Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Always Learning

For four weeks this summer, Lynn Grant, Lauri Anderson and I offered a pilot series of SpiritPlay– the UU adaptation of the Montessori-based “Godly Play” developed by one of my heroes Jerome Berryman. The radical assumption behind this pedagogy is that all humans are engaging their existential reality no matter what their age. Each week I told a story from a different religious tradition, accompanied by cloth and wood pieces that help the story become more concrete to students and teacher alike.

Last Sunday we told the story of King John Sigismund and the Edict of Tolerance. The story is told with wooden blocks, some that represent the city walls, some that represent King John and Francis David (The Unitarian Minister) and five that represent the different religious traditions practiced in Transylvania during King John’s reign. The king asks the minister of each religion how the cities in his kingdom should look. The first minister includes only his own religion within the walls of the city. The second includes his own, but two others are allowed at the perimeter of the city. Then our hero Francis David suggests that four religions be allowed to practice within the city. (The observant will notice that even in this most progressive of 16th century cities, not all religions are equal – our modern understanding of religious tolerance is still centuries away).

At the end of our story I asked a bunch of questions, including this one, which gave me pause even while I was preparing the lesson.

“I wonder which religion is the right religion?”

All the children who spoke up answered “Unitarian.”

I replied “I’m wondering if that’s what you really think, or if that’s what you think I want to hear.”

A couple of other answers emerged with little enthusiasm. Then the answers began to reference the different shaped wood blocks that represented the different faiths.

“The round one.”

“No the stair step one.”

“No, this one.” says a child picking up a third piece.

Now the children are reaching for different pieces and speaking all at once. At the top of the crescendo, two children hit their competing blocks together.

I say something like “That’s enough, everyone back to your seats.”

I was a little un-nerved by the chaos, but the authenticity of their response was clear. “I guess that’s what happens when you ask which religion is the right religion,” I offer. I am amazed that the question had the same effect on this class of mostly five to six year-olds that it did four centuries ago in Transylvania. I am amazed that just asking this question has lead us to violence and persecution throughout history, and that it still has that power in the world today.