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Take a Closer Look
Unitarianism-The short version
We are a part of the Unitarian tradition. A complex bunch, some say a spiritual movement, some say faith tradition, some say heretics and heathens. We are a faith where we agree to disagree on matters of theology as we seek to bring justice to this world, spiritual fulfillment, and have a community to be our whole selves. To borrow the words of Matt Mayers “Our faith invites us to set aside the questions of an afterlife, that we might spend our time considering how we create heaven or hell for one another in the immediacy of this life”
Some of us use the language of seeking paradise, others building the beloved community, others say the kingdom (kin-dom, queendom) of God (Goddess, Godx, Spirit, Divine, Universe, Collective unconsciousness, and other titles or names).
Historically we came out of Christianity and disagreed with the holy trinity. This fundamental theological difference brought other questions such as- is further revelation closed from the divine(limited to past prophets)? Is the bible the only source of Truth? (big T Truth, or is there truth in other scriptures). Will God, if God exists, punish us for asking these questions? Will we be punished for being open minded and engaging in diverse spiritual thinking and practices?
To which we collectively answered no. We, as a dissenting tradition, do not believe there is a single source of truth, a definitive belief we must hold. We don’t provide answers, we provide a space of inquiry. A space to search. In the last two hundred years we have become a space where some of us hold to Christo-centric theology, and others are atheists and agnostics. We are a space to hold the tension of many faiths, many ideas, and celebrate life, and bring the wisdom of religions to justice efforts.
But who are we?
We are … not easy to identify with a single identity.
Some us are born in the U.K., U.S, France. Not all of us attend every week, as we like to enjoy our weekends or visit other religious institutions. Some of us are drawn to humanism, christianity, Sufi Islam, Neo-pagan and other forms of worship. While others enjoy gardening, and coming together for social action and social justice. A lot of us enjoy music. We change every week based on who is in the space, we change every year as people move around because life is life. We are committed to making the world a better place.
We are a living Tradition.
Not all of us believe in God, some of us on occasion believe in God, some of us believe nothing but want to discuss existential issues. We meditate, we pray, we converse, we listen, we sing. We can do more if there's interest.
So what do we believe?
We are not precious about what terminology to use, we are precious about how we use it and why we use it. We are precious that the terminology used reflects your spiritual journey, you transcendent approach to the divine by many names and aspects. We are precious that the transcendent and matters of justice are tied together. We believe the interdependence of existence. Humans, human systems (political, economic, social, culture and others), nature, and the universe are tied together.