July meeting

On Sunday 12 July the theme of the day was religious freedom.  Two hundred and two years ago, in July 1813, the Unitarian Relief Act was passed, which meant that it was no longer punishable to deny the Church's doctrine of the Holy Trinity.  This is an important commemoration for anyone who thinks that in the 21st century freedom of religion is as important as other human freedoms.

We listened to how Jesus had asserted that some of the religious rules of his day restricted people’s freedom – and hence he rejected them.  We heard about a chain of heroes throughout the ages who stood witness to freedom to religion by rejecting certain restrictions of their own day, and how they suffered for it.  Included were heroes local to Ringwood, such as Dame Alice Lisle, buried at Ellingham church.   And we heard how some Unitarians today feel that the word “tolerance” is outdated because it sounds grudging; and how they prefer the word “respect.”  Tolerance avoids engagement with others; respect welcomes it.

Included in our service were our usual ritual of sharing flame (light), bread, water, and smoke (air), all with due deference to participants’ respective needs; a couple of hymns from the green hymn book; and our seven minutes’ silence in which we had the chance to bring it all together.  Not that it was very silent with the busy footpath outside and the beautiful sounds of the bells ringing out from the parish church – and goodness knows how silent we were able to be within our own selves !

It was lovely to be able to welcome two new people to our service and we enjoyed our conversation afterwards.