By Reverend Barbara Prose

The other day, I was asked if Unitarian Universalists offered salvation from Hell. Such questions are usually meant to unsettle, if not challenge people who say they are spiritual but not religious. If you are ever asked such a question, it’s helpful to remember a scene from The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos. 

In that story, a priest encounters a woman who is completely turned in on herself. She has been abandoned by her daughter and betrayed by her husband. Death has claimed her young son. With so much loss and grief, her heart has hardened. So the priest urges her to unlock her hardened heart, pleading, “Hell is not to love anymore.”  Remembering the scene, I found my answer and said, “Yes, we offer salvation from hell. “

Because to tuck ourselves away in a little ego-world of our own, is hellish. 
To deceive ourselves into believing our world is the world – is hellish. 
To not have opportunities to serve others – is hellish. 
To have to think alike to receive love – is hellish. 
To be afraid of someone else because of the color of their skin, or their accent or their class, or their country of origin, or their religion – is hellish.

In our congregations, we study and learn from psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, the arts and theology, so we can connect across all these differences that make a difference in our lives – and we develop the awareness and skills we need to be saved and to save each other from such a wide variety of living hells.  Do Unitarian Universalists offer salvation from hell?  You bet we do!