Rev. Marta Morris Flannagan
South Church, Portsmouth, NH

The Left Side

They say the world is divided. It can seem especially so in a summer of political conventions.

The up com ing election is terribly important. It is virtuous to be involved in the political process and it is imperative to vote. Voting involves discernment, being aware of one’s world and its needs. Voting demands the weighing of reason and morals. Hence it is a religious act. To live our faith is to vote.

Many of us live in the “red” state of New Hampshire . The remainder of us in the live in the “blue” state of Vermont . But the color coding -- red for Republican and blue for Democrat -- conceals a more com plex truth. Vermont is blue or Democratic by a margin of ten percent. New Hampshire is red or Republican by a margin of less than five percent. In other words, however you identify yourself, there are an awful lot of people out there with a very different view of things.

I am intrigued by difference. To a great extent that is why I remain a Unitarian Universalist. Our religious tradition does not rely on conformity or even consensus to define itself. We com e together without a creed, without a prescriptive doctrine of belief, but with a earnest sense of search and service. We are Pagan, Buddhist, Christian, Theist, Humanist and more. Dissent, we believe, does not threaten but enliven our faith. For me it certainly has. I have been challenged by Unitarian Universalists with beliefs very different than my own. At times the challenge has caused me to clarify what is it I hold to be true; other times it has caused me to alter my truths. Sometimes it has been easy; other times it has been hard to stay in the conversation. But ultimately it has been for the good. And so I remain committed to this most unusual of religious com munities.

Therein lies my hope in this tumultuous political season. If we stay engaged in the political process, if we talk with respect to those with whom we differ, we will change; the other will change. And we will draw closer to what is right. It won’t always be easy. Indeed, it may be very hard. But in the end, with the passage of time, it will have been for the good.