Social Changes Seen in U.S. Unitarians

Two Unitarian bishops from Eastern Europe who recently toured the United States say that American church members have become much more active in both theological and social issues than during their last visit.

Bishop Josef Ferencz of Hungary and Bishop Lajos Kovacs of Romania were in the United States for the Unitarian Universalist national convention in Atlanta earlier this summer and also visited church officials and congregations in several other cities.

“I think there is more interest inside the Unitarian movement in both theological and social problems,” said Ferencz, who last visited the United States in 1969. “Unitarians are much more devoted to disarmament and peace than they used to be 16 years ago.”

There are about 80,000 Unitarians in Romania, where Kovacs lives in a 553-year-old residence and the official church language is Hungarian.

20,000 in Hungary

There are about 20,000 Unitarians in Hungary, where the overwhelming religion is Catholicism. Hungarian composer Bela Bartok was an organist at Ferencz’s headquarters church in Budapest and his son, Ing Bela Bartok, is now the lay president of the church.

Both bishops are from the Transylvanian region in the northwest corner of Romania--also once under Hungarian rule--where Unitarianism was first established more than four centuries ago.

The key event occurred in 1568 after one of the longest debates in history about religious freedom. The parliamentary debate, convened by King John Sigismund of Transylvania, lasted 10 days, beginning each day at 5 a.m.

After the debate, the king issued a decree that said in part: “In every place the preacher shall preach and explain the Gospel, each according to his understanding of it, and if the congregation likes it, well; if not, no one shall compel them, for their souls would not be satisfied, but they shall be permitted to keep a preacher whose teaching they approve.”

As a result, the Unitarian religion was born. It holds that God exists in only one person, accepting the moral teaching but rejecting the divinity of Jesus.

Except for Poland, Eastern European churches have worked out agreements in which the churches are allowed to operate in limited spheres. In Romania, for example, 14 religions are recognized as legitimate by the state. In return, they must accept certain restrictions, particularly avoiding any political activity.

“We know we have to respect the law. Within that limit, we have the right to exercise our religious life,” said Romania’s Kovacs.

“Nobody controls our sermons or how we preach. But all of our sermons are in connection with daily life,” Kovacs said.

He explained that he would never preach about the Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal, for example, despite the fact that disarmament and peace are major issues of concern to citizens of Eastern Europe.

Said Ferencz: “We as churches can cooperate with many activities of the state, such as the fight against alcoholism, social services, and caring for aging people.”

All of the legal churches in both countries are involved--along with the state--in the peace movement.

Last year, church representatives from several Eastern European countries met in Bucharest for a mass peace demonstration. Another one is planned this September.