Heirloom #29
by Will Frank
As the Rev. Harry Lutz settled in as minister of the Unitarian Church of Norfolk, with his residence at 1000 Colonial Avenue, within walking distance of the church, the future of Unitarianism in Norfolk seemed bright. He soon found the opportunity to present a series of broadcast sermons on WTAR, a station of CBS radio. For 15 minutes of air time, the church had to pay $15, a great deal of money in that day. Yet the mission of spreading the word and the prospect of church growth led church leaders to take the gamble.
Therefore, on March 16, 1931, Lutz broadcast the first of his radio sermons, this one titled “The Unitarian Movement.” Here is an extended excerpt, with the original male language retained.
“A government constituted of and by and for the people, as our fathers did for these United States, is a sublime act of faith in the natural goodness of human nature. They did something far more than they knew when they put their faith in the integrity of the common man without asking him what the believed. It implied something in him that could be trusted – something good in his nature, presuming that he will desire the good and seek its advancement.
“The inconsistency of this with the fundamental doctrine of their religion – the total depravity of human nature – and the absurdity of putting the sovereign power of the government in people utterly incapable by nature of doing good was bound sooner or later to occur to them, – and did at once to certain thinkers among them....
“So they not only brought forth on this continent a new type of political life, but also they initiated the suggestiveness that was destined to bring forth a new type of religious life based on faith in the integrity of Human Nature – the natural goodness of man, and the love of God that begins as love to man. Thus began what logically and inevitably became the Unitarian movement, as it was later called.
“This liberal faith has spread far wide of the original Unitarian movement, which was only a pioneer in the general trend, but it may be more clearly seen in the Unitarian view, which distinctively avows it. There is no Unitarian creed, or any authoritative belief or dogma. No one can speak for the others. Yet, by reason of their free association together in worship and action, there becomes apparent a certain consensus of opinion that may properly be called Unitarian. No one is bound by it, but all are devoted to it because they are convinced of its truth.
“There are ‘FOUR CARDINAL PRINCIPLES’, as Dr. William Channing Gannett puts them, which are not Unitarian alone, nor Christian alone, but are the vital principles of Liberal Religion under whatever name. They are:
“FREEDOM, the method of religion, in place of Authority; “FELLOWSHIP, the spirit of religion, in place of Sectarianism; “CHARACTER, the test of religion, in place of Ritual or Creed; “SERVICE, or Salvation of Others, the aim in religion, in place of Salvation of Self.
“Doctrines will change; these things are more than doctrines, and will abide. Whatever name or names the faith of the future may bear, these will be int Four Cardinal Principles.
“In these things, and only in these things, lies the hope of religious unity, the Unity of Spirit. On these Four Principles, as on cornerstones, slowly shall rise, with many separate chapels clustered beneath its towers, the Church of Humanity.”