John A. Buehrens > Quotes

“A religion is not contained in a single book; there's something religious in almost any book.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Of course, I am a heretic. The word hairesis in Greek means choice; a heretic is one who is able to choose. Its root stems from the Greek word hairein, to take. Faced with the mystery of life and death, each act of faith is a gamble. We all risk choices before the unknown. -Forrest Church”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Over the years, I have been disappointed at times, but more often it has been my low expectations of people that have been upset.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“I believe that we are here to some purpose, that the purpose has something to do with the future, and that it transcends altogether the limits of our present knowledge and understanding. If you like, you can call the transcendent purpose God. If it is God, it is a Socinian God, inherent in the universe and growing in power and knowledge as the universe unfolds. Our minds are not only expressions of its purpose but are also contributions to its growth. —Freeman Dyson, Infinite in All Directions”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“In the horizontal dimension, worship needs to have breadth to be inclusive.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“But authentic worship also has depth.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Religion is dangerous, of course, because its power is independent of the universal validity of its claims. Every generation has its terrorists for Truth and God, hard-bitten zealots for whom the world is large enough for only one true faith. They have been taught to worship at one window, and then to prove their faith by throwing rocks through other peoples’ windows. Tightly drawn, their logic makes a demonic kind of sense: (1) religious answers respond to life and death questions, which happen to be the most important questions of all; (2) you and I may come up with different answers; (3) if you are right, I must be wrong; (4) but I can’t be wrong, because my salvation hinges upon being right; therefore (5), short of abandoning my own faith and embracing yours, in order to secure my salvation I am driven to ignore, convert, or destroy you.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“If orthodoxy (which literally means “right teaching”) proclaims a single, authorized set of answers, we celebrate instead the open mind. We trust that our own thoughts and experiences can be as illuminating as the thoughts and experiences of those who came before us. Not that our answers will therefore be superior.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Sometimes I’d like to ask God why He [sic] created the Universe with so much poverty, hunger, and misery when He could have done something about it,” begins a current cartoon. “Well, why don’t you?” someone asks in the second panel. “Because I’m afraid that God might ask me the same question.” The something missing may be you, it may be me. “God is not here or there, to be possessed,” said Martin Buber, “but is everywhere, to be met. It is only we who are not always there.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“The universalism I aspire to does neither. It holds that the same light shines through all our windows, but that each window is different.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“To be loyal to “the highest” in us, we must act with reverence toward all of life. By defining virtue in a cooperative rather than a competitive fashion, we seek the common good, which moves us wherever possible from “either/or” confrontation to “both/and” reconciliation.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Occasionally, we may even use something special, like the Gustav Holst Hymns from the Rig Veda.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“1. We believe in the freedom of religious expression. All individuals should be encouraged to develop a personal theology, and to openly present their religious opinions without fear of censure or reprisal. 2. We believe in tolerance of religious ideas. The religions of every age and culture have something to teach those who listen. 3. We believe in the authority of reason and conscience. The ultimate arbiter in religion is not a church, a document, or an official, but the personal choice and decision of the individual. 4. We believe in the search for truth. With an open mind and heart, there is no end to the fruitful and exciting revelations that the human spirit can find. 5. We believe in the unity of experience. There is no fundamental conflict between faith and knowledge; religion and the world; the sacred and the secular. 6. We believe in the worth and dignity of each human being. All people on earth have an equal claim to life, liberty, and justice; no idea, ideal, or philosophy is superior to a single human life. 7. We believe in the ethical application of religion. Inner grace and faith finds completion in social and community involvement. 8. We believe in the force of love, that the governing principle in human relationships is the principle of love, which seeks to help and heal, never to hurt or destroy. 9. We believe in the necessity of the democratic process. Records are open to scrutiny, elections are open to members, and ideas are open to criticism, so that people might govern themselves. 10. We believe in the importance of a religious community. Peers confirm and validate experience, and provide a critical platform, as well as a network of mutual support.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“WE ONLY KNOW two things for certain: “I am,” and “I will die.” Religion is our response. Whether it is spoken or unspoken, conscious or unconscious, inherited or chosen, we all have a religion of some sort or another, for religion is not merely a matter of belief or affiliation. It is a matter of how we chose to live.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“The first motivation could be called political: If you can't or won't understand the Bible, others surely will interpret it for you. The second could be called cultural or literary: Within this culture you can't be fully literature or creative, artistically or rhetorically, without an acquaintance with the Bible. But now we come to the third and most personal reason: You also can't be spiritually mature or wise simply by rejecting the Bible as oppressive. The oppressive uses of the Bible are real, but unless you learn to understand that there are other readings possible, the Bible will, indeed, simply continue to be a source of oppression for you, and not a source of inspiration, liberation, creation, and even exultation as you understand anew for yourself, at a deep and less literal level.”
― John A. Buehrens, Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals

