Good Questions: Unity and Transgender Issues, Hell, Reincarnation, and Finding the Right Spiritual Path

Unity and Transgender Issues

Dear Dr. Tom: Can I ask about Unity and transgender issues? Many people are challenged when a family member brings this to them. I don’t know if the issue can be fully addressed without politics. I have deep concerns about my loved one being in physical and legal peril because of how they are seen. In a way it is a deep grieving process. My grandson is dead/dying as my granddaughter is becoming. Our lifelong values are challenged. It is very easy to be philosophical about this until it is knocking on your door.

DEAR STRUGGLING: Life in the 21st century allows this question to surface, whereas in earlier ages trans people would have inescapably faced brutal reprisals in their communities and condemnation by Church and state. Those cruelties persist today as a global outrage, with some political jurisdictions even considering those in the LGBTQIA+ community to be criminals. Although I try never to speak as the Unity movement but as an independent theologian, this time I will cross that line. Unity supports the right of people to be who they are, however uncomfortable that makes others. The sooner we learn that everyone is a child of the same divine presence and power, the quicker humanity will leave the vestiges of the Dark Ages behind.

Your experience is painfully personal. The obstacles facing your grandchild are your barriers too. It’s okay to be uncomfortable with the new reality. Change is, by definition, an unsettling experience. Trust God, love one another, and pray for those who misunderstand due to fear and hardhearted religiosity. Mutual acceptance is the answer. Love is the way.

Does Hell Exist?

Dear Dr. Tom: Is there a hell?—VFP, Grain Valley, Missouri

DEAR VFP: Short answer? Hell, no. Look at the history of hell. Traditionally, monsters who stalk the innocent go there. Some have done unspeakably bad things to people. Others just made life constantly unpleasant for no apparent reason. For me, the latter includes Frankie, a teenage bully and school dropout who lingered outside 13th and Union Elementary School to terrorize me during sixth grade. Yeah. I’d definitely send him to burn for all eternity if I were God.

But fortunately for everyone—especially Frankie—I’m not the supreme being. My Way Shower into divine mind, Jesus the Christ, believed the Holy Spirit dwells equally within everyone. All can learn, grow, change, and express their divine nature. Even a bully from my youth.

Hell is immoral and irrational. Why would God create freethinking humans just to punish the majority of them eternally in a flaming hell for making mistakes? Free will awards the divine power to choose ungodly actions. The consequences of bad choices don’t have to be brutal punishment. In a biblical sense, sin carries its own punishment by separating people from their God-given potential.

So don’t worry about hell or heaven. Life is for now. Be the best person you can be, and trust God—however defined—to handle eternity with grace and love. If there is an afterlife, it surely has eternal progress without hell. Who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to have a nice, long talk with Frankie there.

What About Reincarnation?

Dear Dr. Tom: Is reincarnation real?—Expat, Lisbon, Portugal

DEAR EXPAT: That’s a question left unsettled. Unity founders Charles Fillmore and Myrtle Fillmore spoke about multiple lives but never required their students to affirm it. Cross-culturally, people report memories of previous lives, sometimes with uncanny details. A lot of Unity people believe in reincarnation, and I’m open to the idea but remain undecided. Maybe I’ll believe in my next incarnation.

Finding the Right Spiritual Path

Dear Dr. Tom: With so many religions, how do I know I’m following the right one?—NHS, St. Joseph, Missouri

DEAR NHS: I have family members who embrace a wide range of religious traditions—agnostic, Bahá’í, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Zen Buddhist. Find the spiritual practice that feels right, supports healthy attitudes, and unites rather than divides people. Do that and any path will work.

This article appeared in Unity Magazine®.