3. Acceptance of One Another and Encouragement to Spiritual Growth in Our Congregations

I want to apologize for dropping off the face of the planet for a while.  I work full time and attend school full time while also trying to get into a pretty extreme workout routine.

Anyway, this third principle of the UU church has 2 parts.

The first is acceptance of one another.  This should be pretty straight forward.  Unitarian Universalists accept each other as they are, for who they are.  This means to me that there should be no "I'm right and you're wrong" conversations.  These congregations are meant to be open-minded to other's beliefs and lifestyles.

The second part of this principle is encouragement to spritual growth in our congregations.  I take this to mean that we as Unitarian Universalists are called to support the other spiritual people around us.  That just because you don't agree with someone's beliefs doesn't mean they're wrong, but that you should encourage them to explore what is true for them, even if it's not necessarily what is true for you.  The more we explore, the more we grow.

That actually leads into the 4th principle of Unitarian Universalism, but I'll do that post later.

1. The Inherent Worth and Dignity of Every Person

I'd like to do a series of blog posts talking about the 7 principles of the Unitarian Universalist church, because I think this may help me in my own spiritual path and understanding my personal beliefs.

So let's get this series started with the first principle: The inherent worth and dignity of every person.

The UU church sites this principle for their support of same-sex couples, marriage, and the GLBT community in general.  I support the GLBT community and I think same-sex marriage should be legal, so I support the UU church's practice of this and I do believe it goes with this principle.

I find that I do believe in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.  Even working in a jail, I find that the inmates we house have worth as well.  Dignity and worth are inherent because the only way you can lose them is if you let someone take them from you.  You are in control of your own faculties, especially the inherent ones.

This is also true when it comes to race.  Race is a big issue these days with so many pointing fingers at others and involving race when someone disagrees with the president we have presently.  Personally, I disagree with the way the president is running our country, however my issues are with his policies and politics, not with the color of his skin or where we comes from.

Officially a Unitarian Universalist

So yesterday I sat down with the Reverend of the Unitarian Universalist church in my area and talked about spirituality.  I decided to become a member of the church, so I'm officially a Unitarian Universalist...Pagan.

For those of you who may read my blog and have not heard of the UU Church, the church is open to many belief systems, and the way my Reverend put it was perfect: we are free to believe what our conscience must.

The UU Church doesn't tell it's members what to believe like most Christian churches do.  Instead, it allows diversity to foster and help each of us to individually grow spiritually through interaction with others' views.

What the UU Church does have is a set of principles that it stands on, and I agree with all seven:

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

That's all for now, but I'm sure I'll continue to document my ever-changing spirituality as I go.