Ginger

“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

“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

“Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.”
― Bruce Coville

“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