Elevator Speeches

For years, I’ve been told I need an Elevator Speech, something I could say about what I believe as a Unitarian Universalist in the time it took for a short ride in an elevator. This has been one of Bill Sinkford’s themes at GAs I have attended. I’ve also hear it from a number of local ministers. Yet I still don’t have one. Perhaps it’s the contrarian in me. I slip into the tendencies that I think many UUs have: I can tell you what I don’t believe more easily than I can tell you what I believe. I can expound a bit on some of the principles, though I certainly don’t have them memorized. I even generally agree with them; at least I don’t oppose any of them. I’ve always found that little red fold-out card “What do Unitarian Universalists believe?” (it’s been around for years) that is handed out at our Welcome Table to visitors on Sunday morning to be somewhat of a curiosity. I first encountered it in 1980 at the first Unitarian church that I joined (it really was just “Unitarian”). At the time, I thought that it should be blank on the inside, perhaps with lines so the owner could fill in what worked for him/her. I’ve since become a bit more serious about UUism.

So how does one relate one’s belief about a “complex” religion in a media culture that looks for a two-word sound bite? “Unitarian Universalism” is two words, but not all that snappy. Maybe we should change our name. Many UUs don’t subscribe to, or even know, the original tenets of Unitarianism or Universalism. But I am at a loss to come up with a name that relates the beliefs of such a diverse group of people, especially one that fits into a neat sound bite.

How do I, as an atheist, explain to anyone why I would even attend a church? I was originally drawn to the intellectual emphasis in the sermons I heard. There was a rationality there that appealed to me. I liked the fact that we had no problems changing the words to the hymns or to the anthems that the choir sang. I discovered that I was there for the community, and not all that much for the spirituality. I notice that there has been much more emphasis on spirituality lately, and I’m not sure that I’m all that pleased with the trend. I miss some of the intellectuality of the sermons.

I suppose I can always fall back on my pat answer when asked what I believe: I believe that I’ll have another cookie. But that seems a little flippant now. The fact remains that I still don’t have a good Elevator Speech. I don’t expect I’ll have an answer any time soon.