“Faith is not ultimately about believing some proposition in spite of the evidence; it is more like living with courage, gratitude, and integrity in spite of life’s inevitable losses.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“No one can claim to be culturally literate without an understanding of the Bible, since it has influenced, directly or indirectly, nearly all of Western literature and art.”
― John A. Buehrens, Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals

“The lure of the various isms, though hardly unknown to religious people, may be even more intense for those who avoid religion.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“The word hairesis in Greek means choice; a heretic is one who is able to choose.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Jesus taught his disciples that the Hebrew scriptures could be summarized in two great commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all our heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Matt. 22:37–40).”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Returning” is, after all, something that can, and should, occur over and over again at any stage of life. Returning to one’s best self in community. Returning to a deep sense of spiritual connection to others and to a common source and resource for right living. Returning to a faith that is neither imposed from without nor unchanging, but freely chosen and always seeking to be deepened and nourished.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Good worship will strive for height.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“If God is inside us, our neighbor is inside us as well, not only inside us, but also among us, between us, intertwined with us, never apart.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“A new awakening, it consecrates your life with sacraments of pain you do not understand and promised joy you will never fully call your own. Such awakenings may happen only once in a lifetime, or many times. But when they do, what you took for granted before is presented as a gift: difficult, yet precious and good. Not that you know what to do with your gift, or even what it really means, only how much it matters.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Once upon a time there was a king who asked his servant to bring to him all the people in the town who were born blind, and also an elephant. “This is an elephant,” he said to them. “Each one of you may touch this elephant, and when you have done so I want you to tell me what an elephant is like.” He let one touch the elephant’s head, another its ears, and others its tusks, trunk, legs, back, and tail. “Your Majesty, an elephant is like a large waterpot,” said the one who had only touched the elephant’s head. “Your Majesty, he is wrong,” rejoined the one who had touched the ears. “An elephant is like a flat basket.” The others insisted as adamantly upon the insights drawn from their own limited experience, respectively comparing the elephant to the sharp end of a plow, a thin rope, a big crib full of wheat, four pillars and, finally, a fan. Upon finishing this parable, Buddha said to the seekers who had been quarreling over the nature of God and the afterlife, “How can you be so sure of what you cannot see? We all are like unsighted people in this world. We cannot see God. Nor can we know what is going to happen after we die. Each one of you may be partly right in your answers. Yet none of you is fully right. Let us not quarrel over what we cannot be sure of.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Upon finishing this parable, Buddha said to the seekers who had been quarreling over the nature of God and the afterlife, “How can you be so sure of what you cannot see? We all are like unsighted people in this world. We cannot see God. Nor can we know what is going to happen after we die. Each one of you may be partly right in your answers. Yet none of you is fully right. Let us not quarrel over what we cannot be sure of.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“WE ONLY KNOW two things for certain: “I am,” and “I will die.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.”
― John Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism

“One reason that so many people today say, “I believe in spirituality, but not in religion,” is that the products of the human spirit, the various religious traditions, can so easily become warring sects if not brought within a wider, more reasoned perspective. Unitarian Universalism offers the opportunity not only to deepen one’s personal spirituality through dialogue, but to do so in a context where “the guidance of reason and the results of science” are honored.”
― John A. Buehrens, A Chosen Faith: An Introduction to Unitarian Universalism