Our Beliefs

uu-principles-in-child-friendly-language
Our seven UU principles in child friendly language.

We are an intentionally diverse religious community, welcoming all people without regard to age, race, national origin, ableness, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

We embrace freedom of belief for those beliefs that are unknowable and unprovable, with our members holding a variety of beliefs about the existence  of God, what happens to us after we die, and beliefs of that kind.

We share beliefs about how to live together on this planet:

  • We believe in living our lives with love, compassion and kindness.
  • We are inclusive, we seek justice, we promote equal rights and equal treatment for all.
  • We honor individual autonomy while recognizing the interdependent nature of existence.

We are actively engaged in a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.

Theological Diversity

Given our commitment to freedom of belief, our members perhaps unsurprisingly hold a range of theological views.  We have folks who believe in god, folks who believe in the goddess, folks who aren’t sure about the great mystery that is the universe, and folks who are firmly atheist.  Some of us believe that when we die we just go into the ground, or get cremated, and that’s it.  Others believe our souls rejoin the great collective spirit, others of us believe in heaven, some of us believe in reincarnation, and more.  Our members identify their particular viewpoints in various ways, whether that be religious humanist, Pagan, Jewish, secular humanist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist… or simply “Unitarian Universalist.”

We embrace the use of reason and science on our free and responsible search for truth and meaning – indeed, the Six Sources we draw upon (see below) offer a rich foundation for our ethical, spiritual and religious journeys.  Along with reason,  our mission statement calling us to be continually exploring our faith.  We define faith as the process of finding and making meaning out of our lives and the world, understanding that we all find and make meaning in different ways.  We don’t view faith and reason as opposites, but instead as symbiotic partners on our religious journeys.  While acknowledgment of and respect for each individual’s beliefs is of high importance to us, we also recognize and value the power and importance of religious community.  Our lives together are enriched as much by our differences as by what we hold in common.

Exploring our faith also calls us to love questions, in some ways more than answers.  We Unitarian Universalists expect that our beliefs, our ethics, our theologies, our faith will change and evolve over time, as we as human beings change and evolve.  Thus while we value deeply the truths and answers we have arrived at in any given moment, we also hold those truths lightly, knowing that they may change at any point as we are informed by new experiences, insights and information.  We keep asking questions, and keep trying to answer them to the best of our abilities, for as long as we shall live.

Seven Principles

seven_principles_wheel_originalAs Unitarian Universalists, we affirm and promote these Seven Principles:

  • The inherent worth and dignity of every person
  • Justice, equity and compassion in human relations
  • Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations
  • A free and responsible search for truth and meaning
  • The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large
  • The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all
  • Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part

We invite you to explore the Principles in more depth at the UUA web site.

Six Sources

The living tradition which we share draws from many sources:

  • 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 which create and uphold life;
  • Words and deeds of prophetic women and men which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion and the transforming power of love;
  • Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life;
  • Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves;
  • 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;
  • Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

As Rev. Kathleen Rolenz notes, “Throughout history, we have moved to the rhythms of mystery and wonder, prophecy, wisdom, teachings from ancient and modern sources, and nature herself.”