Willkommen bei den Unitarian Universalists

Eine religiöse Gemeinschaft braucht ein Glaubensbekenntnis. Ein Formulierung davon, woran sie glaubt. Dies erst macht eine Ansammlung von Individuen zu einer Glaubensgemeinschaft. An Stelle des Apostolicums wird bei den UUs aber häufig gebetet:

"Love is the doctrine of this church,

The quest of Truth is its sacrament,

And service is its prayer.

To dewll together in peace,

To seek knowledge in freedom,

To serve human need,

To the end that all souls shall

grow into harmony with the Devine -

Thus do we covenant with each other

and with God."

Aber es muss auch vor zu grosser Sicherheit in religiösen Fragen gewarnt werden:

"The critical way is the way of those who believe the certainty offered by the religions is unobtainable by anyone. We believe that ultimate questions must of necessity have open-ended answers."

Duncan Howlett

"Liberal theology is not for the faint of heart. It points us in a general direction without telling us the specific destination. It refuses to make our commitments for us, but holds us accountable to the commitments we make ... It invites us to live with ambiguity without giving in to facile compromise; to engage in dialogue without trying to control the conversation; to be open to change without accepting change too casually; to take commitment seriously but not blindly; to be engaged in the culture without succumbing to the culture's values."

Paul Rasor



Das Ziel eines Gottesdienstes ist:

"Whorship invites us to focus on the transcendental, the intimate, and the worthy. Worship helps us to regain our grip on the fragmented, the obsessive, and the divisive. Worship reminds us that we - empowered by the love we receive and give - may challenge any idol of greed or violence which polutes the human condition. We ask that you bring to worship something of what you receive: a capacity to heal, to think both critically and poetically, and to experience a growing sense of belonging, rootedness, and blessing."

Mark Belletini

Schliesslich gilt es nicht zu vergessen, wogegen angekämpft werden muss - das Böse:

"Evil is the capacity, within us and among us, to break sacred bonds with our own souls, with one another, and with the holy. Further, it is the willingness to excuse or justify this damage, to deny it, or to call it virtue. The soil in which it flourishes is a rich compost of ignorance, arrogance, fear, and delusion - mostly selfdelusion - all mingled with the sparkling dust of our original, human being."

Victoria Safford

Der derzeitige Präsident der UUA Peter Morales fast das nun so zusammen:

"If we "get religion" we will thrive. We will touch lives and change the world. Religion is much more about what we love than about what we think. When we ask one another what we truly love, what we truly value, what we care about more than anything else in life, something amazing happens: We don't argue. We also discover that we realize that we are all in this life together. We want to help heal the world. We want to work together, hand in hand, to build a world beyond exploitation and violence. When you and I focus on what we love and what we long to create, somehting almost miraculous happens. We are energized. We form lasting bonds. We become more generous. We come to care more about "us" and less about "me". In other words: when we focus on what we love, we "get" religion."

Dies ist der Ansatz, wie Morales eine "Religion jenseits von Glauben" bilden will. Religion ist nicht bezüglich bestimmter Glaubenssätze, vielmehr geht es um gemeinsame Werte wie: Mitgefühl, Gemeinschaft, Freiheit, Gerechtigkeit und Orientierung. Wir sind vereint nicht durch das was wir denken, sondern durch das was wir lieben!

***

Noch ein paar weitere interessante Zitate:

"Woran du dein Herz hängst, das ist dein Gott." Luther

Mut muss man jeden Tag aufs Neue fassen.

Biophilie: Liebe zum Lebendigen, der Wunsch das Wachstum zu fördern.

"Glücklich allein ist die Seele, die liebt." Goethe

Wer glaubt, dass moralsiche Entscheidungen leichtfallen?