also featuring
Thinkers, Seers, Prophets, Wise Folk, Iconoclasts, Curmudgeons,
Poets,Artists, Heroes and Martyrs, and all the Everyday People*
from the ages and in current times whose vision and
sacrifice have given us
Freedom of Conscience.
I open the door and the
dogma runs out
First came a sudden recognition: something was fundamentally wrong
with the teachings of my childhood religion.
Actually it was a great effort for me to achieve enough independence
of mind to see that if those teachings are self contradictory, then
those teachings must not be true. I had "played" at questioning
without really meaning it for several years before I was ready to
admit that the inscrutability of God was just incoherent
theology.
Religious doctrines are interconnected, and so before long I was
noticing flaws in other teachings which were derived from the one I
noticed first. In time, as I tossed out one indefensible belief after
another, I found myself far outside even the radical wing of the
church. I was unwilling to work for change from within- I wanted a
fresh start.
Years went by, during which I "tried on" other religious ideas. Some
were comforting and some were fun (remember
Edgar Cayce?) but ultimately
none seemed any more valid that what I had already left behind. Along
the way I met many people holding all sorts of beliefs, but few of
them were asking the hard questions. I wondered if I was the only
person anywhere who couldn't find a belief system to which I could
make a sincere permanent commitment.
It's a lonely life, in this nation where "church" substitutes for
tribe and village. Families who don't have a congregational home are
excluded from a lot, out here in the heartland. But "belonging" meant
lying- to myself, to others, to my own children- and I was not
willing to do that.
While I didn't know it then, I was ready to welcome Liberal
Religion.
Liberal Religion begins in the conviction that
Personal experience, conscience and reason should be
the final authorities in religion, and that in the end religious
authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in
ourselves.
A decision to trust one's own eyes, so to speak, is the first step in
religious transformation, both personal and institutional.
Indeed the great religious traditions of the world usually grew out
of the radical insight of someone who took a closer look, saw
something new and profound, and who then proclaimed what he had seen.
Often such religious leaders believed that they had a direct
experience of the divine or of "enlightenment." Their teachings were
an effort to lead others to what they had experienced.
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Jesus
Buddha
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a couple of guys who thought for themselves
Organized Religion is sometimes seen
as the enemy of free religious seeking, but while this is sometimes
true, there are groups within most religions which tolerate and even
encourage independent thinking. These pages are an effort to share
what I've learned about groups in which freedom of belief is welcomed
and protected.
It should not be necessary for a person to leave the familiar
rituals and companionship of his birth religion in order to gain
freedom of conscience, because there is at least minority support for
freedom in most religions. The following pages include some general
discussion of where to look for it, and some links to more resources
on the web.
Unitarian Universalism
Humanism
Progressive Judaism
Liberal Christianity
The Sufis
...and more to come.