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| Our mission is to seek the light of truth, share the warmth of love and live the energy of action. |
Principles and Beliefs
Our Congregational Covenant
We covenant with one another to create and sustain a community that supports people of all ages in their spiritual journeys, shines as a beacon of hope, inspires our actions for a just world, and encourages us to demonstrate our Unitarian Universalist principles in our daily lives. Our communal strength comes from caring for each other in times of joy and sorrow, respecting each other during agreement and disagreement, welcoming and affirming diversity, and giving freely of ourselves from all our personal resources.
Our Seven Principles
We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote:
- 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 existence of which we are a part;
Child's Version of the Seven Principles
- We believe that each and every person is important.
- We believe that all people should be treated fairly.
- We believe that our churches are places where all people are accepted and where we keep on learning together.
- We believe that each person must be free to search for what is true and right in life.
- We believe that everyone should have a vote about the things that concern them.
- We believe in working for a peaceful, fair and free world.
- We believe in caring for our planet.
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 worlds 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.
- 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.
What Unitarian Universalists Believe
David Rankin, a Unitarian Universalist minister, summarized UU beliefs in this way:
- We believe in the freedom of religious expression, without fear of censure or reprisal.
- We believe in the toleration of religious ideas. Religions in every age possess intrinsic merit and have value for those who have learned the art of listening.
- We believe in the authority of reason and conscience. The ultimate arbiter in religion is not a church, or a document, or an official, but the personal choice and decision of the individual.
- We believe in the never-ending search for Truth, with a mind and heart truly free and open to the revelations that appear.
- We believe in the unity of experience, with no conflict between faith and knowledge, religion and the world, the sacred and the secular, since all have their source in the same reality.
- We believe in the worth and dignity of every human being. All people on earth have an equal claim to life, liberty, and justice and no idea, ideal or philosophy is superior to a single human life.
- We believe in the ethical application of religion. Good works are the natural product of a good faith, the evidence of an inherent grace which finds completion in social and community involvement.
- We believe in the motive force of love, which seeks the welfare of others, never to hurt or destroy.
- We believe in the necessity of the democratic process. Records are open to scrutiny, elections open to members, ideas to criticism.
- We believe in the importance of a religious community. The validation of experience requires the confirmation of peers.
