason, whatever their label, are based on lies. Lies about human nature, lies about other people, lies about the natural world, lies about religion, lies about God... And as a former Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, once remarked, “A lie can be half-way round the world before truth has got its boots on!” And how much truer is that today, in the age of social-media, the internet and artificial intelligence, than it was in the 1970s.
We may believe that the quasi-divine claims of tin-pot dictators – both political and religious – are worthy only of contempt. And such people are sometimes closer to us than we think. They are not confined to the big picture, the national and world stage. But what to do about them? The first thing is to check that we are not among them, that we do not seek to rule the lives, minds and souls of others. We are called to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly. We are called to respect the honest beliefs and opinions of others, although this doesn’t mean we can’t disagree with them! We are called to “speak truth to power”, to stand alongside the oppressed and the downtrodden, to resist the bully, the tyrant and the liar. How we choose to do that will vary according to our situation and our abilities, but the upholding of truth, the making of authentic peace, and the practice of loving kindness should, I believe, be at the heart of it. And that is so in our personal relationships, in our community involvement, and in our citizenship of our country and our world.
And all that is what underlies our values as a free religious community, a Unitarian Meeting. We are few in number – fewer than we were not many years ago – and that can be discouraging. It would be more encouraging if more who share those values came here to build a thriving and more active congregation. It is not surprising, perhaps, that our liberal and quiet ways don’t attract the numbers that are often found in some other settings. But that is no excuse for withdrawing into decline and obscurity. A faith community such as ours offers something that no one else does and which many more would find spiritually satisfying than just we who come here now. We are not necessarily better than other faith communities, although I dare to suggest that we are better than some: those which foment hatred and cruelty and hold the human mind and spirit in thrall. It matters that we are here, standing for things which are threatened in our world, standing for humanity, for the earth and for the divine Source of all life and love. Against that, all those emperors and rulers and dictators are of no account, and neither are those who arrogate to themselves the name or authority of God. Living humbly and working for good is the Way.
Tiberius, when denying his divinity and refusing the temples and statues that the Senate and People of Rome wanted to honour him with, said this: “They will do more justice to my memory if they judge me worthy of my ancestors, careful of your interests, steadfast in danger and fearless of animosities incurred in the public service. Those are my temples in your hearts, those my finest and most lasting images.”
How well Tiberius lived up to his ideals I won’t discuss. The point is how well do we live up to our ideals, as individuals and as a community of the liberal faith.